Latest KFF Health News Stories
As Insurance Enrollment Exceeds 7M, Obama Says Health Law ‘Here To Stay’
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1 The Obama administration took a victory lap Tuesday as enrollment through the health law’s exchanges topped 7 million, a goal previously thought untouchable when the website healthcare.gov sputtered and crashed as sign-ups began last fall. In a statement in the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama, said, “The debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care […]
Healthcare.gov Woes Frustrate In-Person Helpers Around The Country
Last minute health insurance shoppers nationwide turned up in record numbers online Monday, and they also showed up in person at clinics, county health departments and libraries to sign up for Obamacare on the last official day of open enrollment. Here are dispatches from public radio reporters in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Houston — three of […]
For California’s Uninsured, A Rush To The Finish
Uninsured Californians flocked to shopping malls, beauty salons, clinics and libraries Monday to meet the deadline for enrolling in health coverage. The website of the state-run insurance exchange, coveredca.com, was so inundated that officials directed some consumers who began online applications to return later to complete them. The state was seeing a “huge surge” in […]
Obamacare’s National Enrollment Looks OK, But States Matter More
With this year’s deadline to register for individual health insurance just a weekend away, much attention is being lavished on two numbers — the 6 million Americans who have signed up so far, and the percentage of those folks who are (or aren’t) young. But experts say the national numbers actually don’t mean very much. “These […]
Obama Announces 6 Million Have Signed Up For Insurance
More than 6 million people have signed up for health insurance through the health law’s state and federal online marketplaces, or exchanges, since Oct. 1, the administration announced Thursday. President Barack Obama, who is traveling in Europe, announced the number in a conference call with groups that are helping consumers sign up for coverage. In a blog […]
What’s Working, What Isn’t As Healthcare.gov Deadline Is Extended
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey was on PBS NewsHour Wednesday to talk about the Obama administration’s plan to allow extra time for Americans to sign up for health insurance coverage under the health law.
Consumers Get $10B In Subsidies For Health Coverage, Study Finds
Americans have already qualified for about $10 billion in tax credits to help them purchase private health insurance this year through the Affordable Care Act, according to a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation.) That’s an average of $2,890 for each of the 3.5 million people […]
Half Of Uninsured Not Planning On Getting Coverage, Poll Finds
With less than a week left for customers to apply for insurance through the health care marketplaces, a poll released Wednesday finds that half of the people still without health coverage intend to remain uninsured. Five million people have signed up for insurance since the marketplaces created by the federal health law opened in October. The […]
Insurance Agents Key To California Success Enrolling Asian-Americans
While Latino enrollment has lagged in California’s insurance marketplace, Asians have signed up in numbers outstripping their representation in the pool of eligible people. According to new Covered California data, the overwhelming majority of Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese enrollees are buying plans through certified insurance agents, as opposed to community groups or the Covered California website. […]
AHIP President Calls For New Level Of Insurance Under Health Law
http://static.c-span.org/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.1395167746.swf?pid=318396-1 A new tier of coverage should be added to the health law’s online marketplaces, or exchanges, that would be less comprehensive than what plans are now required to offer, the head of the health insurance industry’s trade group said Sunday. “I would create a lower tier, so that people could gradually get into the program, […]
Mass. To Drop Contractor Behind Flawed Health Insurance Website
Massachusetts is negotiating an end to its contract with CGI, the Canadian vendor that built the state’s flawed health insurance website while scrambling to fix it. The site was supposed to be up last October, offering one-stop health insurance shopping for anyone in Massachusetts. But six months later, only a few functions work but have […]
What You Need To Know As Health Care Deadline Looms
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey was on NPR’s Tell Me More program Tuesday talking about the upcoming deadline for many Americans to buy health insurance or face a fine. Listen below:
Local Control Key To Colorado Exchange’s (Moderate) Success
Being an early adopter can be rewarding. Remember how amazing it was to have the first iPhone? But then, sometimes early adopters pay a price, like that early version of the Apple map tool that led to some wrong turns. Colorado is one of 14 states going through their own version of this with the […]
Can Congress Put An End To Annual Medicare Payment Ritual?
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Congress is still searching for money to avoid a 24 percent cut in pay for doctors who treat Medicare patients. But seniors are already paying their share of the cost in premiums, as if the pay cut — scheduled to kick in on April 1 — […]
Sebelius Pushes Lagging Enrollment In Ohio
CLEVELAND – At a health center here Friday, Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Ohio is off to a “decent start” on health insurance enrollment. With two weeks left before open enrollment ends under the Affordable Care Act, 79,000 Ohioans have selected a plan on the federally run insurance exchange. “We’ve got some […]
HHS Says Insurers’ Coverage For Same-Sex Spouses Must Match Other Married Couples
Insurers can’t offer health coverage to a spouse in a traditional marriage if they don’t also make the same coverage available to spouses in same-sex marriages, the federal government announced Friday. The change means that same-sex married couples who have been unable to buy family policies will be able to do so. The guidance, presented in an FAQ […]
Federal High Risk Pools Extended For A Month
Participants in the federal high-risk pool created in the health law will have another month to find coverage, the Obama administration announced Friday. In a notice posted on the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan website, officials announced that program enrollees who have not yet purchased coverage through the health law’s online marketplaces, or exchanges, could keep […]
California Marketplace Still Lags in Signing Up Latinos and Young Adults
With just a few weeks remaining before the March 31 enrollment deadline, California has signed up more than 923,000 people in its new insurance marketplace—more than a fifth of the national tally, officials announced Wednesday. But the state’s success story continues to be marred by slow progress in reaching Latinos and young people in general, […]
Insurers May Get Cost Break Thanks To Rocky ACA Rollout
The Obama administration keeps changing the rules on implementing the Affordable Care Act. Insurance companies keep complaining. But they’re unlikely to grouse about the latest adjustment. On Tuesday the Department of Health and Human Services signaled its intention to temporarily give insurers a break on the portion of premiums they must spend on medical care […]
Injured Who Lived Near Closed Trauma Centers More Likely To Die
Injured patients who had to travel an average 13 minutes longer to reach a hospital trauma center because a facility nearer to home had closed were more likely to die of their injuries in the hospital, according to a new California study. The report found their risk of dying was 21 percent higher than that […]
