Latest KFF Health News Stories
Some Face A Big Bill From Medi-Cal — After They Die
California is one of the few states that charge the estates of deceased Medicaid beneficiaries for the cost of their health coverage. A bill is moving through the state legislature to stop the practice.
House Approves Permanent Fix For Medicare Doctor Payments
For more than a decade, doctors who treat Medicare patients have been threatened with pay cuts due to a faulty formula of how doctors are reimbursed. But in a rare bipartisan agreement, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a deal to permanently end the problem and reward quality of care, not quantity.
Obamacare Cash Helps Pay Texas’ Medicaid Bill
A provision of the Affordable Care Act that covers some Medicaid administrative costs will help close a $338 million gap in the state’s Medicaid budget, even though Texas has declined to expand the health program for the poor.
High-Deductible Plans Bring Lower Costs Now, But Will They Bring Pricey Problems?
Companies that introduced these plans experienced overall savings in the first three years, according to a new study.
Texas Bill Would Prohibit Doctors From Asking About Guns
A Texas lawmaker, also a surgeon, wants to ensure doctors ‘have the right not to ask’ about gun ownership and is pushing a bill to do just that.
Even In Female Dominated Nursing, Men Earn More
Nurses who are men make nearly $7,700 a year more than female nurses in outpatient settings and nearly $3,900 more annually in hospitals, a study finds.
It’s Obamacare’s First Tax Season. Can The IRS Handle It?
Delayed refunds, mistakes feared as an understaffed IRS confronts the complexities of the Affordable Care Act.
Tax-Time Tribulations: Health Law Complicates Filing Season For Many
The financial consequences of not getting insurance and the effort to reconcile premium subsidies with income are new dynamics in the current tax season.
Errors Can Turn Affordable Care Benefits To Customer Torment
Pairing federal payments with private insurance brings benefits to many but creates dueling bureaucracies for some customers caught between them.
Depression, Related Ailments Take Their Toll On The Workplace, Study Finds
A new report says the costs associated with major depressive disorder and other related conditions affect businesses’ bottom lines.
Is Arkansas’ ‘Private Option’ Medicaid Expansion A Solution For Other Red States?
Several GOP-led states are taking note of Arkansas’ market-based approach to Medicaid expansion, but questions remain about its long-term costs and effectiveness.
Health Law Brings No Drop In Insurance Enrollment At Work, Study Finds
A survey by benefits consultant Mercer finds that most large employers already met the law’s requirement to provide coverage to those who work 30 hours or more.
Battle Over Dementia Drug Swap Has Big Stakes For Drugmakers, Consumers
A court ruling about Actavis’s strategy to switch consumers from its top-selling dementia drug, which will lose patent protection this summer, to a newer, patent-protected drug, may define how far drugmakers can go to protect profits from generic rivals.
Most Americans Unaware Obamacare Subsidies Are At Risk
When informed about the challenge before the high court, about two-thirds said that lawmakers should restore subsidies if the justices strike them down.
Advocates And Experts Debate Need For More Regulation Of Fertility Services
A new Utah law allowing children conceived via sperm donation to see the medical histories of their fathers is seen as an exception to otherwise light regulation of assisted reproductive technology in states.
Blue Shield of California Loses Its State Tax Exemption
The unheralded move by California tax authorities last August may leave the insurer on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in taxes dating back to 2013. Blue Shield of California is protesting the action.
Many Along Texas Border Still Live Without Clean, Safe Water
Roughly 90,000 Texans living along the Texas-Mexico border in unincorporated ‘colonias’ don’t have running water in their homes.
Missouri Medicaid Turns To Wellness Incentives
Incentives designed to spur enrollees to exercise, eat healthier and make regular doctor visits are built into Medicaid managed care contracts that Missouri officials recently awarded to three insurers.
Most N.Y. Marketplace Plans Lack Any Coverage For Out-Of-Network Care
Except for a few insurers in Albany and the western part of the state, all the policies sold in the individual market are HMOs that will not pay anything toward routine expenses from doctors or hospitals not in their networks.
Rural Hospitals, One Of The Cornerstones Of Small Town Life, Face Increasing Pressure
For people in Mount Vernon, Texas, the loss of their hospital means longer trips for treatment and uncertainty when a medical crisis hits.