Latest KFF Health News Stories
Democrats Move To Regulate How Insurers’ Spend Customers’ Money
Both the House and Senate health overhaul bills would force insurers to spend the vast majority of premium revenue on medical care for their customers, reducing the amount available for profits, executive salaries, sales and administration.
As Health Debate Heats Up, Public Opinion Appears To Cool
According to a new tracking poll, while the majority of Americans still consider health reform important they are growing dispirited with the ongoing debate.
COBRA Help For Laid-Off Workers May Come Before Christmas
The COBRA subsidy extension now pending in Congress could be considered in the Senate this weekend.
Fact Check: Taxes And Health Reform
As part of a continuing series, “Is That So?” NPR examines a claim from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. She said that if the Democrats’ health bill passes, some taxes would increase right away, while benefits wouldn’t start until 2014.
Congress and Medicare: Letting Go Is Hard to Do
Democrats’ health plan would give agencies more power to test and expand promising approaches to holding down costs, but the question remains: Can lawmakers resist interfering in efforts that could hurt incomes of home-state providers?
Checking In With Consumer Union’s Jim Guest
Consumers Union added its voice to the congressional health care debate by airing a 30-second television ad supporting reform. Although the group is known for taking public positions on consumer products and services, it has never before broadcast a television commercial on a public policy question. KHN talked to the group’s president and CEO about the decision to air the ad as well as the results from a recent telephone survey the organization conducted.
Related Article: Insurance Terminology Creates Barrier To Understanding And Using Health Benefits
This is a Test: Disregard This
By Eric Pianin With prospects for a bipartisan deal dimming, Democrats are considering the use of Byzantine budget rules this fall to ram through their own version of health care overhaul legislation without fear of a Republican filibuster. The gambit is laden with parliamentary hurdles that could give GOP opponents plenty of opportunities […]
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This is a test. this is a test. welcome to the new Kaiser Health news site. http://kkkksssss
Budget Story Headline — Subhead
Type content (http://www.kffhealthnews.org) Headline of Sidebar Sidebar Story 1 If your spouse has a separate plan, act quickly to get on it. Ask about your COBRA rights. With some exceptions, laid-off workers can continue their coverage for 18 months by paying its full cost. (Congress is considering a temporary, 65 percent premium subsidy.) If […]
Transcript: Health On The Hill – Passing A Health Bill Before Christmas?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to push his party to approve health care overhaul legislation before Christmas, but concerns over many issues, including abortion funding and a possible early buy-in for the Medicare program, could cause that timetable to slip.
10 Experts Weigh In On Plan To Replace Public Option In Health Bill
Can a spinoff of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program help some of the country’s uninsured? Experts evaluate a proposal that the Office of Personnel Management, which manages the FEHBP, oversee national health plans.
Frustrated Workers And Employers Anxious For COBRA Extension
Some of the laid-off workers receiving government help to pay for their COBRA health coverage are seeing those subsidies run out. Congress has yet to vote on an extension and employers and workers are worried about the future.
Caring For Elderly And Disabled Is A Family Affair
A new study says almost one out of three adults in the U.S. currently serves as a caregiver. The time and energy they put into caregiving becomes like an unpaid job.
Democrats’ Ideas To Expand Medicare Raise Hackles Of Doctors, Hospitals, Insurers
Hospitals, doctors and insurers are opposed to allowing people under 65 to join Medicare
Recession Doesn’t Keep Some States From Expanding Health Coverage
Despite the economic downturn that’s busting budgets, 26 states this year made it easier for low-income children, parents or pregnant women to get health coverage.
Kansas Medicaid Cuts Expected To Hinder Access To Care
Consumer advocates and others say it will only become harder for low-income Kansans to get medical services now that the state is cutting Medicaid payments by 10 percent.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – December 7, 2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues his efforts to find consensus on a health care package that can win 60 votes.
For Black Women, Breast Cancer Strikes Younger
Many African-American women don’t fit the profile of the average American woman who gets breast cancer. For them, putting off the first mammogram until 50 – as recommended by a government task force – could put their life in danger.
