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Arizona Gets OK To Expand Health Coverage To Kids

By Phil Galewitz April 6, 2012 KFF Health News Original

Nearly 22,000 poor kids in Arizona will gain health insurance coverage under a Medicaid deal the state has reached with the Obama administration, federal officials said Friday. The agreement lets Arizona use a combination of county dollars, money from the University of Arizona Health System and a small amount of state money gained from Indian gaming operations to draw down […]

Hospitals Urge Peers To Ditch Fast Food, Turn Down The Lights

By Phil Galewitz April 3, 2012 KFF Health News Original

Eleven of the nation’s largest hospital systems –including Kaiser Permanente, HCA Healthcare  and Boston-based Partners HealthCare — today called on their industry to be better environmental stewards. The Healthier Hospitals Initiative challenges hospitals to reduce energy use and waste, purchase environmentally friendlier products and serve healthier foods. The  effort is as much about reducing health risks and environmental […]

Feds Reject Hawaii’s 10-Day Medicaid Hospital Limit

By Phil Galewitz April 3, 2012 KFF Health News Original

Updated at 4:15 p.m. The Obama administration has rejected Hawaii’s proposal to limit most adult Medicaid recipients to 10 days of hospital coverage per year, which would have been the strictest in the nation. Instead, Hawaii has been approved to implement a 30-day hospital coverage limit starting July 1, state and federal health officials say. […]

Inside The Courtroom On The Final, Historic Day

By Phil Galewitz March 28, 2012 KFF Health News Original

At 1 p.m. sharp on Wednesday, the loud buzzer sounded, and from behind floor-length ruby curtains and four marble columns, the nine justices emerged to take their chairs. Chief Justice John Roberts, seated in the center in a high-backed leather chair, quickly brought down the gavel. And the last of four hearings into the 2010 health […]

Crowd Dwindles On Final Day of Health Law Arguments

By Phil Galewitz March 28, 2012 KFF Health News Original

A smaller and more subdued crowd gathered outside the Supreme Court Wednesday for the third and final day of the historic hearings over President Obama’ health care law. About 100 supporters of the law, many carrying signs saying, “Protect our Health, Protect the Law,” marched in front of the Court, while about 30 opponents stood […]

Pundits Parse Tough Questions By Conservative Justices

By Phil Galewitz March 27, 2012 KFF Health News Original

The second day of the momentous Supreme Court hearing on President Obama’s health law ended almost exactly at noon. By 12:03, many conservative lawmakers and television commentators who had been in the packed chambers stood on the marble steps outside, saying the health insurance mandate at the heart of the law appeared to be in deep trouble. […]

Hundreds Brave Chilly Weather For Chance To Witness History

By Phil Galewitz March 27, 2012 KFF Health News Original

With the Supreme Court poised Tuesday to hear arguments about the health law’s mandate requiring most Americans to buy health insurance, about 200 advocates for and against abortion rights marched outside the court on a sunny, but chilly morning. They carried signs saying, “Abortion is not Health Care,” and “Protect the Law.” A few feet […]

Dozens Gather Outside Court Hoping to Witness, Shape History

By Phil Galewitz March 26, 2012 KFF Health News Original

WASHINGTON — Chanting “ACA is here to stay,” and accompanied by a trumpet and drums, about 100 supporters of the 2010 health law rallied outside the Supreme Court Monday morning, as attorneys prepared for three days of oral arguments in the most anticipated high court hearing in years. Fewer than 20 health law opponents also […]

Social Media Rundown: Three Days At The Supreme Court

By Shefali S. Kulkarni March 29, 2012 KFF Health News Original

This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the 2010 health law, in what court watchers are calling the biggest case at the high court in decades. Here’s a rundown from the social media-sphere of what happened in those three days. Day 1: Can We Even Argue About The Health Care Law? Mon., March 26 […]

New Rule Spells Out Streamlined Medicaid Eligibility

By Phil Galewitz March 16, 2012 KFF Health News Original

Most people who apply for health coverage in the new online marketplaces required by the federal health law will be able to learn almost instantly if they qualify for Medicaid or premium subsidies, Medicaid chief Cindy Mann said Friday. Mann said currently most people who apply for Medicaid must wait days or weeks until states determine their […]

For Tavenners, It’s All In The Family

By Phil Galewitz March 6, 2012 KFF Health News Original

Hospital administrators have to deal with Medicare and Medicaid almost every day. Not too many have their mom as head of the two government health insurance programs. Matt Tavenner does. Matt, assistant administrator at Jackson Purchase Medical Center in Mayfield, Ky., is the son of Marilyn Tavenner, whom President Barack Obama in December nominated to […]

HHS Seeks To Cut Preterm Births

By Phil Galewitz February 8, 2012 KFF Health News Original

The Obama administration launched a $40 million effort Wednesday to reduce premature births, especially early elective deliveries,  but it has no plans to stop Medicaid from paying for those deliveries. About 10 percent of all deliveries are scheduled — either as induced or Cesarean-section –before 39 weeks and are not medically indicated, according to the Department of Health […]

Study: Health Law’s Tax On Insurers Will Take Bite Out Of Medicaid

By Phil Galewitz February 1, 2012 KFF Health News Original

Under the health care overhaul, the federal government will begin taxing itself and the states beginning in 2014. And that’s giving state Medicaid directors heartburn. The law calls for a new tax on health insurers’ premium revenue — intended to help pay for expansion of coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans.  But the tax will be paid by all […]