Latest KFF Health News Stories
Dems, GOP Jockey For Position On Health Law, Budget Legislation
In advance of the upcoming general election, Democrats and Republicans are trading barbs on the reasons — each accusing each other of playing politics — for delaying economic legislation and how the health care law has affected jobs in America.
Mich. House Approves Abortion Restrictions Bill
The Michigan bill would tighten regulation of abortion clinics and providers while making it a crime to coerce women into having an abortion. In Missouri, a union asks the governor to veto legislation that would allow employers to opt out of providing abortion or contraception health insurance coverage.
State Roundup: CalPERS Rate Hike OK’d; Health Workers Back Philly Strike
A selection of health policy news from California, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Kansas and Oregon.
Medicaid Fraud Audits Show Little Return On Program Costs
Bloomberg reports that, according to the Government Accountability Office, the cost of the audits has been an estimated five times more than the amount of overpayments that were recovered.
Healthcare Becomes Target In Antitrust Reviews
According to the Federal Trade Commission, though the recent rate of antitrust reviews of hospital mergers has been flat, regulators have increasingly been looking at provider deals.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how the pending Supreme Court decision is being viewed by investors, and the latest from the campaign trail.
Health Care Costs To Reach Nearly One-Fifth Of GDP By 2021
New health care cost projections released Tuesday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services indicate that the nation’s health care spending will keep outpacing economic growth for the foreseeable future despite a recent slowdown.
Insurers, Politicians Girding For Supreme Court Health Law Decision
Insurance company executives tell news outlets they support the mandate to buy insurance or pay a fine, as Republicans try to refine their post-SCOTUS decision strategy.
JAMA: Wage Gap Persists For Women Physician-Researchers
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the average salary for women doctor-researchers was 16 percent lower than men, even after accounting for speciality, hours, etc.
Iowa Gov. Wants State Workers To Pay For Part Of Health Care
This pair of stories from the Des Moines Register, based on a meeting with Gov. Terry Branstad, details Branstad’s plans for state employees’ health benefits and efforts to develop a state alternative to the health law.
U.N. Holds Panel Discussion Regarding Strategic AIDS Financing
“Coinciding with the 2012 General Assembly AIDS review, the Permanent Missions of Malawi and Luxembourg to the United Nations and UNAIDS organized a panel discussion to further understand the strategic investments needed for the AIDS response,” a UNAIDS reports in a feature story on its webpage, adding, “The discussion brought together representatives of member states, U.N. organizations and civil society.” According to the story, “UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe stressed the need to focus investments where they can have greater impact”; “[p]anelists agreed that incremental yet bold steps must be taken to close the financing gap by 2015, including greater allocations from domestic and international resources”; and the “UNAIDS Investment Framework was presented as an opportunity for development partners and national governments toward developing a ‘shared responsibility’ agenda and maximizing value for money” (6/12).
Use, Overuse Of Imaging Tests Adds About $100 Billion To U.S. Medical Bills
The use of diagnostic imaging has nearly tripled since the mid-1990s, according to a new study, raising questions about whether the benefits outweigh the risks of increased radiation exposure.
Medicare Advantage Enrollment Goes Up As Premium Costs Decline
A report by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the enrollment increases were also due in part to seniors’ reduced access to supplemental coverage as well as greater comfort with managed care.
Senate Panel Includes Funding For Implementing Health Law In Spending Bill
GOP members of the Senate appropriations subcommittee opposed the measure.
Romney Sees ‘Consumer’ Health Care In The Post-Health Law Landscape
As the country awaits the health law decision and President Barack Obama appears to be playing down campaign talk about the health law, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney took the opposite approach by offering his vision of health care in America when the law is undone.
Health Law’s Birth Control Mandate, Medicare’s Doughtnut Hole Draw Headlines
Drug manufacturers may abandon the health law’s provisions to close Medicare’s so-called “doughnut hole” if the high court overturns the measure. Also, religious leaders press the Department of Health and Human Services to widen the religious exemption to the health law’s birth control mandate.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
R.I. Lawmakers Pass Federal Health Care Law Compliance Bill
Rhode Island and Connecticut moved forward on implementing the health law: Lawmakers in Providence approved legislation to bring state health insurance laws in line with the federal health care law. In Connecticut, the health insurance exchange board added a member.
State Roundup: Mass. Bill Seeking Alzheimer’s Care Standards Moves Forward
A selection of health policy stories from Massachusetts, Michigan, California, North Carolina and New York.
CalPERS Readies Nearly 10% Rate Hike; Blue Shield Of Calif. Faces Lawsuit
California’s Public Employees’ Retirement System premium increase is more than twice as large as last year’s. Meanwhile, the lawsuit against Blue Shield alleges that the insurer is seeking to push customers into new options that offer less coverage.
