Latest News On Private Insurance

Latest KFF Health News Stories

High Court Ruling May Hinder Plans’ Efforts To Recoup Consumers’ Legal Awards

KFF Health News Original

When consumers who have been injured sue and win an award, insurance plans routinely demand that they be reimbursed for medical costs that they covered. The Supreme Court this term threw a small chink into that strategy.

Competition Suffers Most If UnitedHealth Exits Obamacare In 2017: Analysis

KFF Health News Original

A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis released Monday, a day ahead of UnitedHealth’s expected announcement, finds 1.1 million consumers would have no choice in health insurance plans if the giant insurer drops out of Obamacare marketplaces as threatened.

Buying Supplemental Insurance Can Be Hard For Younger Medicare Beneficiaries

KFF Health News Original

Congress left it to states to determine whether private Medigap plans are sold to the more than 9 million disabled people younger than 65 who qualify for Medicare. The result: rules vary across the country.

Bosses Find Part-Time Workers Can Come With Full-Time Headaches

KFF Health News Original

Health law requirements that small employers offer insurance to full-time workers prompted some fast-food restaurants to convert more employees to part time. Now owners are rethinking that approach.

‘Critical Illness’ Insurance Grows As Out-Of-Pocket Health Costs Jump

KFF Health News Original

A relatively obscure category of health insurance — “critical illness” insurance — is catching on because, increasingly, conventional health plans have consumers paying a lot of out-of-pocket costs. Mark Zdechlik of Minnesota Public Radio explains the pros and cons of critical care insurance in this story that aired on NPR’s Morning Edition.

2016 PPO Plans Remove Out-Of-Network Cost Limits, A Costly Trap For Consumers

KFF Health News Original

A trend among this year’s marketplace plans leaves some consumers responsible for potentially unlimited out-of-network health care bills, even though they chose plans in which they thought they had some financial protections.