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New Money And New Rules For The Exchanges

By Phil Galewitz August 12, 2011 KFF Health News Original

The Obama administration on Friday allotted $185 million to 13 states and the District of Columbia to help build new insurance exchanges and issued rules on how the new marketplaces will enroll individuals, provide subsidies to low- and middle-class Americans and interact with state Medicaid programs. These grants, which will cover a variety of expenses […]

ER Use Of CT Scans Rises Sharply, Raising Questions About Costs And Benefits

By Phil Galewitz August 10, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Emergency department patients are getting CT scans at rates five times higher than in the mid-1990s, a new study finds, raising questions about whether the test is being overused and driving up health costs or helping to lower costs by reducing hospitalizations. About 14 percent of ER patients received a scan in 2007, compared to […]

Newly Insured In Mass. Continue To Use Community Health Centers

By Phil Galewitz August 8, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Community health centers in Massachusetts saw a surge in patients after the state expanded health insurance coverage, indicating that the safety-net clinics remain a vital source of care even when people gain insurance, according to a study released today. The report, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,  found that the number of patients treated […]

HHS: Millions Of Seniors Taking Advantage Of The Health Law

By Phil Galewitz August 4, 2011 KFF Health News Original

The number of Medicare beneficiaries being helped by the 2010 health care overhaul continues to pile up, Obama administration boasted today. Polls have shown seniors, who are an important voting bloc, to be more skeptical of the law than other age groups. Administration officials have sought to allay those concerns and to draw attention to new […]

Health Coverage Holding Up Better For Union Members

By Phil Galewitz July 21, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Labor unions, under pressure by states and employers to shoulder more of their health care costs, have fared relatively well at protecting workers’ health benefits during the recession, according to a study released today. The study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington found that from 2007 to 2009 union workers were less […]

Today’s Headlines – July 6, 2011

By Stephanie Stapleton July 6, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Good morning! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how budget pressures and the deficit reduction negotiations are having an impact on Medicare and Medicaid. Kaiser Health News: A Dozen States Slice Medicaid Payments To Doctors, Hospitals Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz, working in collaboration with USA Today, […]

Maine Governor, Nuns And Maternity Coverage

By Phil Galewitz July 19, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who last month signed into law legislation that will phase out a state program subsidizing health care coverage for more than 8,000 residents, says government-run health programs won’t lower costs or help the uninsured. “The only government system that worked was the GI Bill because it provided checks to those who […]

Cantor Chides Obama for ‘Walking Back’ In Negotiations

By Phil Galewitz July 12, 2011 KFF Health News Original

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., this morning said that President Barack Obama was “walking back” on some potential budget cuts agreed to in bipartisan debt reduction negotiations headed by Vice President Joe Biden. Those talks had identified up to $2.3 trillion in cuts over the next decade, but Obama now will only commit to […]

A Flower But No Cigar for Sebelius

By Phil Galewitz July 11, 2011 KFF Health News Original

She bought a potted plant, but if Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius thought it would be enough to persuade the operators of her local hardware store to support new insurance regulations, it didn’t happen. Sebelius and her top deputies came to Frager’s Hardware Store near Capitol Hill to unveil proposed rules on insurance […]

Capitol Hill Store Owner Is Both HHS Host and Health Law Skeptic

By Phil Galewitz July 11, 2011 KFF Health News Original

When Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visits Frager’s Hardware Store near the U.S. Capitol Monday, where she is expected to release the much-anticipated proposed regulations on the health insurance exchanges, she’ll face many skeptics. John Weintraub, the store’s co-owner, is one of them. “I am not confident at all that Obamacare will lower my […]