Latest KFF Health News Stories
Despite Deep Divisions, Health Law Will Eventually Win Over Public
The early provisions that have taken effect in the past year have slowly triggered understanding among more Americans about the law’s valuable patient protections, and consumers will oppose having those taken away.
One Year Down, Pollsters Handicap Health Law Politics
A fresh take from two pollsters on how the politics of health reform have played out in the first year of the new health law and how public opinion has evolved.
The Health Debate Is Far From Over; Will Be Cornerstone Issue In 2012
The early provisions that have taken effect in the past year have slowly triggered understanding among more Americans about the law’s valuable patient protections, and consumers will oppose having those taken away.
Learning To Cope With Type 2 Diabetes
Diabetes runs in 15-year-old John Perrone’s family, but it was still a shock to his mother when John, an Eagle Scout, was diagnosed four years ago. He no longer needs insulin injections
‘Playing the Granny Card’s Gotta End’ – Douglas Holtz-Eakin On Medicare And Politics
In an interview with KHN, the former adviser to President George W. Bush and presidential candidate John McCain says the health law is standing in the way of reining in Medicare and Medicaid spending and that he always believed that the law “was a dead man walking.”
Text: CBO’s Options On Health Spending
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has issued nearly 40 pages of new health spending and cuts it says would reduce the federal deficit by billions of dollars including changes to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
AMA Eyes Well-Known Washington Hands In Search For CEO
The American Medical Association is one of the best-funded lobbying shops in Washington, and their current CEO and Executive Vice President, Michael Maves, will leave his post in June.
Table: Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary
This table details 2008 Medicaid spending in each of the nation’s 306 hospital markets.
Health On The Hill Transcript: GOP Governors Seek To Modify Medicaid Programs
Republican governors are asking Washington for more flexibility regarding how they run their Medicaid programs, saying that Washington puts too many restraints on states.
Obama To Governors: Opt Out of Health Law If You Can Do Better
President Obama offered governors a smaller concession to health spending flexibility than they expected by endorsing a bipartisan proposal to allow states to opt out of most of last year’s health law’s requirements.
Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers: ‘We All Ran On Repealing” Health Law
Supported by the tea party, Renee Ellmers pulled an upset victory over the Democratic incumbent in North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District last fall. As a nurse married to a physician, Ellmers says her own experience has convinced her that health care “is a personal responsibility” and the only way to bring down high health insurance costs is for government to step aside and let the private market work better. Rep. Ellmers was interviewed in her office on Capitol Hill by Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy.
In addition to shifting nearly all Medicaid patients to HMOs and other managed care, the Senate’s proposal would cap spending, require plans to bid for business and impose $100 fees on patients who abuse the emergency room.
Video: Obama Signals Willingness To Work With GOP On Health Care Entitlement Spending
President Obama said Tuesday that he is willing to work with Republicans to help address the “huge problems” of high Medicare and Medicaid spending.
Answering The Obama Budget Critics…
For all of those people who are furious about President Obama’s budget, here’s an important question: Do you have a more fiscally responsible and politically viable alternative?
Health on the Hill: President Obama’s Health Budget Scrutinized
President Obama’s Fiscal 2012 budget request would stop a scheduled Medicare physician payment cut for two years. Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to consider legislation that would repeal a paperwork provision in the health law that has drawn heavy opposition from small business.
More Elderly and Disabled Medicaid Patients Headed for Managed Long-Term Care
Some patient advocates and nursing homes object, but health plans say they can reduce states’ costs.
Text: President Obama’s Proposed 2012 HHS Budget
Text of President Obama’s proposed budget for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Health Co-ops Touted As Model For Lower Costs, Better Care
One of the lesser-known parts of the new health law is a provision that provides federal loans to help fund health cooperatives. Advocates say these Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, essentially insurers run by their members, encourage competition especially in the individual and small business health insurance market. Currently there are very few co-ops, but one that is considered a model of success is Group Health. It’s CEO, Scott Armstrong sat down with KHN’s Bara Vaida.
Heavyweight Budget Fight: Entitlements Vs. The Deficit
Funding entitlements and a push to tame the budget deficit are fighting for the hearts and minds of lawmakers as the Obama administration readies its 2012 budget.
Text: GOP Governors Letter To Sebelius: ‘Flexibility On Exchanges’
On Monday, 21 Republican governors sent a sharply worded letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, asking for six specific changes that would give states more control over the health law’s insurance exchanges.
