Connecticut Governor Targets Hospital Funds To Close Budget Gap

KFF Health News Original

When Gov. Dannel Malloy pushed to tax Connecticut hospitals in 2012, he said the money would come back to the institutions through state funding. Now the hospital association says he is reneging, and they are threatening a lawsuit.

In Louisiana, Obamacare Subsidies Mean Financial Independence For Some

KFF Health News Original

Meet three people from the Bayou State who would likely lose their insurance and their newfound sense of financial stability if the Supreme Court rules subsidies illegal in the King v. Burwell case.

What’s At Stake In The Supreme Court Obamacare Case

KFF Health News Original

Despite political opposition to the Affordable Care Act, more than 186,000 people in Louisiana signed up for health insurance through healthcare.gov. The vast majority of those received subsidies, which could be lost in the King v. Burwell case before the Supreme Court.

Tax Preparers Brace To Be Bearers Of Bad Health Law News

KFF Health News Original

With Affordable Care Act open enrollment ending Feb. 15, taxpayers could find themselves shut out of health insurance – and saddled with big fines – if they don’t do their taxes early this year.

State Health Insurance Exchanges Hope To Woo Urban Minorities

KFF Health News Original

Tomorrow it begins again – open enrollment for Obamacare. Two very successful state health insurance exchanges, Connecticut’s and California’s, are both intent on reaching people who avoided signing up last year – especially young Latinos and African-Americans. “The big takeaway for us last year was that the uninsured were really pocketed in a couple of […]

How One U.S. Hospital Braces For Ebola

KFF Health News Original

This story is part of a partnership that includes WNPR, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) Dr. Jack Ross is used to seeing potentially lethal viruses, and he is used to putting patients into isolation. Still, Ebola is different. “I think, for any hospital today, Ebola represents one step higher than anything […]

New Head of Healthcare.gov Is Connecticut’s Counihan

KFF Health News Original

Kevin Counihan, the head of Connecticut’s health insurance marketplace, will be the new CEO of healthcare.gov, the website that 36 states use to sell insurance under the Affordable Care Act, the administration announced at noon Tuesday.

Cops In Conn. Train In Mental Health 101

KFF Health News Original

The intersection of law enforcement and mental health has been a huge issue in Connecticut since the Newtown shootings. One department is training 20 percent of its officers to handle people with mental illnesses better.

Conn. Governor To Feds: Get Your Act Together On Healthcare.gov

KFF Health News Original

Gov. Dannel Malloy said the rollout of Obamacare in Connecticut has been a success — but it would be a bigger success if the federal health marketplace weren’t doing so badly. “I hope that the federal folks get their act together in the remainder of the month, because I’m tired of sharing their bad news […]

Insurance Exchange Outreach In Connecticut Goes Far Afield

KFF Health News Original

Across Connecticut, you can see billboards and television ads, hear radio spots and get pamphlets, all about how to get insurance under the new federal health law starting Oct. 1. But the state also is spending big bucks on less traditional ways to get the word out. So at beaches this summer, outreach workers handed […]

Schizophrenia, Suicide And One Family’s Anguish

KFF Health News Original

Homer Bell was 54 years old when he committed suicide in April in a very public way — he laid down in front of a bus in his hometown of Hartford, Conn. It was the culmination of three decades of suffering endured by Bell and his family because of his illness, schizophrenia. Harold Schwartz, the […]

Health Insurers Move Ahead, With Or Without Individual Mandate

KFF Health News Original

Cigna’s CEO, David Cordani, says the insurance industry started changing how it does business before health reform became law in 2010 and that it will continue to change, no matter what happens at the Supreme Court.