Latest News On CMS

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Is Trump Pushing Health Insurance Innovation Or An ACA Rollback?

KFF Health News Original

The Trump administration offered states specific examples of how they could change the way they implement the Affordable Care Act. Critics say it could drive up premiums for many.

Billions In ‘Questionable Payments’ Went To California’s Medicaid Insurers And Providers

KFF Health News Original

The money was paid on behalf of more than 400,000 people who may have been ineligible for the public program, a state audit found. One had been dead for four years before payments stopped.

Marketplace Subsidies May Be Option In 2020 For Plans That Skirt Obamacare

KFF Health News Original

The new guidance allows states to ask for waivers from provisions in the Affordable Care Act governing not only subsidies, but also the benefits insurers must offer in all their plans.

Medicare For All? CMS Chief Warns Program Has Enough Problems Already

KFF Health News Original

Seema Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tells private insurance officials that a push by some Democrats to expand Medicare would only increase troubles the program already faces.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Falling Premiums And Rising Political Tensions

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News discuss the Trump administration’s announcement that average premium prices are falling on the Obamacare marketplaces, the effort by Senate Democrats to reverse rules on short-term health insurance and the focus on protections for people with preexisting conditions in the run-up to midterm elections.

Doctors Give Medicare’s Proposal To Pay For Telemedicine Poor Prognosis

KFF Health News Original

Federal officials are proposing that Medicare pay doctors for a 10-minute “check-in” call with beneficiaries. But many doctors already do this for free, and the plan would require a cost-sharing charge of many patients.

As States Try To Rein In Drug Spending, Feds Slap Down One Bold Medicaid Move

KFF Health News Original

Medicaid drug spending doubled in five years in Massachusetts. The state wanted to exclude expensive drugs that weren’t proven to work better than existing alternatives from its Medicaid plan, but the federal government blocked the effort.

Paper Jam: California’s Medicaid Program Hits ‘Print’ When The Feds Need Info

KFF Health News Original

Amid the buzz over apps and electronic medical records rescuing modern medicine, California’s Medicaid program still clings to 1970s-era technology. A reboot may cost half a billion dollars.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ A Detour On A Smoking Off-Ramp

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Sarah Jane Tribble of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call talk about the Food and Drug Administration’s latest actions to address teenagers’ use of e-cigarettes, Arkansas’ Medicaid work requirements and news about the uninsured from the latest federal Census report.