Latest KFF Health News Stories
Hope, Hurdles In Mental Health: A Medicaid Managed Care Firm’s First Year
Some say Cardinal’s first year’s performance has eased fears about care in Charlotte, N.C., but gaps and challenges remain.
Montana Governor Signs Medicaid Expansion Into Law
Backers of Medicaid expansion celebrated in Helena as Gov. Steve Bullock signed the bill extending the health coverage to an estimated 45,000 more Montanans.
An Obamacare Payment Reform Success Story – One Health System, Two Procedures
As part of an experiment run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, doctors, nurses and managers at Baptist Health System in San Antonio joined forces to cut costs for hip and knee replacements, getting patients on their feet sooner, saving taxpayers money and increasing their own earnings.
More Evidence That Health Plans Stint On Mandated Birth Control Coverage
Researchers with the National Women’s Law Center find insurers around the country are failing to provide contraception and other care without copays.
Florida House Goes Home Early Over Medicaid Impasse
Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Scott sues the federal government, saying the state is being coerced to accept the expansion or lose dollars for other health care programs for the poor.
How Getting Married Affects Health Insurance Tax Credits
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers readers’ questions about cost and coverage.
Medicaid’s Tension: Getting Corporate Giants To Do Right By The Needy
Tennessee’s TennCare program awaits federal rules to limit insurer profits and set stricter standards for quality and doctor networks — the biggest rules change for Medicaid managed care in a decade.
California High Court To Consider Limits on Regulators’ Access to Prescription Database
A Burbank doctor, with the support of the AMA, says the Medical Board of California violated his patients’ privacy by checking his prescribing practices in a state database without a court order. The board says it needs that access to protect patients from harm.
Hospitals Increasingly Turn To Patients For Advice
Federal efforts are driving hospitals to see patients as customers.
Medicaid Programs Slow To Discourage Methadone Prescriptions Despite Widespread Problems
The federal government has been issuing warnings about the dangers of overdosing and addiction to methadone for nearly a decade. But only in the past two years have states started removing it from their Medicaid “preferred drug lists.”
Thousands May Have Been Shorted On Insurance Subsidies After Calculation Error
Some families likely received lower subsidies than they were entitled to or were denied Medicaid coverage because of faulty calculations related to children who receive Social Security income.
Americans Are Drinking More Heavily, Especially Women
The first study to track drinking patterns at the county level finds that women are driving big increases in heavy drinking.
Officials Weigh Options To Hold Down Medicare Costs For Hospice
Under Medicare’s hospice benefit, patients agree to forgo curative treatment, but they can continue to receive coverage for health problems not related to their terminal illness. Federal officials suspect some of those expenses should be covered by hospice.
When Depression And Cultural Expectations Collide
A teen from a Taiwanese immigrant family struggles with depression as her mother worries and tries to understand. Asian American families like this one often have trouble seeking and finding appropriate treatment.
Wynne Lee, 17, struggled with depression and cultural expectations for several years. The teen from Diamond Bar, California, is like many kids from Asian American families who often have trouble finding appropriate treatment.
Tennessee, Kansas Also Get Warning: Expand Medicaid Or Risk Hospital Funds
Federal officials have warned several states that their reluctance to expand Medicaid could cost them special federal funding to treat the uninsured.
Obamacare Processing Center In Missouri Paid 13,000 Hours Of Overtime
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch filed Freedom of Information Act requests after whistleblowers alleged that workers at the Wentzville, Mo. center played games, read or worked very slowly because they had so little to do beginning in fall, 2013 after the facility opened. Serco Inc. said that it paid workers overtime in spring and summer of 2014 because of the large number of backlogged applications as a result of healthcare.gov’s computer problems.
Few Consumers Are Using Quality, Price Information To Make Health Decisions
Despite the federal government’s push to make more information available to consumers, two out of three people say it is still difficult to find out how much a doctor or hospital charges for a specific procedure or treatment, according to a new poll.
What’s At Stake In The Supreme Court Obamacare Case
Despite political opposition to the Affordable Care Act, more than 186,000 people in Louisiana signed up for health insurance through healthcare.gov. The vast majority of those received subsidies, which could be lost in the King v. Burwell case before the Supreme Court.
Advocates Push For Paid Medical, Family Leave
Two decades after passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, Democrats and workers’ advocates seek paid leaves so more people can afford to take them.