The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
The majority of people choosing the private plans for Medicare coverage were switching out of the traditional program, research in the journal Health Affairs finds.
California is seen as an Obamacare success story, but about 30,000 people there are stuck with only one choice of insurer on the exchange.
The chief of the Department of Health and Human Services says Democrats and Republicans can reach accord on many issues beyond the health law.
A look at the 10 least and 10 most expensive places for health insurance shows a wide gap in prices for the same type of coverage.
Obamacare provided billions in seed money to help establish insurance companies called co-ops. One of the biggest has now gone under, and its state overseer is telling clients to switch carriers.
The ratings are part of a national effort to cut down on the most common infections patients contract in hospitals.
Results so far show community agencies haven’t made a big difference in keeping seniors from making return hospital trips. But administration officials say the program has plenty of potential.
The health law requires people to report their coverage situation. Those who get insurance through their jobs will only have to check a box on the usual return, but those without insurance or those who received subsidies will have to fill out new forms.
High deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs related to health insurance have become a rising concern among consumers and health-care providers.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina says it decided to reveal how much it pays hospitals for particular procedures to help consumers hold down costs.
States say government should be able to set rates without courts stepping in. Patient advocates and providers say intervention is needed to improve access.
Supporters of the change say it would strengthen both funds but critics fear impact on poor and disabled.
Analysis of federal data finds they still lag behind birth-control pills and condoms.
Getting basic health care to rural areas has always been difficult, and delivering specialized care is even harder. One doctor is raising money to get palliative care to patients in rural California.
Three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sharply questions both sides and focuses on the abortion clinics’ argument that the law would create a burden for women in El Paso and West Texas.
In California, hundreds of thousands of low-income elderly and disabled people receive daily care in their homes from their children, spouses, relatives and others. And, through a program called In-Home Supportive Services, the state pays many of those caregivers about $10 an hour to do the job.
BeneStream screens for Medicaid-eligible workers, creating a win-win for both employers and employees.
After sitting out the first full year of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion, lawmakers in Montana have moved on to arguing — not about whether — but about how much federal cash to pull down.
Despite the increasing efforts to fight the obesity epidemic and the approval of four new weight-loss medications, Medicare and many private plans are reluctant to pay for the medicines because of serious safety problems with other drugs in the past.
The lack of instruction even in CPR and first aid in California program puts clients at risk, according to experts, advocates and some caregivers.
