Latest KFF Health News Stories
House Votes To Extend COBRA Benefits For A Month, Bunning Stalls Senate Action
After the House passed a month-long extension of COBRA benefits for laid-off workers, the Senate Thursday failed to follow suit, putting in jeopardy unemployment benefits for laid off workers.
Fact-Checks Of The Bipartisan Health Care Summit
News outlets fact-check the bipartisan health care summit and provide analyses of the messaging and poll numbers lawmakers used during the day-long event.
Economic recession, state and federal investigations and a report that attributes soaring costs to health systems are affecting hospitals from New York to California.
California Subpoenas Financial Records Of Seven Biggest Insurers
“The California state attorney general’s office said Thursday that it had subpoenaed financial records of California’s seven largest health insurance companies as part of an investigation into whether they illegally raised customer premiums and denied payment of legitimate claims,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
Federal officials file suit against Florida cancer clinic over concerns about a lack of radiation supervision. Meanwhile, medical scan makers announce campaign to install safety controls to reduce radiation errors.
With Rate Cut Looming, Doctors Threaten To Stop Accepting Medicare Patients
With a 21 percent Medicare reimbursement rate cut set for Monday, some doctors are threatening to refuse new Medicare patients in their practices.
Federal Officials Seek To Root Out Financial And Medicare Fraud
The American Bar Association held a white-collar crime conference in Miami Thursday to detail how federal officials are trying to root out fraud, including scams involving Medicare.
First Edition: February 26, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports and analysis from yesterday’s White House health summit.
Health Summit Marked By Partisan Rancor
As the discussions ended, President Obama asked Republicans to “do a little soul-searching” to see if they could find some compromises with Democrats on a health care bill. But from the discussions, there was little evidence that lawmakers on either side are seeking common ground.
Beyond Blair House: Discussion Of Public Option, ‘Cadillac Tax’ Continue
As lawmakers and President Obama discuss health care at the Blair House summit, news reports ply two policy issues in the latest overhaul proposal, the public option and the “Cadillac tax.”
Bipartisanship Unlikely After Health Summit; Party Unity Obama’s Next Best Bet
President Obama and Republican lawmakers will have an opportunity to make bipartisan concessions during Thursday’s summit
WellPoint Executive Defends Premium Increases At Congressional Hearing
Higher medical costs that could be made worse by health care legislation forced a top insurer to raise their premiums, WellPoint’s executive told a congressional committee Wednesday.
House Passes Bill To Repeal Antitrust Exemption For Health Insurers
The House passed legislation Wednesday to strip health insurers of their federal antitrust exemption.
States handle a variety of policy issues including high insurance hikes in Connecticut and disability Medicaid cuts in Tennessee.
Today’s OpEds Include Opinions From Sebelius, DeParle, Issa, Thune
Kaiser Health News presents a sampling of Thursday’s opinions and editorials from around America.
Reid Upset After Republicans Block COBRA Benefits Extension Request
Roll Call reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized Republicans Wednesday for denying a unanimous consent request to extend COBRA health benefits slated to soon expire.
Lawsuit Alleges Medtronic Illegally Marketed Stent Device For Unapproved Use
A complaint filed in federal court last week “alleges Medtronic Inc illegally marketed a relatively obscure medical device called a biliary stent in ways not approved by federal regulators,” The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune reports.
Poll: Health Bills Remain Unpopular, But Individual Provisions Get High Marks
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds that “[a]lthough the overall health care reform bills passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate are unpopular, many of the provisions in the existing bills are extremely popular, even among Republicans, according to a new national poll,” CNN reports.
New York Times examines cool politics between president and Republicans. In other news, Rep. Stupak will not be at summit but renews call for tight abortion language in health bill. Sen. Specter says he could support a move to reconciliation.
