Latest KFF Health News Stories
With Newly-Elected Governors, GOP Gains Clout To Fight Health Reform Law
New state officials could slow the pace of implementation, seek waivers from some provisions, veto state legislation and appoint like-minded people to important positions, such as insurance commissioner slots.
Republican’s Controversial Proposal To Mend Medicare
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan’s ideas
House Takeover Will Give GOP Ways To Attack Health Law
With their House majority, Republicans plan to use all available legislative tools to challenge and change the health reform law.
Bending The Health Care Cost Curve: Pay-For-Results Insurance
Though it seems like an idea that can be easily attacked as a way to ration care, so-called value-based insurance design couples GOP principles of market-based incentives and consumer choice with the Democratic reformers’ goal of eliminating costly and unnecessary care.
Text: The Republican ‘Pledge’ On Health Care
In late September, led by Minority Leader John Boehner, some House Republicans released “A Pledge to America” — an outline of their plan should they gain control of Congress. Here is the excerpt that deals with health care.
Insurance Commissioners Loom Large In Health Law
Voters don’t give much thought to who runs their state department of insurance. And in many places no one can name the person holding this office. But as key provisions of the new federal health law begin to take effect, insurance commissioners will become paramount.
3 States To Vote On Health Insurance Mandate
Voters in Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma will decide whether to accept constitutional amendments prohibiting the federal health law’s keystone individual mandate – the provision to require everyone have health insurance beginning in 2014.
Mixed Signals On Medicare Pilot Savings Projects
After five years, 10 Medicare pilot projects showed mixed results. Leading group physician practices were measured on quality, patient satisfaction, and cost savings. They all scored well on quality, but only half made the cut on savings.
Health Law Hardly At Fault For Rising Premiums
When health insurance companies delivered the bad news this fall about next year’s premium increases, many blamed the new health overhaul law. But industry experts say that the health law accounts for only a small part of the increases.
Health On The Hill Transcript: The Campaigns And Health Reform
With the elections less than one week away, ads making claims about the health law are flooding the airwaves. Many Democrats continue to not mention health reform, while Republicans criticize the law as too large, too expensive and intrusive into Americans’ lives.
Physician-Owned Hospitals Racing To Meet Health Law Deadline
Nationwide, new physician-owned hospitals are scrambling to open by the end of the year. Beginning Jan. 1, the health law bans them from taking part in Medicare, making it hard for the facilities to survive.
Dems And GOP Galaxies Apart On Health Law
Three top pollsters – two Democrats and a Republican – have very different takes on what impact the health law will have on the election.
Little-Known AMA Group Has Big Influence On Medicare Payments
Since 1991, a committee of doctors has submitted more than 7,000 recommendations to CMS on the value of physician work. The group is unknown to much of the medical profession. Yet the committee has had a powerful influence on Medicare payment rates.
Debate Over Health Reform Soon To Change Gears, Expert Predicts
Former Kennedy staffer says GOP will back off talk of repeal after the election.
Some Hill Races Could Hinge On Seniors’ Anger Over Medicare
As emotions run high over the new health law, older voters’ concerns about Medicare cuts could be a deciding factor in some particularly close congressional races.
Dueling Letters On Medicare Part D Changes
Officials at CMS say they’re streamlining Medicare Part D – including eliminating some plans they call duplicative. But as the open enrollment period nears, some Republicans are criticizing the move as “frightening.”
If You Don’t Get The New Health Care Law, At Least You Can Laugh About It
In a new animated—and pointed—video, a health care executive sheepishly admits that he’s been too busy to read the new bill.
State Regulators Recommend New Health Insurance Rules
State insurance regulators have defined one of the thorniest provisions of the new health overhaul law: the requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of revenue on direct medical care.
Health Law’s Opponents Dominating Airwaves
President Obama signed the health law in March and told voters to read up on it. But opponents of the law have done most of the educating on what it means, sometimes in ads with false claims.
Justice Dept. Pushes For Services To Move Patients Out Of Mental Hospitals
Sweeping agreement with Georgia points to new Obama administration campaign to ensure people with mental illness and developmental disabilities get community services and are not forced into institutions.
