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State officials say Medi-Cal managed care plans will better coordinate treatment for children needing highly specialized care. Parents and pediatric medical centers say it’s a bad idea.
The Obama administration has announced a change in how the out-of-pocket health spending limits will be calculated for families, but employers object that it will leave them holding the bill.
A study done in Massachusetts highlights the difficulties consumers face in trying to find out how much health care services cost.
California regulators have tried harder than most to make mental health parity laws work but it’s been tough to enforce the rules and gain the cooperation of insurers.
Republican candidates on the campaign trail say they have defunded Planned Parenthood in their states already. But a lot depends on how they define “defund.”
Spending for high-priced specialty drugs for diseases such as cancer, HIV and hepatitis C is expected to rise dramatically next year, and large companies hope to put controls in place to help keep their costs down, according to a new survey.
Some states are spending millions of dollars to train medical students, only to see them leave because of a shortage of residency positions.
Kaiser Health News correspondent Julie Rovner discusses the efforts to defund Planned Parenthood on NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook.
Tricare, the military’s health plan for active and retired servicemembers, covers most contraceptives approved by the Food and Drug Administration. But women who are deployed can have trouble refilling specific types of birth control.
Incentives advanced by state-based health reforms and the federal health law have created new opportunities for nonprofit organizations like Boom!Health, says Robert Cordero, the integrated clinic’s ougoing president.
New research finds that patients who repeatedly use costly hospital and emergency room services, known often as super-utilizers or frequent fliers, generally don’t seek such intense care for a lifetime but instead for a short period of time.
Many in Iowa get Medicaid — the state-federal health program for poorer Americans — especially after the state expanded the program under the federal health law. But a plan to switch administration of the program to private health care companies has patients worried that their care will suffer.
Counseling by mental health professionals over the phone was effective in reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms, according to researchers.
People who suffer from intense maladies and injuries say they can no longer get all the pain medicine their doctors prescribe from pharmacies.
Toyota, which bills itself as a model of efficiency in auto manufacturing, is sharing its strategies with public and nonprofit hospitals competing for newly insured patients.
Infected patients often move from hospitals to nursing homes and long-term care facilities, and coordination could help keep those infections from spreading.
Consumers will have a choice of some plans that allow them to cross state lines for care, and every county will have at least three insurance companies offering plans on Covered California.
KHN consumer columnist Michelle Andrews also answers reader questions about how insurance-provider networks function and parents’ responsibility to provide coverage for children who are not yet 26.
Pregnancy questions included in many wellness program questionnaires hit a nerve, and advocates are asking the Obama administration to ban these types of queries as part of a pending Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rule.
