Latest KFF Health News Stories
Can Health Reform Pass? Experts Weigh In
Will President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have to greatly scale back their health care overhaul proposals to get legislation passed this year? Here’s what some experts advise.
Health Care Uproar Swallows Whole Foods
Whole Foods has taken pains to distance the corporation from founder and CEO John P. Mackey, but it may be too late. His article slamming Obama’s health care plans has caused an uproar and led some to boycott the store. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
What Can A Medical Billing Advocate Do For You?
When a claim is denied, an out-of-network fee is too costly, or an uninsured patient confronts an unclear or towering bill, an advocate may be able to help.
Code Blue: Out-of-Network Charges Can Spur Financial Emergency
When Gary Diego’s wife, Ellen, had bleeding in her brain, she ended up in an out-of-network emergency room. And he ended up with a huge bill. In a practice known as balance billing, insurers pay a portion of the out-of-network charges, and the rest is dumped on patients.
Health Co-Ops Touted As Alternative To Public Plan
Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Boehner Blasts PhRMA On Deal With White House
The House Minority Leader suggested that the drug-industry pact with President Obama, whom he called a “bully” – will backfire on industry and consumers. The GOP has its own health bill, which Boehner announced on June 17.
Transcript: Health On The Hill Discussion Of The Public Plan
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and NPR health correspondent Julie Rovner talk about the chances that the public option will not be in a health overhaul bill, details about how health cooperatives might work and the flap over end of life care.
Ad Audit: Club For Growth’s Anti-Government Message
An anti-tax group goes after Democratic health reform proposals, alleging they would lead to rationing and crushing government deficits. But the campaign includes some dubious comparisons with the British health system, and the group’s recommended solutions are open to question.
Transcript: President Obama’s Colorado Town Hall Meeting On Health Reform
President Barack Obama spoke about health insurance, a pressed for a need to overhaul the health care system at town hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado on Saturday.
President Obama’s Weekly Saturday Address – Prepared Remarks
The White House released these prepared remarks in advance of the President’s weekly Saturday address.
Transcript: President Obama’s Montana Health Care Town Hall Meeting
The White House released a transcript of President Barack Obama’s town hall meeting in Belgrade, Montana. He begins with prepared remarks and then answers questions from the audience.
What The House Health Bill Says About End-Of-Life Care
Section 1233 of the health overhaul bill approved by three House committees has been the subject of great debate. We present the language as written in the bill itself.
Doctors Providing End of Life Counseling See Benefit in Current Controversy
Physicians, while disputing the charges of plans for euthanasia, say the debate on what is in the House health bill on end-of-life care could help focus attention on an underfunded service.
CBO OPTIONS PAPER AND ESTIMATES PUT DEMS QUOTES IN HERE ON WHY THEY ARE DOING THIS. Need lawmakers As Congress debates an increasingly contentious health care overhaul bill, As Congress debates creation of a government-run health insurance plan and whether employers should be required to provide health coverage to their workers as part of […]
An Actuary’s Role In Health Reform: Making Health Reform Viable
All our actions have consequences.
It seems to be what’s missing often from debate, especially around such emotionally-charged arguments as the health care reform debate, but actuaries deal in repercussions, moving behind the scenes, analyzing risk and the future and what health care reform will actually mean for America 5, 10 or 20 years from now.
Medicare Advisers Raised Rates but Complained of Flawed System
Elevating the commission, known as MedPAC, isn’t about greasing the path for unpopular payment reductions, an obvious way to save money. It’s about rethinking payment altogether. Even as MedPAC advised upping payments, commissioners quietly insisted for years that Congress should scrap its abstruse, fragmented rules for paying providers.
Carolyn Clancy on Comparative Effectiveness:
Dr. Carolyn Clancy, the director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, warns, “Doctors and patients are working together in a relative evidence-free zone.” She hopes to change that as interest and support veer towards comparative effectiveness research.
E-Health Ambitions to Confront Human, Financial Realities
As much as $36 billion in federal stimulus money will help physicians and hospitals go digital by 2015. But, workers need training, smaller offices may struggle to come up with down payments, and once the electronic records are up and running many say their biggest value is pointing out room for improvement. And, improvement efforts cost time and money, too.
Amid Stimulus Money, Community Health Centers Look For Their Post-Reform Role
Maisha Challenger never thought she’d have to set foot in a community health center. “I have been working my whole life so I usually am used to going to a doctor’s office,” she said. But after she lost her job as an education lobbyist – and the health insurance that came with it – she […]
For Dying and Seriously Ill Children, Hope For Better Care
When 14 year old Prince Jackson was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he was caught in a gray zone: public and private insurance doesn’t usually cover the palliative care he desperately needed. But his mother got help from a new program that provides services for seriously ill or dying children.
