Latest KFF Health News Stories
No Time To See The Doctor? Try A Virtual Visit
Patients looking for convenient medical appointments can now see UCLA Health System doctors using their cell phones, computers or tablets. It’s part of an ongoing effort at UCLA and elsewhere to extend alternatives to the in-person doctor visit to busy consumers outside rural areas. The doctors are available through LiveHealth Online, an already-existing service designed for […]
CDC Survey Finds Drop In Uninsured
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) UPDATED AT 12:10 P.M. The federal government’s first survey of the nation’s insured rate since the health care law’s new marketplaces began found a decrease in the number of adults without coverage, particularly among young adults. The National Health Interview Survey of people during the first […]
California Exchange Seeks To Enroll 500,000 More People
This KHN story can be republished for free. (details) Covered California, the Golden State’s online health insurance marketplace, announced Monday that it will be spending close to $100 million as it aims to enroll 500,000 new people during the second round of open enrollment, which begins in two months. The state also will be trying […]
FAQ: Children’s Health Insurance Program’s Future Is Unclear Under The Health Law
The federal-state program, called CHIP, is funded only for another year under the law, and advocates worry that without it, some kids may suffer.
Health Law Tempers New State Coverage Mandates
Provisions in the Affordable Care Act seek to curb individual states from setting new mandates requiring insurers to cover specific care but many local legislators are trying to work around that.
Patients Take On More Health Care Costs But Struggle To Find Prices
The price a consumer pays for a medical procedure can vary significantly — often with little difference in quality.
In South Florida And The Nation, Health Care Costs Often Are Shrouded In Secrecy
Like many employers across the country, Miami-Dade County isn’t allowed to know the prices its own insurance administrators negotiate with healthcare providers, even though the county is self-insured and workers’ claims are paid with taxpayer dollars.
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Unlike Medicare, private insurers do not publish their payments, and experts say the prices they pay hospitals for the same procedure vary widely.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 […]