Phil Galewitz

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pgalewitz@kff.org
@philgalewitz

Needy Patients ‘Caught In The Middle’ As Insurance Titan Drops Doctors

KFF Health News Original

UnitedHealthcare is dropping hundreds of physicians from its New Jersey Medicaid network, separating patients from longtime doctors. Physicians charge the insurer is using its market power to shift business to practices it controls.

Despite New Doubts, ‘Hotspotting’ Help For Heavy Health Care Users Marches On

KFF Health News Original

A high-profile effort in Camden, New Jersey, to reduce health spending by identifying high-cost patients and giving them more coordinated and preventive medical care has been copied around the country. Many of those groups are pushing forward with the efforts, despite a recent critical study of the Camden initiative.

Employers’ Dream Of Controlling Health Costs Turns To Workers’ Sleep

KFF Health News Original

Sleep is the latest in an ever-growing list of wellness issues — such as weight loss, exercise and nutrition — that firms are targeting to improve workers’ health and lower medical costs.

Obamacare Back At The High Court — With Billions For Insurers On The Line

KFF Health News Original

The case revolves around a health law provision designed to help insurers recover some losses because they had an unusually high number of sick and expensive customers. Insurers complain that when Republican lawmakers discontinued funding the program, it was like “Lucy Van Pelt pulling the football away from Charlie Brown.”

Tenn. Block Grant Experiment Would Boost Federal Funding, State Medicaid Chief Says

KFF Health News Original

In a Q&A with Kaiser Health News, Tennessee Medicaid Director Gabe Roberts says state officials are requesting a modified block grant from federal officials because it would save money and allow the state to keep some of that savings.

Walmart To Give Workers Financial Incentives To Use Higher-Quality Doctors

KFF Health News Original

The program, which will roll out next year in three parts of the country, seeks to encourage workers on the company’s health plan to choose doctors that have been identified as providing “appropriate, effective and cost-efficient care.”