Julie Rovner

High Court Rules Anti-Abortion Group Can Sue Over Election ‘Truth-Telling’ Law

KFF Health News Original

A group challenging an Ohio election law that makes it a crime to make “false statements” about a candidate’s record during a campaign has standing to challenge the constitutionality of that law, according to today’s unanimous Supreme Court decision. The opinion, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, did NOT strike down Ohio’s false statement law. But […]

Medicare Could Save Billions By Scrapping Random Drug Plan Assignment

KFF Health News Original

A new study finds that Medicare is spending billions of dollars more than it needs to on prescription drugs for low-income seniors and disabled beneficiaries. In 2013, an estimated 10 million people who participate in the Medicare prescription drug program, known as Part D, received government subsidies to help pay for that coverage. They account […]

Pre-Existing Condition Bans – Are They Really Gone?

KFF Health News Original

“Welcome to Cigna,” said the letter, dated May 16, on behalf of my new employer, the Kaiser Family Foundation. They were placing me on a one-year waiting period for any pre-existing conditions. Seriously? Wasn’t the health law was supposed to end that? “We have reviewed the evidence of prior creditable coverage provided by you and/or […]

Report: Federal Exchange A Comparative Bargain

KFF Health News Original

Sometimes there really are economies of scale. And the nation’s health insurance exchanges may be a case in point. As rocky as its rollout was, it cost the federal exchange, healthcare.gov, an average of $647 of federal tax dollars to sign up each enrollee, according to a new report.  It cost an average of $1,503 […]