Latest KFF Health News Stories
Tight Medicaid Eligibility Leads To More Adults Delaying Care
Hidalgo is a county in southern Texas just across the Rio Grande from Mexico. It’s also home to the highest prevalence of U.S. adults – about 40 percent of the population– delaying necessary medical care because of cost, according to data in the March 28 New England Journal of Medicine. The research letter in the March 28 […]
Audit Finds Shortcomings In Minn. Verifications Of Income, Other Information
An audit released Tuesday shows Minnesota’s Department of Human Services has not been adequately verifying the eligibility of participants in some of its public assistance programs. Such verifications are a requirement of state and federal law, and the legislative auditor says his office first alerted the department to some of the problems more than a decade ago. […]
A Bridge To Health — And Away From ER Overuse
There are patients in almost every hospital emergency room who do not need urgent care. They are there because they don’t have health insurance or a regular physician, or they didn’t know what else to do. Often, they are repeat visitors. It’s a problem that leads to emergency department overuse and contributes to spiraling health […]
Arkansas Medicaid Plan, Born Of Necessity, Shakes Things Up
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Since the Supreme Court made the Medicaid expansion under the federal health law optional last year, states’ decisions have largely split along party lines. States run by Democrats have been opting in; states run by Republicans have mostly been saying no or holding back. But now Arkansas – at the […]
Officials Unveil More Details Of Colo. Exchange Funding
A week after approving a tax on health insurance policies, Colorado officials are offering more details of their plans to fund the state’s health insurance exchange after federal backing runs out in 2014. Last week the state’s exchange board approved, with broad support, a 1.4 percent fee on all policies sold in the exchange. This […]
Doctors Eager For Evidence About Integrated Health Systems
Doctors say they are finding more opportunities in the integrated health systems that have been touted in the federal health law, such as accountable care organizations, which are groups of health providers and hospitals that work together to improve patient care and lower costs. But they are still hesitant to change their practices without more evidence […]
Who Are The Uninsured? The Feds Parse The Numbers
There are 48.4 million uninsured Americans — about 18 percent of the population — according to the last Census. But who are they? And what is the best way to get them signed up for new health insurance coverage options that roll out this fall? The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has just released […]
Some Medical Students Seek A Match For Two
More than 17,000 fourth-year medical students found out where they’ll be completing the final years of their medical education on “Match Day” last Friday. But unlike most of their peers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, John Zampella and Matthew Huddle weren’t focused on where they’ll be doing their medical residency training. Instead, […]
Poll: Three Years Later, Americans Still Don’t Understand Health Law
It’s been three years since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law, yet two-thirds of uninsured adults — the very people the law sets out to help — say they still don’t know what it means for them. Sixty-seven percent of the uninsured younger than age 65 — and 57 percent of […]
States Balk At Enforcing Health Law’s Insurance Protections
Florida regulators won’t penalize insurance companies that violate new health law consumer protections that take effect in January but will report them to the federal government, according to an agreement between the state and federal officials. Citing lack of money and legal authority, Pennsylvania’s top insurance regulator hasn’t decided whether his agency can enforce the provisions, […]
29 States Get ‘F’ For Price Transparency Laws
Wonder why you can’t get a straight answer on how much a health care procedure will cost you? One big reason: State laws which allow hospitals and other providers to keep costs hidden until they send you the bill. A report card on price transparency released today gives 29 states an “F” and seven states […]
Matchmaker, Er, Match Week, Make Me A Doc
Fourth-year medical students have been talking a lot about their perfect match these days: first impressions, the one who called right after they met, some that were too far away. For many, “match week” — this week — is what they’ve been working toward over the past four years. It’s the week that decides if, and […]
Midnight Drama As Minnesota House Passes Exchange Bill
Landmark health insurance legislation is on its way to the Minnesota Senate after the House approved it shortly after midnight on Friday. The House passed a conference committee’s proposal to reconcile the differences in House and Senate bills enacting a Minnesota health insurance exchange. The ever-controversial exchange bill had a bumpy ride in the House, as […]
Minnesota Exchange Bill Moves Forward Without Abortion Restrictions
UPDATE, 7 a.m. March 15: The Minnesota House approved the conference committee bill in a dramatic midnight vote after hours of heated debate. Elizabeth Stawicki’s report on the vote will be posted shortly. ST. PAUL, MINN. — Abortion restrictions have been cut from a final version of Minnesota’s health insurance exchange bill that will impact how more […]
Colorado Sets Its Exchange Fee
The price of policies in Colorado’s health insurance exchange will include a 1.4 percent fee to help fund exchange operations. The state’s exchange board voted to enact the fee Monday. Board Chairwoman Gretchen Hammer characterized it as lean compared with the 3.5 percent fee the federal government is expected to tack on to policies sold […]
Dick And Jane Sign Up For The Exchange
Signing up for health insurance is intimidating — even if you know you might get some help paying for it. The federal government is trying hard to come up with a way to make the process a bit more palatable — about as simple as, say, doing your taxes online. The Centers for Medicare and […]
Difference In What Medicare Spends On Cancer Care May Not Affect Survival Rates
Although Medicare spending for patients with advance cancers varies regionally, a new study suggests that those differences are not related to survival rates. The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, examined Medicare spending on patients with advanced lung, colorectal, pancreatic, breast, and prostate cancers. Cancer care costs account for approximately 10 […]
Mississippi Legislature Passes ‘Anti-Bloomberg’ Bill
Mayor Mike and his public health edicts are having a rough ride. On Monday, a state judge in Manhattan knocked down the rule capping soda sizes that Mayor Michael Bloomberg championed. (Here’s a PDF of that ruling.) Lawmakers in Mississippi are taking things one step further. A bill on the governor’s desk would bar counties and […]
GOP Senators Seek To Cut Health Law Funding
Add Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to the list of lawmakers who wants to cut funding for the 2010 health care law as part of the debate over government funding for the remainder of the fiscal year. In an interview with radio show host Hugh Hewitt, Rubio said he’ll support legislation to fund the government through Sept. 30 […]
What’s The Price? Simple Question, Complicated Answer In Medicare
I wrote to Medicare a while back, asking for a price. I know nothing is simple in the world of health care costs, but I just needed one number, a number Medicare uses all the time, I supposed, to calculate payments to doctors and hospitals. Here’s what I wanted to know: How much does Medicare […]
