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A few years ago, federal officials began rating Medicare Advantage plans - using a scale of one to five stars - but seniors' advocates, policy analysts, insurers and some top Medicare officials agree the ratings are flawed. Even so, the star system is about to become more significant.
The health care industry is bulletproof when it comes to increasing spending or creating jobs as growth rates often double the rest of the economy.
Medical homes - where primary care doctors are held responsible for coordinating care for individual patients
The federal government says current law will likely keep it from following the lead of some private insurance companies that will begin offering coverage this year to young adults.
Dr. Donald Berwick, the president's nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Mediciad Services (CMS), talked with KFF Health News in November 2009 about how front-line health workers could reduce hospital deaths.
A directive passed last November in Tulsa, Okla., raises fresh questions about the ability of patients to have their end-of-life treatment wishes honored - and whether and how a health care provider should comply with lawful requests not consistent with the provider's religious views.
Both the House and Senate health care proposals would expand Medicaid eligibility to about 133 percent of the federal poverty level. Although the measures would help the states cover the costs, governors are worried that the additional federal money simply won't be enough. KHN's Mary Agnes Carey offers her insight.
A number of insurers are replacing jargon with plain English. Aetna has published a book called "Navigating Your Health Benefits for Dummies." CIGNA employees are taught, for example, that they should use "doctor" instead of "provider" in communicating with the public.
The President has said "the status quo is not an option," but that is for the most part what these bills would give us.
As head of the American Hospital Association, Richard Umbdenstock has a daunting task: fending off billions of dollars in payment cuts to hospitals proposed by the Obama administration to help pay for a health care overhaul. Umbdenstock has been president and CEO of AHA, which represents 5,000 hospitals, since 2007. Before that, he headed Providence Health & Services, a large hospital system in Spokane, Wash. He talked to KFF Health News Correspondent Phil Galewitz.
Non-profit health co-ops have gained currency in the national health reform debate. But for some, like those who participate in the Group Health Cooperative, the idea has been working for decades.
Public and private insurance plans say they evaluate medical services for coverage by looking at published scientific research, rating the evidence and making comparisons based on effectiveness and safety. But their approaches vary widely in terms of transparency, comprehensiveness in reviewing evidence, openness to outside suggestions and explicit consideration of cost.
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