Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Savings Account Membership Up 18 Percent
Enrollment in health savings accounts grew 18 percent last year as employers continued to steer workers into high-deductible medical plans, an insurance group said this morning. HSA membership rose from 11.4 million in January 2011 to 13.5 million in January 2012, with most of the growth occurring in plans offered by large employers, according to an annual census by America’s […]
Today’s headlines – May 30, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines to get your Wednesday started: The Associated Press/Washington Post: Few Takers For Obama’s Small-Business Health Care Tax Credit; Congress Unlikely To Fix Flaws Time-consuming to apply for and lacking enough financial reward to make it attractive, the credit was claimed by only 170,300 businesses out of a pool of […]
Psychiatric Manual May Soon Include ‘Gambling Disorder’
Can someone actually be hooked on a behavior, like gambling? Problem gambling isn’t considered a true addiction in medical circles. But that may change as psychiatrists revise the diagnostic manual that spells out criteria for more than a dozen varieties of mental disorders. The proposed revisions to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, […]
Today’s Headlines – May 29, 2012
Los Angeles Times: Insurers Forcing Patients To Pay More For Costly Specialty Drugs Thousands of patients in California and across the nation who take expensive prescription drugs every month for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments are facing sticker shock at the pharmacy. Until recently, most of these patients typically paid modest co-pays for the […]
Louisville’s Strategy For The Future: Stick With The Old Folks
The Kentucky city hosts the largest concentration of nursing-home and extended-care companies in the world.
When Is A Life Too Long?; The Rising Cost Of Children’s Health Care
Every week, KHN reporter Shefali S. Kulkarni selects interesting reading from around the Web. New York Magazine: A Life Worth Ending I will tell you, what I feel most intensely when I sit by my mother’s bed is a crushing sense of guilt for keeping her alive. Who can accept such suffering—who can so conscientiously […]
Today’s Headlines – May 25, 2012
Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy, but first, here are your Friday headlines … Politico: FDA User Fee Bill Passed By Senate With little bickering and no effort to repeal the Obama administration’s health reform law, the Senate passed the massive Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act on Thursday well ahead of schedule. … The […]
Veterans Would Benefit Under Health Law, Study Says
If the 2010 health law is upheld by the Supreme Court, it would extend health coverage to thousands of the nation’s veterans, a new study says. The study, released Thursday, said about 630,000 uninsured veterans would likely qualify for Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for the poor, which would be expanded under the law. In addition, 520,000 […]
Mass. Senate Skirts End-Of-Life Counseling Controversy
Updated at 11:00 a.m. on May 24. With no debate, and a quick call of the ayes and nays, the Massachusetts Senate approved a requirement last week that all doctors and nurses talk to dying patients about their end-of-life options. The measure was included in a sweeping health care costs bill that the House expects […]
Today’s Headlines – May 24, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines … The New York Times: For Hospitals And Insurers, New Fervor To Cut Costs Giselle Fernandez is only 17 but she has had more than 50 operations since she was born with a rare genetic condition. She regularly sees a host of pediatric specialists. … Her care has cost […]
Is The U.S. Military Too Soft On Fat?
It’s not just military retirees and veterans who are packing on the pounds. At a policy summit Wednesday, health and military experts said the obesity epidemic has become a significant threat to national security as the waistlines of military enlistees are expanding. Overweight and obese enlistees and soldiers are making it harder for recruiters to find physically […]
Will Men And Their Doctors Change Course On PSA Tests?
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. The dust is nowhere near settled over advice that men of all ages should forgo a routine blood test to detect prostate cancer. The harms, such as false alarms and unnecessary surgeries that leave some men impotent and incontinent, outweigh the benefits of the PSA blood […]
Today’s headlines – May 23, 2012
Middle of the week! Here are your morning headlines: The New York Times: Recession Possible If Impasses Persists, Budget Office Says The economy could relapse into a recession if President Obama and Congress remain at an impasse and allow several big tax increases and spending cuts to take effect at the start of 2013, the […]
Today’s Headlines – May 22, 2012
The Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire: No Confirmation Hearing Planned For Marilyn Tavenner Senate Democrats have said they aren’t planning a confirmation hearing for Marilyn Tavenner, the acting top official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, ending months of speculation over whether they would try to get the agency its first permanent leader […]
Poll: What It’s Like To Be Sick In America
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. In the lull between the Supreme Court arguments over the federal health overhaul law and the decision expected in June, we thought we’d ask Americans who actually use the health system quite a bit how they view the quality of care and its cost. Most surveys […]
Today’s Headlines – May 21, 2012
Here are your Monday morning headlines to get your week rolling: NPR’s Shots Blog: Poll: What It’s Like to Be Sick In America In the lull between the Supreme Court arguments over the federal health overhaul law and the decision expected in June, we thought we’d ask Americans who actually use the health system quite […]
Sebelius Tells Georgetown Students To Follow Their ‘Own Moral Compass’
About 200 students earned degrees this year from Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, but most of the attention at Friday’s graduation ceremony was focused on one person: Kathleen Sebelius. The Health and Human Services Secretary gave commencement remarks – with only one major interruption – to a largely supportive audience. In her speech, Sebelius didn’t directly address […]
Today’s Headlines – May 18, 2012
You made it to Friday. Enjoy your weekend, but first, here are your headlines: The Wall Street Journal: Geithner Says Austerity Alone Won’t Work Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sharpened the Obama administration’s criticism of Republican fiscal policy in a speech Thursday, pushing back against the GOP on calls for immediate spending cuts and long-term plans […]
Embattled Hospital Debt Collector Taps Politicians For Defense
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. So what do you do when you’re accused of hitting up sick patients in the hospital to pay their bills — sometimes even before they get treatment? Well, if you’re Chicago-based Accretive Health, under fire by not only the Minnesota Attorney General but key members of Congress and […]
Today’s Headlines – May 17, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines: Los Angeles Times: Congress’ Partisan Fight Persists Despite High-Level Overture As President Obama welcomed congressional leaders for a White House chat over hoagies about setting aside differences to improve the economy, a far different scenario was unfolding at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Republicans in the House and […]
