Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Health Law ‘Off-Ramp’; GOP’s Tough Choices; Negotiating Medicare Drug Prices
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
A selection of health policy stories from Kansas, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Oregon.
Workers’ Costs Grow Despite Slowed Health Spending
A new report indicates that employees face higher medical bills as a result of increasing insurance premiums and out-of-pocket medical expenses. Another finds that drug coverage in Obamacare plans is often stingier than in employer coverage.
Groups That Rate Hospitals Often Disagree On Rankings
A study in Health Affairs examined four hospital rating systems for consumers and found their results often diverged.
Both Sides Tailor Talking Points To Sway Justices
Leading Republicans say they have a plan if the Supreme Court voids health insurance subsidies, although they have offered no details, because they believe that will make it easier for the court to strike down the credits. Likewise, the Obama administration insists it has no plan.
NAACP Joins Fight To Expand Medicaid In N.C.
Medicaid also makes news in Texas, where some lawmakers set a marker for what they want from an expansion while others there decry the program’s larger cost.
Legal Challenge To Obamacare Subsidies Worries Consumers
As attention is focused on the high court’s consideration of King v. Burwell, news outlets also take a look at the people who will be affected if the justices rule against the subsidies.
The Health Law’s Future And Four Little Words
News outlets preview and analyze the key issues that will be in play as the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the legal challenge to the health law’s insurance subsidies.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: GOP Plan Could Hurt CHIP; Abusing Painkillers; Privacy Issues And Genetic Testing
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Supreme Court Case Commentary: Millions Could Lose Coverage; A GOP Plan To Fix Health Care
Opinion writers from a variety of publications offer their views of the legal arguments and the stakes involved as the high court prepares to review a key provision of the health law.
State Highlights: State Medicaid Fraud Units Net More Than $2B
A selection of health policy stories from Connecticut, Georgia, California, Maryland, Texas, Idaho, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Wisconsin, Kansas and Washington.
Poll: Childhood Trauma, Poverty, Among Factors That Shape Health
A survey by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that Americans believe their health is affected by a range of social and cultural factors, from poverty, exposure to pollutants and stress to lack of access to quality medical care.
Antipsychotic Drugs Overused For Dementia Patients
Federal investigators are recommending that Medicare reduce unnecessary psychiatric prescriptions for seniors suffering from dementia, reports The New York Times. Another report finds that more than a quarter of children taken from their homes and put in foster care aren’t getting required medical care.
Health Care Data Poses Opportunities, Dangers
The Lewin Group looks for an analyst to parse health care data to help the government prepare for the next crisis. Meanwhile, Pro Publica reports that federal fines are rare despite the increasing number of health data breaches.
3 GOP Senators Pledge Help If High Court Strikes Down Health Law’s Insurance Subsidies
The Republicans, who oppose the law, are focusing on temporary fixes to avoid chaos — and voters’ backlash — if the Supreme Court bars federal exchange subsidies. The senators have not described what those fixes might be or how they would pay for them.
Date Set For Ariz. High Court Case On Funding For Medicaid Expansion
Elsewhere, Florida is scheduled to lose $1 billion in federal health funds at the end of June and that is threatening the governor’s budget. But the low-income hospitals that have funding at stake see the issue as a way to bolster the case for Medicaid expansion.
Oregon Lawmakers Pass Bill To Abolish State Corp. That Ran Failed Health Marketplace
The measure, which now goes to the governor, would dissolve the independent corporation that has been running Cover Oregon — the failed state health insurance exchange — and move its operations into the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. Meanwhile, legal issues between the exchange and Oracle America, its developer, continue. News outlets also report on developments related to exchanges in Rhode Island and Tennessee.
Angst, Sense of Impending Crisis Surround Wednesday’s Health Law Arguments
The Supreme Court justices will again hold the fate of the health law in their hands as they hear arguments in the latest legal challenge to the overhaul. News outlets analyze what’s at stake in the case — for policy makers and consumers — as well as the contingency plans, or lack thereof, if the court rules against the subsidies.
