Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
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.
HHS Issues New Guidance On Kids’ Insurance Policies
Health insurers can’t have different rules for when individual policies for children with medical problems than for healthy kids are sold, the Department of Health and Human Services said today.
Women’s Health Groups Call For Free Rx Birth Control
Planned Parenthood and other groups are launching a campaign to include prescription contraception as part of the preventive services required in the new health law.
It is no doubt useful politically for the administration to set up the private health insurance industry as its foil in this struggle. Many Americans have low regard for insurance companies. But this is largely a diversionary tactic on the part of [HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius].
New Laws Expand Mental Health Coverage
Insurance coverage of mental illness and addiction problems often is skimpier than for physical illness. But that is changing with the mental health parity law that took effect earlier this year and the new health overhaul.
Week In Review: It’s Health Reform’s Six-Month Anniversary, Is The Honeymoon Over?
As a number of its consumer protections took effect, attention to health law ramped up — six weeks before the midterm elections.
Retroactive Cancellation Now Banned
Among the provisions of the new law is a ban on the industry practice of revoking an insurance policy retroactively-after a policy holder has racked up hefty medical bills. But consumer advocates worry the practice could continue.
New Health Law’s Protections For Adult Children Begins
The new federal health law requires that insurers, when they renew their plans, give parents the option of keeping adult children who are under 26 years old on their plans.
Uninsured Rate Soars, 50+ Million Americans Without Coverage
In a reflection of the battered economy, the rate of uninsured Americans rose to 16.7 percent last year from 15.4 percent in 2008, according to a new Census Bureau report.
The Census Bureau’s Annual Insurance Coverage Status Check
With this collection of resources, KHN provides a Census Bureau summary of key findings, the chapter on health insurance coverage and access the full report, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009.”
A Consumer’s Guide To The Health Law, Six Months In
The new health reform law could affect people who get their coverage at work, buy their own health insurance or are enrolled in Medicare.
Employers Push Higher Health Insurance Costs Onto Workers
Premiums for family coverage rose about 3 percent to an average of $13,770, but workers are absorbing a greater percentage of the costs, survey finds.
Health Reform: Here We Go Again
The health law’s shortcomings in controlling health care costs and damage to the federal budget outlook are understood. But the economic consequences of greater uncertainty and reduced innovation are only now becoming clear.
The National Association of Insurance Commissioners met in Seattle and pushed through a much debated recommendation on how federal officials should judge insurance company expenses.
Colleges Say New Health Law May Imperil Student Policies
Colleges and universities are warning federal officials that they may not be able to offer student health plans in the future unless the government clarifies certain provisions of the new health overhaul law.
Baltimore Homeless Program Expects Boost From Medicaid Expansion
Many homeless people are uninsured and ineligible for Medicaid. But that will change beginning in 2014, when Medicaid greatly expands under the new health law.
New Plans For Uninsured Off To Slow Start
The new “high-risk pools” – the federally-subsidized program for uninsured people with health problems – are one of the first benefits of the health overhaul law passed this year, but not many people have applied and been enrolled in the plans springing up around the country.
Insurer Mounts Offensive And Defensive Strategies On Health Law
Cigna Corp. has geared up with a high-powered team of executives to find new business under the health law while also preserving current benefits for customers and for the company.
