Latest KFF Health News Stories
Research Roundup: Reforming Medical Training; The Effects Of A Ruling On The Health Law
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Obama’s Push To Change Sick-Leave Laws Raises Small Business Concerns
News outlets analyze some of the health policy issues included in President Barack Obama’s state-of-the-union address.
House Approves Bill To Permanently Prohibit Taxpayer Funding For Abortion
The vote, which coincided with the annual March for LIfe rally, came after some Republican women and moderate lawmakers helped scuttle another vote on a more controversial measure that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks.
Obama Administration Offers Supreme Court Robust Defense Of Health Law
Chief Justice John Roberts will be pivotal to deciding the fate of the law, The Washington Post reports. The administration says health law detractors have offered a challenge that “strains credulity.”
Latino Enrollment Is Obamacare Priority
Officials are using a bevy of new methods to try to entice this traditionally hard-to-reach group to purchase health insurance. In the meantime, one Florida zip code leads the nation in enrollment.
New Congress Faces Old Medicare Pay Issues
Meanwhile, the new GOP Senate Budget Committee chairman said he wants to balance the budget within 10 years, and Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin calls for hearings on improper opioid prescribing at a VA medical center.
Elizabeth Warren Would Ding Law-Breaking Drug Makers And Use The Fines To Fund Research
The Massachusetts Democrat plans to introduce a bill next week that would require drug makers that break the law to send a percentage of their profits to the U.S. National Institutes of Health for five years.
Judge Orders Calif. To Grant Temporary Coverage To Medi-Cal Applicants Caught in Limbo
The state of California will offer temporary benefits to applicants who have been waiting more than 45 days for officials to determine if they are eligible for the state’s Medicaid program.
Ark. Gov. Calls For Keeping Medicaid Expansion For Two Years, Then Rethinking Approach
The program, often called the private option, did not expand Medicaid in the usual way, but instead used federal funds to buy private insurance for more than 200,000 poor people. Even with new Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s support, it’s not yet clear if the legislature will support an extension of the program.
First Edition: January 23, 2015
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Obamacare Questions Persist; GOP Threats Ring Hollow; Abortion Bait And Switch
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Longer Looks: When A Patient Kills A Doctor; The Ebola Czar; Medicare’s Role In Costs
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
State Highlights: States To See More Funds For School-Based Care
A selection of health policy stories from North Carolina, Massachusetts, Texas, California, Kansas and Iowa.
67 Confirmed Measles Cases In California-Centered Outbreak
The outbreak, which public health officials say is the worst in the state 15 years, is focusing attention on the anti-vaccination movement.
Medicaid Pay Raise Boosted Access To Primary Care
A 10-state study found that Medicaid enrollees had an easier time getting appointments with primary care doctors as a result of the temporary pay raise which expired Dec. 31.
Where You Get Surgery Matters — Especially For Cost
Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers disclosed for the first time what they pay health care providers for surgeries. The result: wide gaps in what different providers charge.
Nursing Groups Seek More Training Funds
Nursing educators ask Congress for more money to train nurses, while the number of nurse practitioners nearly doubled in the last decade. Meanwhile, a coalition of 35 medical societies ask federal regulators to make big changes to the government’s electronic health records program.
Grassley Probes Nonprofit Hospital’s Actions After Reports About Care Of Poor Patients
The senator is writing to a Missouri hospital at the center of a recent NPR/ProPublica report. Also in hospital news, Kaiser Health News examines a program that offers bonuses and penalties to hospitals based on the quality of their care.
UnitedHealth’s Profit Benefits From New Obamacare Customers
The largest U.S. insurer Wednesday reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings due, in part, to hundreds of thousands of new customers it added as a result of the health law.
A Guide To The Supreme Court’s Next Health Law Challenge
Also on Wednesday, lawyers for Sen. Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, sought to convince a federal appeals court that the health law had harmed him.
