Latest KFF Health News Stories
Smoking Prevention Funds Run Short Despite Tobacco Settlement
In 1998, big tobacco companies settled a landmark lawsuit and agreed to pay states $246 billion over 25 years for smoking prevention efforts. Fourteen years later – with smoking still the country’s leading cause of preventable death – most states use only a fraction of the money for its intended purpose. An annual report found that less than 2 percent […]
Advocates Sue To Change The ‘Nursing Cliff’ In California
It was some 21st birthday present. When Pablo Carranza turned 21 in September, California’s Medicaid agency notified him that the around-the-clock nursing care he receives at the Chula Vista, Calif., home he shares with his mother would be sharply cut back. Carranza has muscular dystrophy and can only move his left thumb and his eyes. The […]
Today’s Headlines – Dec. 6, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report that some in the GOP are urging lawmakers to support the idea of trading tax breaks for changes in safety-net programs. The Washington Post: Some In GOP Urge Lawmakers To Back Tax Hikes For Changes In Safety-Net Programs A growing chorus of Republicans […]
KHN Changes How It Describes Medicaid Eligibility Level Under Health Law
Since President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in March 2010, most news organizations including Kaiser Health News have reported that in 2014 the law would expand Medicaid coverage to nearly everyone with a household income below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, which this year is nearly $31,000 for a family of four. But […]
Today’s Headlines – Dec. 5, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the latest on the looming fiscal crisis as well as market developments and health policy news from the states. The Associated Press/Washington Post: Hot Rhetoric Aside, There’s Overlap In Competing Fiscal Offers That Could Form Basis Of A Deal Both sides now concede that tax […]
Today’s Headlines – Dec. 4, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including coverage of the GOP counteroffer in the fiscal talks, as well as the White House reaction to it. The New York Times: Initial Deficit Cuts Are Sticking Point In Negotiations For all the growing angst over the state of negotiations to head off a fiscal […]
State Insurance Officials Raise Concerns About ‘Rate Shock’ For Young People
If young adults can’t afford health insurance policies available in 2014 under the health care law, state insurance officials are worried they won’t buy them. And that could drive up the cost of insurance for the mostly older, sicker people who do purchase coverage. That’s a potential problem even in states like California and Rhode Island, […]
Study: Hospice Rules May Keep Away Patients
Nearly four out of five hospices have enrollment policies that keep away patients with potentially high-cost medical needs, such as palliative chemotherapy and intravenous feeding tubes, according to a new study. Hospice is one of the fastest growing segments of Medicare, and many health policy experts laud it as a humane and cheaper way to […]
Patients Often Don’t Realize Preventive Care Is Free, Study Says
Researchers have known that members of high-deductible health plans, a rapidly growing type of coverage, seem to get less preventive care than people who pay lower out-of-pocket costs. But evidence for why was scanty. After all, under the 2010 Affordable Care Act many preventive screenings and treatments are covered with no out-of-pocket cost at all, even for high-deductible insurance. […]
Today’s Headlines – Dec. 3, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news outlets, including the latest press reports on the looming “fiscal cliff” and on how states are viewing the health law’s Medicaid expansion. The Wall Street Journal: Fiscal Cliff Talks At Stalemate The White House and congressional Republicans remained at loggerheads—in both public and private—over how to design […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 30, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including news about the continuing partisan back and forth regarding “fiscal cliff” negotiations as well as reports on the health law’s implementation. The New York Times: GOP Balks At White House Plan On Fiscal Crisis The proposal, loaded with Democratic priorities and short on detailed spending […]
Missouri Governor Backs Medicaid Expansion
Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon wants the state to expand its Medicaid program, marking the strongest stance the Democratic governor has taken to date on the state’s pending decision. Nixon previously said he was evaluating the issue to see what’s best for Missouri. Speaking to a packed crowd of hospital and clinic leaders in Kansas City […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 29, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report detailing why the idea of raising Medicare’s eligibility age always seem to crop up in policy discussions. Politico: Inside The Talks: Fiscal Framework Emerges Cut through the fog, and here’s what to expect: Taxes will go up just shy of $1.2 trillion — […]
More Workers Covered By Bosses’ Self-Insured Plans
The number of U.S. workers covered by self-insured health plans—in which their employer assumes the financial risk for health costs rather than paying insurance companies to do that—has grown steadily in recent years. But such plans are still primarily used by large companies, not small employers, a new study finds. As of 2011, more than […]
Study Questions Benefits Of Many Double Mastectomies
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. It’s a startling trend: Many women with cancer in one breast are choosing to have their healthy breast removed, too. But a study being presented later this week says more than three-quarters of women who opt for double mastectomies are not getting any benefit because their risk of cancer […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 28, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how party positions on entitlement programs are playing into the ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations. The New York Times: House Republican Urges Party To Yield On Tax Cuts For Most Earners Democrats said they would not accept cuts to Medicare or Medicaid as part of […]
Hospitals Get New Grades On Safety
Updated at 9:35 a.m. The Leapfrog Group is out with its second round of hospital safety ratings, and what a difference a few months has made. In the results released Wednesday, 103 hospitals that Leapfrog had given a “C” or lower in its first round of ratings in June got an “A” in the updated Hospital […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 27, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how increasing the Medicare eligibility age and making other entitlement program changes are a part of the ongoing “fiscal cliff” discourse. The Wall Street Journal: ‘Cliff’ Wranglers Weigh Medicare Age The fiscal cliff has revived an old idea that long seemed unfeasible: gradually […]
Study: States Face Increased Medicaid Costs Even If They Don’t Expand Program
If state officials think they can escape a fiscal quagmire by refusing to expand Medicaid under the federal health law, they might want to reconsider. State Medicaid costs will jump $76 billion, or nearly 3 percent, over the next decade if all 50 states decide to expand Medicaid eligibility in 2014 under the federal health […]
New Prenatal Blood Tests Come With High Hopes And Some Questions
Insurers remain wary pending more studies, but many pregnant women are trying the tests for fetal abnormalities.
