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Study Estimates 10 Million Americans Gained Health Coverage

By Phil Galewitz July 24, 2014 KFF Health News Original

About 10.3 million Americans gained health coverage this year, primarily as a result of the Affordable Care Act, according to a study by the federal government and Harvard University, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The estimate of newly insured adults — the largest to date — is the first published in a […]

Feds Demand Medicaid Backlog Fixes By Six States

By Phil Galewitz July 10, 2014 KFF Health News Original

This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Tired of waiting for states to reduce their backlogs of Medicaid applications, the Obama administration has given six states until Monday to submit plans to resolve issues that have prevented more than 1 million low-income or disabled people from getting health  coverage. The targeted states are Alaska, California, […]

‘A Uniquely New Hampshire Approach’ To Medicaid Expansion

By Phil Galewitz July 1, 2014 KFF Health News Original

New Hampshire became the 26th state today to embrace the federal health law’s expanded Medicaid program, with as many as 50,000 low-income residents expected to begin signing up. Coverage for those who enroll this month will take effect Aug. 15. Initially, most New Hampshire enrollees will join one of two Medicaid managed care plans in the […]

Medicaid Enrollment Surges By More Than 1 Million In April

By Phil Galewitz June 4, 2014 KFF Health News Original

Medicaid enrollment surged by more than 1 million people in April, bringing the total growth in the state-federal health insurance program for the poor since September to about 6 million, the Obama administration said Wednesday. The increase is significant because it shows Medicaid enrollment continued to grow even after the new state and federal online […]

States’ Medicaid Decisions Leave Health Centers, Patients In Lurch

By Phil Galewitz May 9, 2014 KFF Health News Original

More than 1 million patients who use federally funded community health centers will remain uninsured because they live in one of 24 states that chose not to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, according to a study released Friday by researchers at George Washington University. Most of those patients live in the South, because […]

Hospitals’ Purchase Of Doctors Leads To Higher Prices, Spending, Study Finds

By Phil Galewitz May 5, 2014 KFF Health News Original

A new study gives ammunition to what health economists and health insurers have argued for years: When hospitals buy physician practices, the result is usually higher hospital prices and increased spending by privately insured patients. The study, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, was based on an analysis of 2.1 million hospital claims from workers […]

Healthcare.gov Finished Strong Despite Rocky Start, Enrollment Data Show

By Phil Galewitz May 1, 2014 KFF Health News Original

Obama administration officials on Thursday predicted health insurance premiums would be stable next year despite concerns that not enough young and healthy people signed up through the online insurance exchanges. “The risk pool is fundamentally large and varied to support that kind of pricing…in every state,” said Mike Hash, director of the office of health […]

Hospitals Get Into Doctor Rating Business

By Phil Galewitz April 17, 2014 KFF Health News Original

After some doctors at University of Utah Health Care noticed scathing online reviews about themselves in 2012, the hospital system decided the best way to respond was by posting its patients’ ratings of physicians on the hospital’s own website. The hospital was already randomly surveying patients about their experiences with physicians. Now, when potential patients […]