Jay Hancock

Wait For Obamacare Price Tags Could Be Months

KFF Health News Original

Last week Vermont became the first state to provide a glimpse of how expensive individual health insurance might be under the Affordable Care Act. Proposed rates there, while of questionable relevance to the rest of the country because of the state’s unusual insurance market, showed little change from current prices and reassured health law supporters […]

Study: States Lag On Tracking Potential Obamacare Loophole

KFF Health News Original

What if there were a way for even small employers to escape some Affordable Care Act rules blamed for driving up costs? Some see self-insurance for medical care, which is exempt from the law’s taxes, benefit rules and price restrictions taking effect next year, as just such an opportunity. Self-insured firms finance most worker health costs and […]

Temp Agencies See Opportunity In Health Law

KFF Health News Original

Some employers — worried about the cost of health coverage — are eyeing staffing agencies to fill jobs. But these arrangements could leave gaps in the health law’s expanded coverage.

Small Businesses Pursue Health Law ‘Loophole’

KFF Health News Original

Self-insurance, once the purview of only large companies, is becoming popular with small employers, too. But it could be a threat to the Affordable Care Act, since self-insured companies are exempt from many of the health law’s requirements.

Expert: Hospitals’ ‘Humongous Monopoly’ Drives Prices High

KFF Health News Original

The American Enterprise Institute didn’t plan its panel last week on hospital consolidation to coincide with Steve Brill’s much-talked-about Time magazine article on hospital prices. But the Friday session could have taken the piece, Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us, as its text. Participants mentioned it several times. The basic message, delivered at the pro-markets […]

Tenet Shows Hospitals Will Cut Prices For Exchange Patients — But Only So Much

KFF Health News Original

How much will hospitals reduce prices in an effort to win what are expected to be millions of newly insured patients under the Affordable Care Act? A little, not a lot, if deals disclosed this week by Tenet Healthcare are any indication. The Dallas-based hospital chain told analysts that its first contracts to treat patients buying policies in the ACA’s online marketplaces […]

Health Technology’s ‘Essential Critic’ Warns Of Medical Mistakes

KFF Health News Original

“We’re in the midst of a mania right now,” Dr. Scot Silverstein warns, speaking of the race to adopt electronic health records. “We know it causes harm, and we don’t even know the level of magnitude. That statement alone should be the basis for the greatest of caution and slowing down.”

As Hospital Challenges Rise, Their Bond Ratings Fall

KFF Health News Original

Nonprofit hospitals don’t issue stock, so you can’t track their financial health by the ups and downs of share prices. But many sell bonds, and it’s fair to say that hospital bonds haven’t fared as well recently as the Dow Jones average. Last year set a record for hospital-bond downgrades, as debt levels rose and hospitals faced the […]

Not Too Early To Plan For Health Taxes, H&R Block Says

KFF Health News Original

Even if you owe Affordable Care Act taxes, you probably won’t have to start paying them until next year. But H&R Block wants you to come in and talk about them now. “The Affordable Care Act means big changes this year when you file your taxes,” a chipper Block employee says in a new television ad. She says the company offers a free […]

Under Tight Budgets, Public Health Spending Falls For First Time

KFF Health News Original

Policymakers took heart from another year of relatively slow health-spending growth in 2011, documented by government statisticians and disclosed in a report Monday. But one aspect of moderating health expenditures — and the only category showing outright decline — could cost more than it saves. Hit by recession and tight budgets, spending on public health by federal, state and local governments […]

HHS Stops Short Of Calling For Safety Regulation Of Digital Records

KFF Health News Original

The Obama administration Friday urged cooperation between software companies and caregivers to prevent patient harm caused by faulty electronic records. But it stopped short of calling for regulation or a federal requirement to report computer mistakes that pose a risk to patients. “We are saying to the vendors: Step up and prove your ability to […]

The Gun Lobby’s Favorite Part Of The Health Law

KFF Health News Original

Updated at 12:00 noon. Did you know the Affordable Care Act stands up for gun rights?  The “Protection of Second Amendment Gun Rights” section (page 19 in this PDF) says the health law’s wellness programs can’t require participants to give information about guns in the house. It also keeps the Department of Health and Human […]

Health Cost Bite To Family Budgets Sinks Deeper

KFF Health News Original

Medical costs aren’t just breaking government budgets. The price of commercial health insurance has risen five times faster than family incomes since 2003 even as the financial security it offers has shrunk, says a new Commonwealth Fund report that underscores how medicine is consuming bigger and bigger parts of the private economy. “Wherever you live in the United States, health insurance is expensive, and […]

Patients Often Don’t Realize Preventive Care Is Free, Study Says

KFF Health News Original

Researchers have known that members of high-deductible health plans, a rapidly growing type of coverage, seem to get less preventive care than people who pay lower out-of-pocket costs. But evidence for why was scanty. After all, under the 2010 Affordable Care Act many preventive screenings and treatments are covered with no out-of-pocket cost at all, even for high-deductible insurance. […]

Employer Health Costs Rise 4 Percent, Lowest Increase Since 1997

KFF Health News Original

Furnishing new evidence of slower growth in health costs, consulting firm Mercer said Wednesday that employers spent 4.1 percent more on health benefits this year than in 2011. It was the smallest increase in 15 years. One reason, but probably not the only one: Employers shifted costs to workers through higher deductibles. Nearly 60 percent of very large employers (more than 20,000 workers) […]