Latest KFF Health News Stories
What’s Next For Pennsylvania’s Medicaid Expansion?
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has backed away from a controversial work search requirement in his Medicaid overhaul proposal that’s now under federal review. Even so, experts say it’s unclear whether that move will be enough for the plan to gain final approval. At stake are billions of dollars in federal funding for Pennsylvania and new […]
Obamacare On Campus: Reaching The Young And Uninsured
Young adults may be key to the success of Obamacare. Insurance companies need a mix of ages, and a mix of healthy and sick people to balance out the costs for everyone — and young people tend to be healthier. But persuading them to sign up for health insurance is no easy task. Many don’t know about […]
Obama Urges Latinos To Sign Up For Insurance Now
President Barack Obama appealed directly to Latinos on Thursday, telling them time is running out to sign up for health coverage this year and that they should enroll now to avoid problems. Open enrollment in the health law’s online health insurance marketplaces closes March 31 for coverage this year and that date won’t be extended, Obama said […]
Insurers Take The Lead To Reach Florida Latinos
For all of California’s troubles advertising to Latinos, that state has embraced the 2010 health law and is spending millions of dollars to get people to sign up. Florida is a different story. Florida has a high rate of uninsured Latinos — almost 10 percent of all the country’s uninsured Hispanics who are eligible for […]
Survey: Employers Less Confident Of Future Health Benefits
Big employers are pretty sure they’ll keep offering workers health care coverage. But they seem a lot less sure than they used to be, according to a survey released Thursday. Only one large company in four recently surveyed by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health is confident it will provide medical coverage […]
Washington State’s Insurance Ads: Quirky And Hip Or Offensive?
This story was produced in partnership with Are the new ads promoting health insurance for Washington state’s young people quirky, hip and funny — or are they insulting and offensive? Michael Marchand says it doesn’t matter. “I don’t care if people like or hate what I’m doing, so long as they get the URL right,” said […]
60,000 With HIV Left Uninsured In States Not Expanding Medicaid
The Affordable Care Act is generally a win for people living with HIV and AIDS, about 30 percent of whom are uninsured. It offers new health insurance options — both private and public — to a group that had been largely locked out of the individual insurance market because of rules about preexisting conditions. In […]
Co-Ops Report Early Enrollment Successes And Expansion Plans
The Affordable Care Act’s nonprofit co-op health plans, which see themselves as the rebel alliance battling established insurers, have signed close to 300,000 members and are set to expand into three new states next year, officials say. Starting from zero in October, New York’s Health Republic Insurance has enrolled more than 50,000 policyholders, said John Morrison, who […]
Integrating Yoga Into Medical Practice – It’s More Than ‘Just Relaxation Response’
Rajan Narayanan isn’t your average yoga instructor. During his classes, he uses words like “neuroplasticity,”avoids Sanskrit terms and sometimes shows up to teach in a suit and tie. And often, like on this particular Monday at a Maryland conference center, most of his students are physicians and nurses. Stretched out on orange and green yoga mats […]
Poll: For Right Price, Consumers Will Accept Limited Choice Of Doctors, Hospitals
People buying health insurance through the health law’s new online marketplaces are more willing than the public at large to accept a limited roster of doctors and hospitals in return for lower premiums, a poll released Wednesday finds. But that enthusiasm nosedives if they are told their regular doctor isn’t included in the plan. As a […]
Tenet Expects 15% Of Its Uninsured To Get Obamacare Coverage
Tenet Healthcare Corp., the nation’s third largest for-profit hospital operator, said Tuesday it expects 15 percent of its uninsured patients to get covered this year as a result of the Affordable Care Act. But the company isn’t counting yet on any higher profits from the shift, Tenet officials said after a conference call with Wall Street […]
Rep. John Dingell, Long-Time Champion Of Health Legislation, Will Not Seek Re-Election
Another health care legend is retiring on Capitol Hill. Rep. John D. Dingell, a Michigan Democrat who was a key player in many health care battles in Congress, including enactment of the 2010 health care law and his push for a “Patient’s Bill of Rights” in the late 1990s and early 2000s, said Monday he […]
Arkansas Medicaid Fight All About The Math, Governor Says
http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js brightcove.createExperiences();Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe says his strategy to win over state lawmakers skeptical about continuing the state’s Medicaid expansion is to show them the money. “It’s arithmetic, it’s not even math,” Beebe said Monday at a media briefing sponsored by Kaiser Health News and Health Affairs. The Democratic governor said if the Arkansas legislature opts against going […]
40 Percent Of Enrollees Through eHealth Website Are Young Adults
Whether enough young people are signing up for insurance coverage under the health law remains a point of debate among its critics and supporters. Now both sides have some new data. Private online marketplace eHealth reported that the percentage of people between the ages of 18 and 34 who applied for coverage through the firm’s website […]
Quick Update Of State Insurance Exchanges: Still A Mixed Bag
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. With a bit more than a month left for people to sign up for health insurance plans set up under the Affordable Care Act, the federal website known as healthcare.gov finally seems to be working smoothly — in 36 states. But what’s happening in the 14 […]
Latino Insurance Enrollment Picks Up In California, But …
Enrollment in health insurance plans through Covered California in the first two weeks of February maintained the same pace reported for the last two weeks of January, while Latino enrollment jumped significantly in January, according to state data released yesterday. About 100,000 people signed up during the first two weeks of February, almost exactly matching […]
California Faces Steep Challenges As Obamacare Launches, Report Finds
As it prepares to offer coverage to its millions of uninsured residents through the Affordable Care Act, California faces daunting challenges and provides useful lessons for the rest of the nation, according to a survey and analysis released Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The Kaiser Family Foundation’s report, based on a survey of 2,500 adult Californians before enrollment began […]
Why Is There Such A Difference In What Health Insurance Costs?
KHN’s Jordan Rau was on NPR’s Morning Edition Wednesday morning talking about why there’s such a difference among places with the most expensive and least expensive health coverage. Listen below:
Bipartisan Group Of Senators Concerned About Medicare Advantage Cuts
Some Democrats have now joined their Republican counterparts in asking the Obama administration to moderate scheduled Medicare Advantage payment cuts for 2015. In a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, a bipartisan coalition of 40 senators urged the administration “to maintain payment levels that will allow [Medicare Advantage] beneficiaries to […]
California Bill Would Extend Health Coverage To All Residents
In a push to cover immigrants excluded from the nation’s health reform law, a California state senator has proposed legislation that would offer health insurance for all Californians, including those living here illegally. The bill would extend state-funded Medi-Cal to low-income immigrants who, because they are in the country without permission, are now eligible only for emergency and […]
