Latest KFF Health News Stories
Physicians Wade Into Efforts To Curb Unnecessary Treatments
Nine groups list 45 practices they say are overused and may harm patients.
Revamping Medicare: A Guide To The Proposals, Politics And Timeline
Competing ideas and election-year politics will thwart major legislation in 2012, but look for budgetary action at year’s end.
Health Insurers Move Ahead, With Or Without Individual Mandate
Cigna’s CEO, David Cordani, says the insurance industry started changing how it does business before health reform became law in 2010 and that it will continue to change, no matter what happens at the Supreme Court.
Employers Tie Financial Rewards, Penalties To Health Tests, Lifestyle Choices
Whether such programs spur long-term change is unclear, and some fear discrimination against those with chronic conditions.
Insurers Push Back On Consumer Rebate Letter
Consumers owed rebates will get a letter along with a check beginning in August, but insurers don’t want to have to send notices about the rebate rules to customers not owed money.
Webcast Replay: Deconstructing The Supreme Court’s Historic Health Law Arguments
Our panelists, who answered questions from readers that even the justices didn’t ask, includes KHN Senior Correspondent Mary Agnes Carey; Stuart Taylor, attorney, author and KHN legal analyst; Tom Goldstein, Goldstein & Russell, P.C., and publisher of SCOTUSblog; and Julie Rovner, health policy correspondent, NPR.
Effort To Pay Hospitals Based On Quality Didn’t Cut Death Rates, Study Finds
The New England Journal of Medicine reports that a test project
Even Without The Individual Mandate, Health Law Would Still Affect Millions
KHN’s Julie Appleby reports that the health law is so comprehensive that even if the Supreme Court struck the insurance requirement, many provisions would survive.
Transcript Highlights: The Medicaid Expansion Arguments
Here are some of the highlights from the Supreme Court’s Wednesday afternoon session during which they pondered questions about the health law’s Medicaid expansion.
Transcript Highlights: The Severability Arguments Before The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court tackled Wednesday morning the question of whether the health law in its entirety should be struck down if the insurance mandate is declared unconstitutional.
If Mandate Is Overturned, Obama Could Need Help To Salvage The Health Law
Should the Supreme Court throw out the requirement to carry insurance, the administration might need assistance from Congress or the insurance industry to complete the overhaul.
Transcript: Highlights Of The Lively Arguments At The Supreme Court, Day 2
Here are excerpts of some of the most compelling parts of Tuesday’s oral arguments at the high court.
Health Law Accelerates Industry Changes
Experts don’t expect the Supreme Court’s ruling to alter that course.
Doctors’ Smartphones And iPads May Be Distracting
Doctors who carry mobile devices are often hit with a flurry of texts, e-mails, Facebook messages and tweets that sometimes keep them from patients’ needs.
The Health Law And The Supreme Court: A Primer For The Oral Arguments
The fate of the health law is at the center of the most-anticipated arguments in more than than a generation. Here are key points to keep in mind while watching the action.
Free Health Clinics At A Crossroads
Free health clinics have long been places people turn to when they don’t have health insurance or any money to pay for care. But the health law’s expansion of coverage puts free clinics in uncharted territory.
In Conservative California, Confusion And Contempt For Health Law
Residents of a largely conservative region in California where 1 out of every 3 people lack coverage share their attitudes toward the health law.
House GOP Doctors Say Ryan Medicare Plan Doesn’t Reduce Costs Enough
The GOP Doctors Caucus is sending letters Friday soliciting ideas on how to “save” the seniors’ program and build bipartisan support.
Scorecard: What The Health Law Has Delivered, Or Not
Kaiser Health News compares data on the progress of the health law’s implementation to the original projections of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Obama administration.
Health Industries Weigh In On Supreme Court Case
Insurers, hospitals and drug makers all cut deals to help shape the health law. Now, as the Supreme Court awaits arguments, the industry groups are deploying different strategies to defend their interests before the High Court.
