Latest KFF Health News Stories
ACA Provision Regarding Hill Staffers’ Health Insurance Triggers Debate, Action
Under the law, members of Congress and some of their aides may have to pay more for their health coverage and buy it from new online health insurance marketplaces — a reality that is triggering strong reactions on Capitol Hill.
Longer Looks: Mayo’s Demands; Posting Hospital Prices
This week’s articles come from The New Republic, The New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a number of reports about the political positioning surrounding the health law.
CBO: Employer Mandate Delay Estimated To Cost The Feds $12 Billion
The amount represents lost tax revenue and additional costs. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office noted that about one million fewer people will get insurance from their employers in 2014 as a result. Many of them will turn to the new online insurance marketplace or Medicaid for coverage.
Push To Defund Health Law Triggering Fault Lines Among Republicans
The effort is gaining momentum among tea-party supporters and their Capitol Hill advocates, but some moderate GOP senators are taking a very different view.
Data Hub Will Be Key To Health Law But Also Raises Privacy Concerns
Bloomberg examines the complications involved in building the hub that will connect the databases of seven federal agencies.
Parsing Public Opinion About Obamacare — And GOP Repeal Efforts
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker finds a recent Obamacare poll by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce presented data “in a highly misleading way,” while a memo by President Barack Obama’s pollster asserts that GOP efforts to repeal the health law have the support of only about half of GOP voters.
Ga. Seeks Delay For Approving Health Exchanges’ Proposed Rates
The state insurance commissioner cited “massive rate increases” in the prosals from seven insurers seeking do business on these online insurance marketplaces.
Ohio Lawmaker Introduces Medicaid Expansion Bill
A Democratic state senator in Ohio introduces a Medicaid expansion bill. In Michigan, a committee vote on the expansion there could come Wednesday. Elsewhere, New Hampshire and Wisconsin also consider the expansion.
Health Law Supporters And Opponents Focus On Moms
A surge of advertising and grassroots organizing targets mothers because women usually make the health-care decisions for families and use more health care than men, Bloomberg reports.
Aetna’s Profits Rise After Managed Care Plan Purchase
The insurer’s second quarter earnings increased 17 percent as it reaped enrollment and revenue gains from its acquisition of the managed health care company Coventry Health Care Inc.
Huge Hospital Merger In The Works
If approved, Community Health Systems will buy Health Management Associates, resulting in a chain of 206 for-profit hospitals.
Medicare Increase $1 In Price From The Past Three Years
The Obama administration cast the average monthly premium price increase as a matter of inches.
U.S. Divide On Abortion Widens Along Regional Lines
Opposition to abortion has grown in parts of the South, while those in the Northeast and West Coast continue to be strong supporters of abortion rights, a study says. In the meantime, a judge in Indiana made permanent her order barring the state from denying Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood.
Viewpoints: GOP’s Shutdown Vow; Peter Orszag Defends Rationale Behind Medicare Payment Board
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care from around the country.
N.Y. Appellate Court Upholds Decision Blocking NYC’s Big Soda Ban
The panel said the city board of health acted outside its authority in imposing the ban, which would have prevented restaurants, theaters and food carts from selling sodas and other sugary drinks in excess of 16 ounces. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he planned to appeal the ruling.
State Highlights: Experts Cite ‘Serious’ Health Care Risks At Calif. Prison
A selection of health policy stories from California, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Minnesota.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that Medicare premiums will remain stable in 2014 and coverage of a new Congressional Budget Office estimate regarding the cost of delaying the health law’s employer mandate.
Obama Administration Touts Slower Health Care Cost Increases
According to USA Today, personal health care costs rose at the slowest rate in the last 50 years, based on statistics for the past year ending in May.
Lawmakers’ Aides Fret Over Requirement To Buy Obamacare Coverage
The New York Times explores how congressional staffs are anxious about a health law provision requiring them to buy coverage in online insurance markets because the federal government may no longer pay a share of their premiums. Meanwhile, The Hill reports on a request to audit Enroll America, a nonprofit that is encouraging people to enroll in new coverage. CQ Healthbeat looks at how the law’s definition of a full-time employee is affecting some businesses.
