Medicare Open Enrollment Is Complicated. Here’s How to Get Good Advice.
By Bernard J. Wolfson
November 24, 2020
KFF Health News Original
It’s a complex program with many options — as well as confusing rules and nuances. Here’s how to get reliable guidance.
Centene Showers Politicians With Millions as It Courts Contracts and Settles Overbilling Allegations
By Samantha Young Andy Miller Rebecca Grapevine
November 4, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Centene, the largest Medicaid managed-care company in the U.S., has thrown more than $26.9 million at political campaigns across the country since 2015, especially focused on states where it is wooing Medicaid contracts and settling accusations that it overbilled taxpayers. Among its tactics: Centene is skirting contribution limits by giving to candidates through its many subsidiaries.
Patent Battle Over Generic Versions Of Gilead HIV Drug Settled
September 13, 2022
Morning Briefing
Five drugmakers had proposed generic versions of Gilead’s HIV and hepatitis B drugs and are now licensed to sell them from around 2031 onward. Also in the news: Medicare advantage star ratings, and more.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Maybe It’s a Health Care Election After All
March 14, 2024
Podcast
Health care wasn’t expected to be a major theme for this year’s elections. But as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump secured their respective party nominations this week, the future of both Medicare and the Affordable Care Act appears to be up for debate. Meanwhile, the cyberattack of the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Change Healthcare continues to do damage to the companies’ finances with no quick end in sight. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kelly Henning of Bloomberg Philanthropies about a new, four-part documentary series on the history of public health, “The Invisible Shield.” Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too.
Connecticut Expands Medicaid To Children Of All Immigrants
January 10, 2023
Morning Briefing
Meanwhile, in New York City, officials defended legislation designed to charge municipal retirees who don’t opt into the Medicare Advantage plan for coverage. Other news from across the country covers covid deaths in Orange County, rural Latinx violence survivors, marijuana sales in Connecticut, and more.
‘Injections, Injections, Injections’: Troubling Questions Follow Closure of Sprawling Pain Clinic Chain
By Anna Maria Barry-Jester Jenny Gold
February 22, 2022
KFF Health News Original
In May 2021, Lags Medical Centers, one of California’s largest chains of pain clinics, abruptly closed its doors amid a cloaked state investigation. Nine months later, patients are still in the dark about what happened with their care and to their bodies.
Gaps In Maternity Care Are Widening Across The US: Report
October 11, 2022
Morning Briefing
Stat covers an upcoming March of Dimes report that says 2% more American counties are categorized as maternity care “deserts” since the 2020 report. Problems for Centene’s expansion of Medicare Advantage, details on the CommonSpirit Health hack, and more are in the news.
Her Doctor’s Office Moved One Floor Up. Her Bill Was 10 Times Higher.
By Lauren Weber
March 26, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Same building. Same procedure. Same doctor. But now you’re charged a hospital facility fee. For one Ohio Medicare patient, the copay for a shot that used to cost her about $30 went up to more than $300.
Clarity on Covid Count: Pandemic’s Toll on Seniors Extended Well Beyond Nursing Homes
By Judith Graham
August 6, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The latest research shows that although deaths in nursing homes received enormous attention, far more older adults who perished from covid lived outside of institutions. People with dementia and other severe neurological conditions, chronic kidney disease and immune deficiencies were hit especially hard.
Readers and Tweeters Give Tips on Treating Diabetes and Long Covid
April 12, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Though Millions Are at Risk for Diabetes, Medicare Struggles to Expand Prevention Program
By Harris Meyer
July 21, 2021
KFF Health News Original
Medicare has proposed revamping its payment rules to get more people into a diabetes prevention plan that helps them eat better, exercise more and maintain a healthier lifestyle. Out of an estimated 16 million Medicare beneficiaries whose excess weight and other risk factors make them eligible, only 3,600 have participated since 2018.
Dentists Chip Away at Uninsured Problem by Offering Patients Membership Plans
By Phil Galewitz
September 17, 2021
KFF Health News Original
The plans are designed for people who don’t get dental coverage through their jobs and can’t afford an individual plan. For about $300 to $400 a year, patients receive certain preventive services at no charge and other procedures at a discount.
The Supreme Court Just Limited Federal Power. Health Care Is Feeling the Shockwaves.
By Stephanie Armour
July 1, 2024
KFF Health News Original
A Supreme Court ruling restricting federal power will likely have seismic ramifications for health policy. A flood of litigation — with plaintiffs like small businesses, drugmakers, and hospitals challenging regulations they say are too expensive or burdensome and not authorized by law — could leave the country with a patchwork of disparate health regulations.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Underinsured Is the New Uninsured
September 14, 2023
Podcast
The percentage of working-age adults with health insurance went up and the uninsured rate dropped last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. There isn’t much suspense about which way the uninsured rate is now trending, as states continue efforts to strip ineligible beneficiaries from their Medicaid rolls. But is the focus on the uninsured obscuring the struggles of the underinsured? Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KFF Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these issues and more.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': As US Bumps Against Debt Ceiling, Medicare Becomes a Bargaining Chip
January 19, 2023
Podcast
The debt ceiling crisis facing Washington puts Medicare and other popular entitlement programs squarely on the negotiating table this year as newly empowered Republicans demand spending cuts. Meanwhile, as more Americans than ever have health insurance, the nation’s health care workforce is straining under the load. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KHN’s chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
A Daily Pill to Treat Covid Could Be Just Months Away, Scientists Say
By JoNel Aleccia
September 24, 2021
KFF Health News Original
At least three promising antiviral treatments for covid-19 are being tested in clinical trials, with results expected as soon as late fall or winter.
Medicare Advantage Plans Too Often Deny Care, HHS Watchdog Reports
April 29, 2022
Morning Briefing
The inspector general’s office urged HHS officials to increase oversight of the private insurance plans.
Apple, Bose and Others Pump Up the Volume on Hearing Aid Options, Filling Void Left by FDA
By Phil Galewitz
August 26, 2021
KFF Health News Original
A 2017 law designed to help lower the cost of hearing aids mandated that federal officials set rules for a new class of devices consumers could buy without needing to see an audiologist. But those regulations are still on hold.
Harris-Walz Ticket Sharpens Contrast With Trump-Vance on Health Care
By Stephanie Armour
August 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
As Democrats convene in Chicago to make official their presidential and vice presidential nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz together are raising the prominence of health care as a 2024 election issue.
Biden Leans Into Health Care, Asking Voters To Trust Him Over Trump
By Phil Galewitz
May 21, 2024
KFF Health News Original
President Joe Biden’s new health care ad draws on the Affordable Care Act’s popularity among independent voters and alludes to his edge over Trump on health issues.
