Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Care Prices: Many Moving Parts Veiled By Confidentiality Agreements
Unlike Medicare, private insurers do not publish their payments, and experts say the prices they pay hospitals for the same procedure vary widely.
California To Broaden Autism Coverage For Kids Through Medicaid
A South Los Angeles family illustrates the opportunities and challenges as the state takes its first steps toward expanding behavioral treatment for poor children.
Appeals Court Weighs Texas Abortion Law
Federal judges will decide whether 11 clinics must close to comply with state law. If they do close, some women in the state will be more than 200 miles from a clinic that performs abortions.
Flaw In Federal Software Lets Employers Offer Plans Without Hospital Benefits, Consultants Say
Problems with a government calculator that companies use to prove that their insurance meets health law standards could allow substandard policies, consumer advocates say.
Health Law Shows Little Effect In Lowering Children’s Uninsured Rate, Study Finds
Yet many uninsured kids would be eligible for coverage under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Apparent Retail Glitch Triggers Copays For Birth Control
CVS Health is investigating a potential glitch in its drug pricing system that appears to have charged women copayments for prescription birth control – though the scope of the error is unclear. The problem came to the attention of Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., after one of her staffers attempted to buy generic prescription birth control […]
Census Bureau: Health Costs Inch Up As Obamacare Kicks In
Health and social spending as measured by the Census Bureau grew by only 3.7 percent from the second quarter of 2013 to the same quarter of 2014.
You’re Being Observed In The Hospital? Patients With Private Insurance Better Off Than Seniors
Among the most significant difference is that patient with their own insurance don’t face the same danger of losing nursing home coverage.
HHS Official: Healthcare.gov Updates Will Be ‘Improvement But Not Perfection’
Testifying before a House subcommittee, a key Obama administration official lays out the updates that HHS is making to the online marketplaces before enrollment begins in November. Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro’s Jennifer Haberkorn discuss.
Women’s Groups Challenge GOP Candidates On OTC Birth Control
Women’s health groups are launching a counterattack against suggestions by several Republican Senate candidates that making birth control pills available without a prescription is the answer to the dispute over contraceptive coverage rules in the health law. At least four Republicans running for the U.S. Senate have proposed over-the-counter pills in recent weeks, including Ed […]
Family Insurance Premiums Rise Modestly For 3rd Year, Survey Finds
Employer-sponsored insurance was largely stable in 2014, with no significant change in the percentage of firms offering health benefits.
Open Payments Database: Despite Criticism, Still On Track To Let The Sunshine In
Despite technical glitches, the federal “Open Payments” database – which tracks pharmaceutical company contributions to doctors and teaching hospitals – remains on track for its scheduled Sept. 30 launch, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services confirmed. It was mandated by a sunshine act included in the federal health law seeking to ease concerns that […]
Health Law Not The Reason For Republican Election Enthusiasm, Poll Finds
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Heading into the 2014 mid-term congressional elections, health care is not shaping up as a make-or-break issue, according to a new poll. Health care trails jobs and the economy as a top issue on voters’ minds this fall, 21 percent to 13 percent. Only 3 percent […]
Can I Buy Coverage After Accident Injuries? Who Pays The Cadillac Tax?
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers readers’ questions.
$60 Million For 34 States To Boost Obamacare Enrollment
Two Planned Parenthood chapters, two United Way organizations, a food bank association and a Catholic hospital system are among 90 nonprofit groups that will receive a total of $60 million to help people sign up for health insurance, the Department of Health and Human Services announced today. The money will help people in 34 states that rely on […]
Rural Enrollment Presents Continuing Health Law Challenges
State Obamacare decisions are key factors in how outreach strategies are taking shape for the next open enrollment period.
Osteopathic Medicine Meshes With New Health Care Needs
The number of osteopathic doctors is increasing sharply, helping to meet the demand for primary care.
Early Results: Average 2015 Exchange Premiums Decline Slightly
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) In preliminary but encouraging news for consumers and taxpayers, insurance filings show that average premiums will decline slightly next year in 16 major cities for a benchmark Obamacare plan. Prices for a benchmark “silver” or mid-priced plan sold through the health law’s online marketplaces aren’t all moving […]
Replacing An Ambulance With A Station Wagon
There’s nothing like an ambulance when you really need one, but they’re expensive, and a lot of people who call an ambulance could be better served with a different, cheaper kind of care.
Consumers To Hear Soon If Plans Are Canceled
Although the Obama administration has given insurers extra time to bring their plans into compliance with the health law, some may opt to drop substandard coverage this fall.