Latest KFF Health News Stories
Study Finds Savings Low For Employers Capping Their Payments For Treatments
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) In an effort to slow health care spending, more employers are looking at capping what they pay for certain procedures — like joint replacements — and requiring insured workers who choose hospitals or medical facilities that exceed the cap to pay the difference themselves. But a […]
Burwell Meets The Press: Managing Expectations On Ebola, Healthcare.gov, ACA Year 2
http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js brightcove.createExperiences(); We’re working on it. No matter what the topic – from improving consumers’ experience with healthcare.gov, the health law’s Medicaid expansion, narrow networks and even Ebola — Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told reporters Thursday her agency is on it. During a breakfast with reporters sponsored by Kaiser […]
Federal Officials Unveil Streamlined Marketplace Website
Consumers using the federal healthcare.gov website when open enrollment begins next month should expect a faster website with a shorter application form and features making it easier to use on mobile devices, Obama administration officials said Wednesday. In a briefing with reporters, they showed off a live version of the updated site and said it […]
How One U.S. Hospital Braces For Ebola
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 […]
Study: Robotic Surgery More Costly For Ovarian Problems
We’ve heard it before — the robots are coming to save the day. But for certain medical procedures, that day may not be as close as you’d think. A study published today in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that robot-assisted surgeries to remove ovaries or ovarian cysts were more expensive and had more complications […]
Poll: Californians Support Health Coverage For Undocumented Immigrants
This story is part of a partnership that includes KQED, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) A majority of the state’s voters support extending current health insurance programs to all low-income Californians, including undocumented immigrants, according to a new statewide poll released today. The poll was commissioned by The California Endowment, […]
Long-Acting Contraceptives Help Reduce Teen Pregnancy Rates, Study Finds
Teenage girls who are given access to long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs or hormonal implants at no cost are less likely to become pregnant, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine released Wednesday. The findings come just two days after the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that health providers should consider […]
Deadline Today For 300,000 To Prove They Should Get Subsidies
KHN’s Julie Rovner was on WBUR’s Here and Now Tuesday morning to talk about the 300,000 people who stand to lose their health law subsidies if they don’t prove by today that they are eligible to get them. Listen to audio of the interview below:
California To Launch Medicaid-Funded Teledentistry
California Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill that would require Medi-Cal, the state’s insurance program for the poor, to pay for dental services delivered by teams of hygienists and dentists connected through the Internet. California is among the first states to launch such teledentistry services, which are intended to increase the options for […]
Calif. Governor Vetoes Bill To Protect Assets From Medi-Cal
This story is part of a partnership that includes Capital Public Radio, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Jerry Brown rejected an effort to protect the estates of Medicaid beneficiaries in California, the San Jose Mercury News reported Friday. The bill, which […]
After Glitch, CVS Gives 11,000 Birth Control Refunds
CVS Health will pay refunds to about 11,000 women whom it accidentally charged co-payments for generic prescription birth control – a violation of the federal health law – due to a price coding glitch affecting Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The company found that the charges resulted from an error that affected people […]
California Program Trains Young Men To Change Their Lives By Saving Others
On Thursday’s PBS NewsHour, KHN’s Sarah Varney reported on an innovative program in Oakland, Calif., that trains at risk youths to be emergency medical technicians. Watch the video below and read more on the NewsHour website.
For Gay Men, Gaps In HIV Knowledge And Treatment Persist
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Saturday is National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, but the news about knowledge and treatment of HIV in the gay community is dispiriting. Just 30 percent of gay and bisexual men say they were tested for HIV within the last year as recommended; another 30 percent […]
Consumer Group Sues 2 More Calif. Plans Over Narrow Networks
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Insurers Cigna and Blue Shield of California misled consumers about the size of their networks of doctors and hospitals, leaving enrollees frustrated and owing large bills, according to two lawsuits filed this week in Los Angeles. “As a result, many patients were left without coverage in the course […]
Report: Difficulties Likely To Persist In Enrolling Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders
Language and cultural issues, along with immigration concerns, could still pose major barriers to enrolling Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in health insurance plans this fall, according to a report released Wednesday by Action for Health Justice, an advocacy coalition that aims to educate these populations about the health law. The report argues that […]
How To Fix Medicare? Ask The Public
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Washington is full of ideas to overhaul Medicare. Some would increase the program’s eligibility age, others would charge higher-income beneficiaries more for their coverage. There’s movement to link payment to the quality — rather than the quantity — of care delivered. Marge Ginsburg decided to ask ordinary […]
San Francisco Politician: ‘I Take A Pill Called Truvada’
This story is part of a partnership that includes KQED, NPR and Kaiser Health News. It can be republished for free. (details) In an effort to combat stigma that has arisen around a treatment that prevents HIV, a San Francisco elected official announced publicly Wednesday that he is taking the medicine. City Supervisor Scott Wiener […]
Lawsuit Accuses Calif. of Denying Care to Medi-Cal Applicants
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) California’s lingering backlog of Medi-Cal applications has left hundreds of thousands of people unable to access the health care they are entitled to receive, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by a coalition of health advocates and legal services groups. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County […]
One-Quarter Of ACOs Save Enough Money To Earn Bonuses
About a quarter of the 243 groups of hospitals and doctors that banded together as accountable care organizations under the Affordable Care Act saved Medicare enough money to earn bonuses, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Tuesday. Those 64 ACOs earned a combined $445 million in bonuses, the agency said. Medicare saved $372 […]
Frustrated AMA Pitches ‘Action Plan’ On Digital Records
Saying that electronic health records distract doctors, take time away from care and make physicians less productive, an influential doctors’ group called on vendors and government agencies to work with them to develop better, easier-to-use technology. The American Medical Association asked the Obama administration to abandon its “all or nothing approach” requiring Medicare providers to go digital […]
