Latest KFF Health News Stories
Santorum’s Pro-Government Record
Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. Mother Jones: Santorum In ’93: More Government Needed in Health Care If elected president, Santorum vows, he will end the “tyranny” of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Yet as an up-and-coming congressman in the early 1990s, Santorum took a much different line. Then—like […]
Forget The Robots: Venture Capitalists Change Their Health Care Investments
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes KQED, and Kaiser Health News. It wasn’t that long ago that money flowed steadily to entrepreneurs who dreamt up whiz-bang medical devices. Hospitals souped up their surgical suites with robots or high-tech radiation machines for cancer treatment. Cost wasn’t an issue: They just got passed along […]
Today’s Headlines – March 9, 2012
Good morning and happy Friday! Here are your morning headlines to get your day started: The New York Times: White House Works To Shape Debate Over Health Law The White House has begun an aggressive campaign to use approaching Supreme Court arguments on the new health care law as a moment to build support for […]
N.Y. Governor Raps Insurers, Health Providers For ‘Unacceptable Opaqueness’ In Billing
Too often patients who thought they had all the right approvals from their insurers get hit with surprise bills for out-of-network medical costs, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says in a report that calls on insurers, doctors and hospitals to help craft reforms. Complaints about out-of-network costs were among the most common found in a state […]
New Insurer-Hospital ACO Touts Early Success
Illinois’ largest hospital system and biggest health insurer agreed in late 2010 to form an accountable care organization, a network in which the organizations would cooperate to boost quality and restrain cost increases, sharing in any savings. Chicago-based Advocate Health Care gambled that its portion would compensate for the lost revenue from the resulting empty beds. Now, with six months of operating […]
House Republicans Find Democratic Allies In IPAB Repeal Effort
Later this month, just as the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the 2010 health law, the House is expected to pass a measure that would repeal an advisory board created in the law to curb Medicare spending if it exceeds specific targets. But the debate is not shaping up like the usual House legislative fight […]
Can GOP Deliver On Its Promise To Preserve Traditional Medicare?
Republicans say they can overhaul the entitlement program while still offering the current option. But it may not look the same as it does today.
Today’s Headlines – March 8, 2012
Good morning! Grab your coffee, here are your early a.m. headlines to get your day going: The Washington Post: New Front In Birth Control Rule Battle: The Courts Since November, at least eight lawsuits have been filed in federal district courts across the country challenging the constitutionality of the rule, which requires employers, including church-affiliated […]
Health IT Chief Disputes Study On EHR Testing, Costs
A study published in the journal Health Affairs this week found that doctors who use electronic health records may order more diagnostic testing, and therefore drive up the cost of health care, despite claims to the contrary by the federal government and health IT industry. Now, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for health information technology, […]
Today’s Headlines – March 7, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines for Wednesday — halfway through the week! USA Today: Romney Takes 6 Of 10 Super Tuesday Contests Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, scored substantial wins in GOP primaries in Tennessee and Oklahoma and won easily in North Dakota’s caucuses, where Ron Paul finished a distant second and Romney finished […]
Super Tuesday Speeches: Santorum Attacks Romney, Obama On Health Care
On a day with 10 GOP primaries and caucuses, former Pa. Sen. Rick Santorum calls health care “the most important issue of the day.” Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney repeats pledge to “repeal Obamacare.”
For Tavenners, It’s All In The Family
Hospital administrators have to deal with Medicare and Medicaid almost every day. Not too many have their mom as head of the two government health insurance programs. Matt Tavenner does. Matt, assistant administrator at Jackson Purchase Medical Center in Mayfield, Ky., is the son of Marilyn Tavenner, whom President Barack Obama in December nominated to […]
Study Finds Birth Control Saves Taxpayers’ Money
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. While the controversy continues to swirl around radio talkmeister Rush Limbaugh and his admittedly inappropriate comments about Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke, an analysis from the left-leaning Brookings Institution adds an economic twist to the debate over coverage for contraception. Love them or hate them, contraceptives […]
Wash. Bill Mandating Abortion Coverage Fails To Reach Vote
In yet another hurdle for a bill that would require insurers to provide abortion coverage, advocates were not able to get a floor vote in the Washington state Senate for the Reproductive Parity Act. But, according to the bill’s proponents, it isn’t entirely off the table yet. Under the bill, public and private insurers that offer health […]
Today’s Headlines – March 6, 2012
Good morning, here are your morning headlines to get your day started: The Washington Post: In Ohio, Santorum Blasts Romney For Ad Spending, Says Voters Don’t Trust Him On health care, Santorum made the claim that Romney — because of his overhaul of Massachusetts’ health-care system while governor, which included an individual mandate to purchase […]
Study: Medicare Quality Ratings Didn’t Reduce Patient Deaths
Medicare’s seven-year effort to spur quality improvements in hospital care by publishing key performance metrics on its Hospital Compare website has not resulted in fewer patient deaths, according to a new Health Affairs study. In 2005, Hospital Compare started rating more than 3,000 hospitals on how well they adhere to basic guidelines for clinical care, […]
Study: E-Health Records Don’t Deter Testing, Spending
Electronic health records have long been touted by Democrats and Republicans alike as a sure-fire way to lower health spending. When doctors have easy electronic access to a patient’s records, advocates argue, they are less likely to order the duplicative and unnecessary tests that drive up the cost of health care in America. But that […]
Today’s Headlines – March 5, 2012
Good Monday morning! Here are your headlines: The Wall Street Journal: Romney Advances As Obama Gains The resurgence of Mr. Romney, who hadn’t led the Journal poll since November, lays the path for a potential matchup against a president whose own position is strengthening. President Barack Obama’s approval rate hit 50% in the poll, its […]
GOP Debate: Romney Attacks Federal Employee Benefits; Santorum Promotes HSAs
During a debate in the battleground state of Ohio, Mitt Romney contrasted proposed Tricare cuts to health benefits for other government employees, while Rick Santorum extolled the virtue of health savings accounts, saying, “We need to expand them greatly.”
Today’s Headlines – March 2, 2012
Happy Friday! Here are your headlines to start your weekend off right: The New York Times: Senate Rejects Step Targeting Coverage Of Contraception The Senate on Thursday upheld President Obama’s birth control policy, voting to kill a Republican effort to let employers and health insurance companies deny coverage for contraceptives and other items they object […]
