Florida Readies Its Own Health Insurance Exchange
But it’s unlike the online marketplace required by the federal health law and draws only tepid support from health plans and insurance agents.
Advisory Panel Says Essential Health Benefits Package Must Be Affordable
The Department of Health and Human Services now must decide what benefits should be required in policies sold through insurance exchanges beginning in 2014.
Administration Scales Back Expansion Of Community Health Centers
Health centers fear they won’t be able to expand fast enough to meet the growing demand from the current uninsured and the influx of people to Medicaid in 2014.
When the potato lobby speaks, it always puts its best spuds forward. Today, at a National Press Club lunchtime briefing to promote the nutritional value of the vegetable, that meant a full bar of baked potatoes, french fries (baked, not fried) and all the requiste trimmings — sour cream, cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes, spinach and broccoli. Yes, according […]
Forget HMOs And ACOs, Oregon Is Pushing CCOs To Save Medicaid
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, a Democrat, wants to prove his state can contain soaring Medicaid costs without reducing services to recipients or slashing fees to doctors and hospitals. And when he’s done, he wants to apply this same strategy to saving Medicare. Kitzhaber is in Washington this week meeting with top federal health officials about his state’s […]
Florida CHIP Program ‘Treading Water’
Despite the tough economy, Florida’s Children’s Health Insurance Program added just 2,000 children in the year ended June 30, for a growth rate of less than 1 percent. Among school-age kids, the program added just 700 children. Before last year, the Florida CHIP progam was growing by about 8 percent a year. It now has about […]
Parents Fear Health Law Could Derail Autism Coverage
As federal officials draw up their list of requirements for essential health benefits under the overhaul, it’s not clear whether they will include treatment mandates passed by many states.
Survey: ‘Super Committee’ Has Yet To Earn Americans’ Trust
Americans have little faith the bipartisan congressional “super committee” will reduce the federal deficit, according to a survey released Friday. Sixty-two percent of respondents said they either trust the super committee “just a little” or “not at all” to make the right recommendations to cut the deficit, according to the poll by the Kaiser Family […]
Nearly 1 Million Young Adults Get Insurance Under Health Law
Nearly 1 million young adults have gained health coverage this year following the passage of the health overhaul law, which lets them stay on their parents’ insurance up to age 26, according to a federal report released today. The report’s findings show the number of people getting coverage is running ahead of the administration’s estimate […]
In Pennsylvania, It May Really Pay To Be On Medicaid
Pennsylvania is considering paying Medicaid recipients – in some cases as much as $200 – as an incentive to visit higher quality and lower cost hospitals and doctors. Experts say the strategy has never been tried by other states. Gary Alexander, the state’s Medicaid director, said his agency hopes to launch the plan by early […]
The Specifics: How Obama Plans To Cut Health Programs By $320 Billion
Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports that the biggest cut to Medicare requires pharmaceutical companies to lower the rates for low-income beneficiaries.
Medicare Advantage Premiums To Fall 4% Next Year
Administration says dire predictions of damage from the health law have not materialized.
Medicare Advantage Premiums Falling 4% In 2012
For some Medicare beneficiaries, the good times seem to keep rolling along. For seniors enrolled in private Medicare plans, premiums will drop by an average of 4 percent in 2012 while benefits remain stable, Obama administration officials said today. Last year CMS projected an average 1 percent drop in 2011 premiums, but the actual drop was 7 […]
Recount: Census Changes How It Estimates The Uninsured
Oops. Last year, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated there were 50.7 million uninsured Americans in 2009. Today, it revised the figure for 2009 down to 49 million after adjusting the way it counts. What gives? For years, researchers have complained that the Census Bureau overestimates the number of uninsured because of the way it accounts […]
Health Insurers Deny Coverage To Many Who Apply For Individual Policies
Data from a federal website show that denial rates routinely exceed 20 percent and often are much higher.
Berwick Turns 65: Medicare Chief First To Join Medicare
Friday is a big day for Medicare chief Donald Berwick. He turns 65 and will become the first head of the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled to be a beneficiary at the same time. “I’m excited,” he told KHN in a pre-birthday interview Thursday. “I feel like I’m in my 20s […]
Seeking The Best Place For Long-Term Care? Head North
Updated at 1:00 p.m. If you think there’s a demand now for long-term care services, just wait 20 years. By the time baby boomers hit their 70s and 80s, there will be a huge surge in need. And, according to a report released today, in many places there isn’t nearly enough to help to go around. The […]
Seniors Falling Into Doughnut Hole Buy Fewer Drugs
About 12 percent of people receiving the Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2009 fell into the gap in coverage — the much maligned “doughnut hole” — according to a study released today. While in the doughnut hole beneficiaries bought fewer drugs, including about 11 percent fewer monthly prescriptions in 2009, compared to when they’re still getting prescriptions […]
Deficit Hawk Or Dove? Enzi’s Autism Stance
Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., has been among the more outspoken members of Congress calling for major reductions in federal spending to reduce the budget deficit. But on Wednesday, at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee meeting, he was part of a unanimous vote for nearly $700 million in funding for autism research and treatment. In […]
