Latest KFF Health News Stories
Americans Remain Divided, Confused About Health Law As Anniversary Nears
Support levels have changed little since the landmark bill was signed last March as the partisan divide on the issue continues, new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds.
Health Reform’s Next Act: A Focus On Achieving Health Equity
The president has offered states some flexibility in their efforts to implement parts of the new health law. He should also insist that they show progress toward eliminating the health inequities that exist between rich and poor Americans, and whites relative to most non-whites.
Ryan Says Congress Will Dodge Entitlement Cuts
Congress is unlikely to tackle major changes in Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security before the 2012 election because of few signs that Republicans and Democrats are willing to assume the political risk, according to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
Video: Sebelius Questioned By Senate Finance Committee
During a Senate Finance Committee hearing titled “Health Reform: Lessons Learned During the First Year,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised the health law and faced questions from critical Republican members on the panel. Watch excerpts from the hearing.
Health Law Funding: GOP Sticking Point In Spending Bill
Health On The Hill: Some House and Senate Republicans have said they will vote against a three-week funding measure for the federal government because it does not take steps to stop funding for implementation of the health care law. Watch the video.
Health On The Hill: Health Law Funding A GOP Sticking Point In Spending Bill
The Washington Post’s Amy Goldstein joins KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey talk about developments on the Hill. This week: Some House and Senate Republicans have said they will vote against a three-week funding measure for the federal government because it does not take steps to stop funding for implementation of the health care law. Separately, health care is surfacing as a key issue among potential GOP presidential candidates.
The Donald Berwick Predicament
We can’t evaluate the backstage politics, but one thing is certain. Both Democrats and Republicans should be dismayed at the sight of a partisan campaign driving yet another distinguished figure out of American government.
Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with KFF’s Jackie Judd about last week’s order by a federal judge in which he stayed his earlier decision striking down the health law, but also ordered the Obama administration to file an appeal. Also, the Senate considers how it will fund the federal government.
Health On The Hill: Judge Orders Fed Appeal In Health Law Challenge
A Florida District Court judge issued a stay of his earlier ruling on the health law that found the law unconstitutional, but he ordered the Obama Administration to file an appeal within seven business days. Meanwhile, two different funding approaches to keep the government operating beyond March 18
The GOP’s Health Policy Cynics
Although cynics may claim conservative credentials, their view of government is really nothing more than a quarrel about its cost. It brings to mind Oscar Wilde’s immortal phrase, “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Calorie Labeling For Restaurants Recommendations Coming Soon
The health law directs the FDA this month to issue proposed rules for restaurants and other food vendors to begin providing calorie-count information.
Health On The Hill: GOP Governors Seek To Modify Medicaid Programs
Republican governors are asking Washington for more flexibility regarding how they run their Medicaid programs, saying that Washington puts too many restraints on states.
A New Nurse In The House: The KHN Interview With Rep. Renee Ellmers
N.C. Republican, with 20 years of health care experience, says Democrats’ health law is “overstepping, unconstitutional and extremely costly.”
Many Americans Incorrectly Believe Health Law Has Been Repealed
Nearly a year after passage of the health care overhaul law, barely half of Americans know the law remains intact, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows.
Judges Reviewing Health Law Say Penalty Is Not A Tax
Congress took great pains to ensure that the penalty imposed on people who don’t get health insurance was not called a tax in the health law. This could make it tough for the Justice Department to argue that it is a tax.
GOP Counts The Ways To Defund Health Law
House Republicans have come up with more than half a dozen ways to throttle spending on overhaul. Democrats in the Senate can block them, and President Obama still wields the veto pen.
House Republicans passed measures to defund implementation of the health law, while the Obama administration fires back, rescinding a regulation they say could jeopardize patient access to care. Watch the video.
Health On The Hill: Republicans Take Steps To Defund Health Law Implementation, Planned Parenthood
As part of legislation to keep the government funded through March 4, House Republicans passed a series of amendments aimed at defunding implementation of the health care law. Separately, the Obama administration rescinded part of a 2008 conscience clause regulation they said could impact patients’ access to medical care.
New Contraception Rules Spark ‘Conscience Clause’ Debate
Religious exemptions that allow health care workers to decline certain services to patients if they have a religious exemption should not include contraception. That’s the bottom line of the administration’s new regulations on the “conscience clause.”
All Governors Should Just Say No To ObamaCare
Those who believe the health law is unconstitutional have a solemn obligation not to implement it.
