Latest KFF Health News Stories
Feds Blame Mississippi Governor For Exchange Denial
One, Mississippi has become No, Mississippi. The Obama administration on Friday offered an explanation for why it rejected Mississippi’s bid to establish a state-based online health insurance marketplace, called One, Mississippi. In a letter, the federal government’s top exchange official said they had no choice because Gov. Phil Bryant would not allow the exchange to work with […]
HHS Denies Mississippi’s Bid To Run Its Own Exchange
Updated at 10:15 a.m. Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, who has been the driving force behind creating a state based exchange, got his answer from the feds Thursday: Sure can’t. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rejected Mississippi’s plan Thursday afternoon, making Mississippi the only state to have its exchange blueprint nixed by […]
Grassley Calls For Senate Consideration Of Tavenner’s Nomination
President Barack Obama Thursday once again nominated Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and a key GOP senator said the chamber should consider the nomination. “The Senate should give Ms. Tavenner every opportunity to show she is a worthy choice to lead the agency responsible for Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, […]
Despite Possible Ease In Regulations, Rural Hospitals Face Challenges
Rural health care administrators got some good news this week. The Obama administration Monday proposed to ease some Medicare regulations – a change that could save rural hospitals much-needed money by allowing for more flexible staffing requirements. But for about 450 health care professionals who attended this week’s National Rural Health Association Policy Institute in […]
HHS Delays Basic Health Plan Option Until 2015
The Obama administration has delayed by one year the rollout of a health program aimed at low to moderate-income people who won’t qualify for the expanded Medicaid program under the federal health law. Under the so-called Basic Health Program, some states had planned to offer government insurance to people who don’t qualify for Medicaid, but […]
Study: Premium Increases To Be Offset By Subsidies, Better Coverage
How the federal health law will affect premiums is among the most asked – and most controversial – questions in the final months before new rules kick in requiring most Americans to carry coverage. A white paper out Wednesday considers how the law will affect premiums for people who buy their own coverage because they […]
Aggressive Care Still The Norm For Dying Seniors
Although federal data show that fewer Medicare beneficiaries are dying in hospitals, new research suggests that doesn’t mean they’re getting less aggressive care in their final days. Researchers at the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University and others reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday that even as deaths in […]
Long-Term Care Protection May Be Toothless
There aren’t many investments people make to protect themselves against something that may happen 20 or 30 years down the road. Yet that’s exactly what long-term care insurance purchasers do. But a provision in those policies that people rely on to help ensure their coverage will meet their needs decades hence may do nothing of […]
Health Care Spending In America, In Two Graphs
This story comes from our partner . Spending on health care has, of course, been rising in the U.S. for decades. Health care now accounts for 18 cents of every dollar Americans spend, up from 7 cents in 1970. But where, exactly, is all that money going? And, for that matter, where is the money coming […]
State Action Needed To Guarantee Health Law Protections, Says Report
Lawmakers in most states better get busy if they want authority to enforce key provisions of the federal health law that go into effect next year. That’s the takeaway message from a report by the Commonwealth Fund showing that only 11 states and the District of Columbia have passed rules needed to implement the law. […]
Tick, Tock: Administration Misses Some Health Law Deadlines
Programs to increase fees to Medicaid primary care doctors and to entice states to eliminate some Medicaid copays are delayed as feds focus on insurance markets.
If you could make one change to Medicare, what would it be? Ask three former directors of the program and you’ll get plenty of ideas. Bruce Vladeck, who was head of what was then known as the Health Care Financing Administration, or HCFA, for former President Bill Clinton, wants more market-based competition and less pricing […]
Some Families Will Be Ineligible For Insurance Subsidies Under Final Rule
Some families with costly job-based health coverage may be ineligible for federal subsidies to help them buy less expensive coverage through new online insurance markets, under final rules released Wednesday by the IRS. The two rules, published by the Treasury Department here and here, uphold earlier proposals outlining what is considered affordable, employer-sponsored coverage. Under the federal health law, low […]
For Medicare Innovations – Think Locally
Reforming Medicare – from changing the way doctors are paid to streamlining patient care – could benefit from a grassroots approach, according to experts and physicians at a policy summit held by National Journal Live in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. “We need to focus more on responding to and joining local initiatives,” said Len Nichols, director […]
Patient Loads Often At Unsafe Levels, Hospitalist Survey Finds
Nearly forty percent of hospital-based general practitioners who are responsible for overseeing patients’ care say they juggle unsafe patient workloads at least once a week, according to a study published Monday as a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. In the study, researchers at Johns Hopkins University invited nearly 900 attending physicians, known as hospitalists, to […]
Nursing Moms Get Free Breast Pumps From Health Law
This story comes from our partner . Health insurance plans now have to cover the full cost of breast pumps for nursing mothers. This is the result of a provision in the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), and the new rule took effect for many people at the start of this year. It’s led to a […]
Americans Want Deficit Addressed Without Medicare Cuts, Poll Finds
Most Americans want quick action to reduce the deficit, but almost six in 10 oppose cutting Medicare spending to achieve that goal, according to a new poll released today. Lawmakers should examine other alternatives, including requiring drug makers to give the government “a better deal” on medications for low-income seniors (85 percent) and making higher-income […]
Fighting Painful Misconceptions About Sickle Cell Disease In The ER
Sickle cell disease changes the shape of red blood cells from discs to sickles. Patients arrive at the emergency room with sudden onset of severe, excruciating pain, saying their blood feels “stuck.”
Report: States Making It Easier To Apply For Medicaid
Despite the reluctance of some Republican governors to expand Medicaid next year under the 2010 health law, most governors are making it easier for people to apply for coverage in the state-federal program for the poor, according to a study released today. Residents of 37 states — four more than the year before — can now apply […]
Q & A with Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant
Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican elected in 2011, has been a vocal opponent of the 2010 health law. KHN correspondent Phil Galewitz sat down with him at his office in Jackson, Miss.
