Latest KFF Health News Stories
Many Young Adults Will Wait For Health Coverage After All
Some parents, hoping that their young adult children could get insurance soon, are finding that many large employers aren’t planning to offer the new benefit early.
For-Profit Cash Infusion May Help Detroit Medical Center Rebound
A deal to buy the beleaguered city’s largest health system would mean $850 million in improvements.
Two Tiered Medical Care for Haves and Have Nots
A growing number of physicians are leaving traditional insurance-based practices to offer VIP treatment.
Medical Spending Spiking In Once Thrifty Areas
Areas like Provo, Utah, that were once models of cost-efficient care are becoming more expensive
Hospital Tries ‘Speed Dating’ To Attract Doctors, Patients
Although some critics say marketing drives up costs, many in the hospital industry say it’s crucial in the face of increasing competition. One Dallas area hospital is trying a version of “speed dating” to bring in patients and doctors.
Health On The Hill: Upcoming Primaries
After a lengthy and fierce debate in Washington about health care reform, voters in several states have an opportunity to weigh in this week on what they think of the historic measure in numerous primary contests.
Insurance Regulators Wrestle With Definition Of ‘Unreasonable’ Rate Increases
State and federal officials are wrestling with how to define “unreasonable” premium increases, a thorny issue Congress has handed regulators.
Week In Review: Politics Of Health Reform Implementation, Insurance Mandate, More CBO Estimates
This week featured more legal and political challenges to the new health law as the Obama adminstration issued rules to extend insurance coverage to young adults on their parents’ plans.
Lobbyists Have Long Wish List For New Health Rules
Now that the health care bill is law, an array of groups — representing doctors, insurers, small businesses and others — have switched to their post-passage game plans. Among their top goals: Helping shape the all-important regulations being written by the Obama administration.
Sebelius, Holder: New Health Reform Law Will Help Prevent Medical Fraud
Obama administration officials, touting $2.5 billion recovered from Medicare overpayments and fraud, immediately turned to talk of how health reform could ensure bigger successes in the future.
Health Law Guarantees Protections For Emergency Room Visits
The new health law mandates that insurers cannot pay less for emergency care in “out-of-network” hospitals and eases consumer worries about having to pre-authorize an emergency room visit.
Swamped Insurance Departments Hope Website Will Answer Overhaul Questions
Want to understand how the new health law might affect you? Be prepared to spend some time online.
Advocacy Group Details Treatment Needs For Older Patients
The Partnership for Health in Aging released a set of 23 skills that all health care professionals – doctors, dentists, nurses, social workers and others – should have by the time they receive their degrees.
Florida’s Health Exchange Doesn’t Fit New Law
Florida Health Choices, a deregulated health-insurance market for small businesses, is two years old and still not selling any products. It would be well-positioned to develop into the exchange called for under the new federal law. But that would require political and philosophical compromises that its leaders may not be willing to make.
Health On The Hill: Insurance Coverage For Young Adults Moves Forward
Today the Obama administration issued proposed regulations to implement a provision in the health care law that would allow adult children to stay on their parents’ health insurance policy until age 26.
Quality, Economy, Transparency: A New Health Care Code
Wisconsin’s transparent health care costs and outcomes initiative is lowering costs.
Book Excerpt: Why A Mandate Matters
The thinking behind the individual mandate is that, in the absence of a government-run “single payer” insurance program like Canada’s, the only way to achieve universal health insurance is to require people to obtain coverage on their own, with government assistance for those who can’t afford it. An excerpt from a new book, Landmark: The Inside Story of America’s New Health Care Law and What It Means for Us All, by The Washington Post.
Book Excerpt: How The Individual Health Insurance Mandate Will Work
A simple rule lies at the heart of the new health law: Starting in 2014, almost every American will need to carry health insurance or pay a fine. An excerpt from a new book, Landmark: The Inside Story of America’s New Health Care Law and What It Means for Us All, by The Washington Post.
Health Law’s “Grandfather” Clause Could Deprive Consumers Of Key Benefits
Business and consumer groups are sparring over rules that might allow existing health plans to sidestep some patient protections in new health care law.
New Law Could Help Hospice Patients Continue Aggressive Medical Treatments
People who are dying currently can’t get Medicare to pay for hospice care if they continue aggressive curative treatment. But the new health overhaul law could lead to a major change in olicy that allows both hospice and curative care.
