Latest KFF Health News Stories
Research Roundup: Compounding Pharmacies; Marketplace Details; Changes In Insurance Coverage
This week’s studies come from Health Affairs, Breakaway Policy, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Kaiser Family Foundation, Mathematica Policy Research, the Urban Institute, JAMA Internal Medicine and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including coverage of the latest round of health insurance enrollment data released by the Obama administration.
Big Companies Likely To Move Employees To Health Exchanges
A new investor report predicted that nearly all workers’ coverage would shift by 2020, triggering trillions in savings for employers by 2025.
Health Law Gives Boost To U.S. Economy
Health spending grew at its fastest rate since the third quarter of 1980 — a development attributed to the health law’s implementation — and thereby helped lift the nation’s GDP by 1.1 percentage points.
WellPoint Walks Back Forecast Of Big Rate Hikes
Company officials said that 2015 rates will vary by market but given a late surge of younger enrollees, increases may not be as high as initially projected. Meanwhile, Cigna’s first quarter profits surged on its group disability and life operations.
Medicare Proposes That Hospitals Provide More Transparency On Prices
In a proposed rule, federal officials lay out new regulations for hospitals that include offering a standard list of prices, the new federal payment rates, observation care and readmissions.
Hill Panel Presses Medicare After IG Reports Fraud Cost $50 Billion Last Year
Lawmakers from both parties lash out at an official who has just taken over the agency in charge of cutting waste.
Virginia Gov. Says Legislation Is Way To Medicaid Expansion
In Missouri, the expansion gets a symbolic committee endorsement, and the governor proposes using federal dollars to help pay for coverage for low-wage earners.
Polls Show Continued Public Skepticism About Health Law
While slightly fewer than half of those polled by the Wall Street Journal and NBC think the law is a bad idea, only 21 percent want it repealed. Meanwhile, former President Bill Clinton criticized media coverage of the law, saying news organizations do a disservice by building a narrative and never straying from it, regardless of the facts.
Viewpoints: Health Overhaul Doesn’t Necessarily Help The Sick; Single Payer Doesn’t Mean Cheaper
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
State Exchanges Spent Far More To Reach Consumers
States that ran their own insurance marketplaces under the health law or those that partnered with the federal government spent significantly more on outreach and enrollment efforts than states that used the federal marketplace, according to a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
State-Based Marketplaces Want Feds To Decide Who Is Exempted From Mandate
At least seven states have criticized an administration proposal to make state-run marketplaces responsible for determining eligibility for mandate exemptions. Meanwhile, Oregon’s Legislative Counsel’s Office says the exchange board does not have authority to scrap the state exchange in favor of the federal one. The opinion is not binding.
GOP Report Finds Two-Thirds Of Enrollees Have Paid Premiums
The Obama administration questioned the accuracy of the numbers, saying they do not reflect reports from insurance companies themselves, most of which have indicated that 80 to 90 percent of enrollees have paid up.
State Highlights: Mich. Mental Health Funding Cuts; Ga. Rural Hospitals
A selection of health policy stories from California, Michigan, Georgia, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina.
Longer Looks: New Views Of The 1918 Flu Pandemic; A Crumbling Mental Health System
This week’s articles come from CNN, WBUR, The Virginian-Pilot, Vox, The Guardian and The New York Times.
Woman Challenges Anthem’s Health Law ‘Narrow Network’ In N.H.
And a new proposal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would prohibit insurers from selling as full policies bare-bones “fixed benefit” plans, potentially exposing Democrats to midterm criticism.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including headlines about a GOP report on health exchange sign-ups as well as coverage of the interaction between the health law and WellPoint’s first-quarter results.
Polls Try To Gauge The Health Law’s Effects On Midterm Elections
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that more people think the overhaul is a bad idea rather than a good one. Still, another poll concluded that voters in swing districts are more supportive of fixing it instead of repealing it.
Health Plan Execs Say Millions More Are Insured
Meanwhile, Marketplace describes how hundreds of mostly rural residents in Tennessee still wait in line all night to get free health care, while Southern California Public Radio reports on Obamacare enrollees who feel emboldened to leave their jobs to start businesses now that they can get insurance outside of their jobs.
Some Medicare Beneficiaries Have Trouble Getting Extended Nursing And Therapy Services
Under a 2012 court settlement, the Department of Health and Human Services agreed to relax rules that said seniors could get these services only if they continued to improve. But many providers are still unaware of the new regulations.
