Latest KFF Health News Stories
Colorado Launches $2M Ad Campaign For New Online Marketplace
With less than five months until Colorado’s new online health insurance marketplace opens for business this fall, officials are concerned that few state residents have heard of it. This week, it became the first state to launch a public awareness campaign with television, print, radio and billboard ads that will cost $2 million and run two months. The […]
Medicare Data Show Wide Variation In Hospital Pricing
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. When it comes to health care, the biggest of the big data are all about Medicare. So, it’s kind of a BIG deal when the government releases what individual hospitals charge Medicare — and what they actually get paid — for the most common diagnoses and treatments. In […]
Harkin Withdraws Hold On Tavenner; Reid Says Timing For Vote Is Unclear
Sen. Tom Harkin Tuesday removed the hold he had placed on the nomination of Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and said he would no longer stand in the way of a Senate vote despite actions by the Obama administration that he said violate “both the letter and the spirit” of the 2010 health […]
Study Models Three Big Changes To Medicare
Lawmakers are looking for ways to tackle the growth of Medicare spending, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will account for 24 percent of the federal budget by 2037. But some strategies to cut program costs could leave millions of beneficiaries without coverage. A study from the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, compared the […]
2 Studies Assert Lower Spending Growth Is Due To Structural Health Changes
Two new studies assert that the country’s unusual slowdown in health spending growth rates may be due more to structural changes in the health care system than to the lagging economy, and thus could continue even after business picks up. National health spending grew by 3.9 percent a year between 2009 and 2011, the lowest […]
Boston Children’s Hospital Creates ‘Living’ Practice Guidelines
Overuse of some medical treatments – and underuse of others, when patients fail to get recommended care — are two factors linked to high medical spending in the United States. But efforts to set “best practice guidelines” have often drawn criticism from physicians and patients as “cookbook medicine” that could limit doctors’ autonomy or restrict […]
Bloggers See Own Reflections In Oregon Medicaid Study
This week’s study of Oregon Medicaid recipients has quickly become a Rorschach test for how partisans and health policy wonks view the health care law. To recap, that study compared the health care of the winners and losers of a lottery held by Oregon in 2008 to decide who could enroll in the limited spots in the […]
Call Centers For Health Law Marketplaces To Create 9K Jobs
The federal health law derided as a “job-killer” by critics will create an estimated 9,000 jobs in 14 states this summer to handle consumer inquiries about new online insurance marketplaces. The jobs are through Vangent, a General Dynamics subsidiary, which was awarded a $530 million one-year contract by the federal government to set up call centers to […]
Women’s Health Groups Angered By Administration Morning-After Pill Policies
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. The Obama administration’s actions this week on emergency contraception have left many women’s health groups sputtering with anger. But what really has some of the President Barack Obama’s usual allies irritated is the fact that the moves are in direct contrast to speeches he made in […]
Expanding Medicaid Didn’t Lead To Big Health Gains In Oregon, Study Finds
Although expanding Medicaid coverage to some low-income Oregon residents substantially improved their mental health and reduced financial strains on them, it didn’t significantly boost their physical health, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings are less upbeat than a preliminary report by the same group, which had found that Medicaid made […]
Aetna Cuts Predictions For Obamacare Enrollment
In a new sign that implementing the health law could take longer than expected, insurer Aetna said Tuesday it lowered the number of medical policies it expects to sell through online marketplaces that open for business in October. “This is going to be a slow uptake,” Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told investment analysts on a […]
Obama: ‘We’re Pushing Very Hard’ To Meet Health Law Deadlines
President Barack Obama said Tuesday he expected some “glitches and bumps” in the road to full implementation of his health care law. “That’s pretty much true of every government program that’s ever been set up,” Obama said. “We’ve got a great team in place, we are pushing very hard to make sure that we’re hitting […]
A Shorter Exchange Application. But Is It Simpler?
Consumer advocates have been complaining for months that the Obama administration’s 21-page application to sign up for health insurance in the exchanges is too long and complicated. The designers of the application estimated it would take 45 minutes to complete. The administration heeded the advocates’ pleas with the introduction Tuesday of a modified application of […]
Colorado Medicaid Expansion Moves Forward With One Republican Vote
The only real surprise about Colorado’s bill to expand Medicaid, now that it’s been approved by both legislative chambers, is that it won a vote from a Republican legislator. Sen. Larry Crowder from the San Luis Valley said he couldn’t vote against the bill when hospitals in his district are strained to the breaking point […]
Vangent Gets $28 Million Contract For Health Marketplace Call Center
The federal government has awarded a $28.2 million contract to a General Dynamics subsidiary to run a call center to handle consumer questions about the new online insurance marketplaces that are slated to begin selling insurance policies Oct. 1. The call center will be responsible for all inquiries related to the insurance marketplaces in at least […]
Survey Finds Rate For Young Adult Coverage Improves While Others Decline
While the number of medically uninsured young adults dropped over the past two years, coverage of the overall working age population failed to improve, according to the findings of the Commonwealth Fund’s 2012 biennial health insurance survey released Friday. The survey shows that 11.7 million young adults – ages 19 to 25 – were uninsured […]
Bid To Cover Abortion After Rape For Peace Corps Volunteers
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) introduced a bill Thursday that would provide health insurance coverage for abortions to Peace Corps volunteers in the case of rape or incest. The Peace Corps Equity Act of 2013 echoes the Shaheen Amendment, which President Barack Obama signed into law in 2012. That law provides military women coverage for abortions […]
New Guidelines May Drop Birth Control Training Rule
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. One of the more popular provisions of the federal health law requires that women be given much freer access to prescription methods of birth control. That includes not only the pill, but implants and IUDs as well. But what happens if there are not enough doctors to […]
States Spend $28M, Then Leave Exchanges To The Feds
Late last year, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer announced that her state would not build its own online insurance marketplace, a pillar of the Affordable Care Act, because there were too many unknowns. What Brewer didn’t say was that her state had spent $9 million in federal money to reach that conclusion. Arizona was one of 10 […]
Baucus Vows To Keep Watch On Health Law Rollout Before Leaving Senate
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus stunned his colleagues Tuesday when he announced he would not seek a seventh term next year. But don’t expect him to go quietly. Implementation of the 2010 health care law is a top priority for the Montana Democrat, as is overhauling the tax code, tackling the nation’s debt and pushing […]
