Republicans Focus On Contraception To Woo Women Voters
But a new pitch by Republican candidates to make the birth control pill available without a prescription could have unintended financial consequences for women.
Readmissions Penalties By State: Year 3
Medicare evaluated the readmission rates of the nation’s hospitals in determining the third year of penalties in the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program. This table lists the average impact on hospitals in each state.
Hospitals React To Proton Therapy Questions
Three hospitals react to KHN’s story on proton therapy with the statements.
HHS Official: Healthcare.gov Updates Will Be ‘Improvement But Not Perfection’
Testifying before a House subcommittee, a key Obama administration official lays out the updates that HHS is making to the online marketplaces before enrollment begins in November. Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro’s Jennifer Haberkorn discuss.
Letters to the Editor is a regular feature in which readers comment on KHN original stories.
House Panel Focuses ‘Microscope’ On Marketplace Open Enrollment
House members examined concerns raised in a GAO report about the healthcare.gov website during a subcommittee hearing Thursday. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and CQ Roll Call’s Melissa Attias discuss.
Letters To The Editor: A New Medical Convenience; ‘Copper Plans’ And Other Coverage Issues
Letters to the Editor is a regular feature in which readers comment on KHN original stories.
What The Hobby Lobby Decision Means For Employers
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and legal analyst Stuart Taylor discuss Monday’s ruling on the health law’s contraception mandate, examining what the decision could mean for future challenges to the law.
Patient Injuries: Hospitals Most Likely To Be Penalized By Medicare
Out of all 761 hospitals that are in line to be penalized for high rates of infections and complications this fall, 175 of them are most likely to be penalized because their preliminary scores are nine or above on a scale of 1 to 10.
Budget Referees Make It Harder To Evaluate Obamacare Costs
The Congressional Budget Office will no longer evaluate the fiscal implications of some parts of the Affordable Care Act, partly because of all the changes made during implementation. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and The Fiscal Times’ Eric Pianin discuss.
This periodic KHN feature highlights readers’ thoughts and reactions to KHN original stories.
Should Medicare Pay The Same No Matter Where The Patient Gets Care?
That question was the focus of a House subcommittee hearing Wednesday, and it’s an important issue in the context of the debate over ending the Medicare SGR. Mary Agnes Carey and CQ HealthBeat’s John Reichard discuss.
Bipartisan Praise For Nominee To Lead HHS In Senate Hearing
Despite the warm reception from members of the Senate HELP panel, Republican senators had tough questions for Sylvia Mathews Burwell about implementation of the health law. Mary Agnes Carey and CQ Roll Call’s Melissa Attias discuss what’s next for the nomination.
Obama Announces 8 Million Have Enrolled In Marketplace Plans
The president also announced that 35 percent of people who enrolled on the federally run healthcare.gov marketplace are under age 35.
Obama Hails Sebelius’ ‘Extraordinary Service’
Obama said in remarks at the White House that Kathleen Sebelius told him in March that she was going to step down as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services after the health law’s first open enrollment period came to an end. Sebelius also spoke at the event Friday.
Letters to the Editor is a periodic KHN feature.
State Exchange Executives Face Tough Questions From House Subcommittee
For some states, like California, things have gone well. But the rollout in states like Maryland and Oregon has been rocky. Mary Agnes Carey and CQ Roll Call’s Emily Ethridge discuss what we’ve learned about why some did better than others.
Obama: ‘The Affordable Care Act Is Here To Stay’
It a statement in the White House Rose Garden, the president Tuesday touted over 7 million sign-ups for health insurance on the health law’s marketplaces.
Permanent ‘Doc Fix’ May Be On Hold As House Passes Short-Term Patch
In a voice vote Thursday, the House passed yet another short-term patch to the Medicare physician payment formula. Mary Agnes Carey and CQ Roll Call’s Emily Ethridge discuss what that means for the effort to make long-term changes to how providers are paid.
Lawmakers Weigh Changes To Medicare
The House this week held a hearing on payment shifts in Medicare Advantage plans and has scheduled a vote Friday on a proposal to revamp the system for paying doctors. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro’s Jennifer Haberkorn discuss the issues.
