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Video: Ex-Medicare Administrator Says Premium Support “Is Going To Have To Happen”

KFF Health News Original

In an interview with KHN’s Marilyn Werber Serafini, former CMS administrator Thomas Scully urges both parties to take a second look at the premium support model for overhauling Medicare.

Romney Clinches Nomination, Promises Health Law Rollback On ‘Day One’

KFF Health News Original

Now the presumptive GOP nominee, the former Mass. governor warns in a Las Vegas speech that health law will “make it harder for small businesses to hire and grow.”

Former CMS Chiefs: Medicare SGR Problem Can Be Fixed

KFF Health News Original

The Senate Finance Committee convened a group of former Medicare administrators Thursday — Gail Wilensky, Bruce Vladeck, Thomas Scully and Mark McClellan — to discuss how they viewed the current crisis on physician fees and the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, the “doc fix” problem.

Interactive Chart: Medicare Spending At Individual Hospitals

KFF Health News Original

The Average Hospital Spending Per Patient measure in the chart below shows how much the federal program spends for the average patient admitted at a specific hospital, compared to how much Medicare spends per patient nationally. This measure includes all payments to doctors, hospitals or other facilities for services provided to a patient during the […]

Interactive Chart: Medicare Spending By State

KFF Health News Original

The Average Hospital Spending Per Patient measure in the chart below shows how much Medicare spends per patient at hospitals in that state, compared to how much Medicare spends per patient nationally. This measure includes all payments to doctors, hospitals or other facilities for services provided to a patient during the three days before the […]

Obama On The Stump: Don’t Turn Back The Clock On Health Reform

KFF Health News Original

In a pair of speeches on Saturday, President Obama fired up Democratic party faithful in Ohio and Virginia. He spoke about his plans for — and record on — Medicare, health insurance and birth control. And he vowed that the country “will not go back to the days when insurance companies had unchecked power to cancel your policy.”

‘Virtual’ Consultations: A Physician’s View

KFF Health News Original

Once a month, Dr. Ankush Bansal, an internist, travels to his home in Miami to see patients virtually via computer for three different health care companies. Bansal said he doesn’t think telemedicine will replace practicing traditional medicine.

Health On The Hill: Competing Prescriptions For Medicare’s Financial Health

KFF Health News Original

KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini join Jackie Judd to preview this week’s House hearings on Medicare and to dig into the details of the Medicare trustees’ report.

Q&A: Can I Be Denied Coverage For My Daughter Who Is Returning To College?

KFF Health News Original

The health law allows parents to enroll their adult children in their insurance plan until they are 26. A reader asks Michelle Andrews if that applies to individual plans.

Head Of Community Health Center Group Critiques KHN Story

KFF Health News Original

This letter, from Tom Van Coverden, President and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers, is in response to Wednesday’s KHN story Community Health Centers Under Pressure to Improve Care.

Video: Georgia Clinic Seeks To Meet Health Needs Of Many

KFF Health News Original

Providing adequate primary care at Oakhurst Medical Center, a community health center in Georgia, is often hampered by language and cultural barriers that separate immigrants seeking care at the center from the doctors who care for them.

How This Story Was Reported

KFF Health News Original

To determine the quality of care the nearly 1,200 federally funded health centers provide to more than 20 million people, Kaiser Health News used the U.S. Freedom of Information Act to obtain data showing how individual health centers performed in 2010 based on six patient care measures: controlling blood sugar of diabetics and blood pressure […]

Different Takes: How Massachusetts Can Control Health Care Costs

KFF Health News Original

Kaiser Health News asked Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick, Massachusetts Hospital Association President Lynn Nichols, Health Care For All’s Paul Williams and Massachusetts Medical Society’s Lynda Young about how the state can reform the health care payment system to control costs.