Latest KFF Health News Stories
Biggest Insurer Shocked With Hepatitis C Costs
UnitedHealth Group spent $100 million on hepatitis C drugs in the first three months of the year, much more than expected, the company said Thursday. The news helped drive down the biggest insurance company’s stock and underscores the challenge for all health care payers in covering Sovaldi, an expensive new pill for hepatitis C. “We’ve […]
Fully paid up but still no coverage
A 39-year-old Philadelphia day care teacher, made three monthly premium payments at more than three times the subsidized rate just to make sure she was covered. And her insurance has still been canceled three times
Hospitals Get Into Doctor Rating Business
After some doctors at University of Utah Health Care noticed scathing online reviews about themselves in 2012, the hospital system decided the best way to respond was by posting its patients’ ratings of physicians on the hospital’s own website. The hospital was already randomly surveying patients about their experiences with physicians. Now, when potential patients […]
VA, California Panels Urge Costly Hepatitis C Drugs For Sickest Patients
Expert panels suggest those with less serious liver disease wait for drugs in development.
Hospital Visits Fell When Seniors Got Drug Coverage
Eleven years ago Bob Bennett, then a Republican senator from Utah, made a fiscal sales pitch for including prescription drugs in Medicare coverage for seniors. “Medicare says if you go to the hospital and run up a bill of however many tens of thousands of dollars to stay that many days, we will pay for […]
Adding Dental Care Contrasts With Mo. Legislature’s Opposition To Medicaid Expansion
Some of Missouri’s working poor have had no dental coverage since benefits were cut in 2005.
Health Law Push Brings Thousands Into Colo. Medicaid Who Were Already Eligible
The big marketing push to get people enrolled in health coverage between October and March resulted in 3 million people signing up for Medicaid. Hundreds of thousands of those people were children who were already eligible and could have signed up even before the Affordable Care Act made coverage much more generous. They came “out of the woodwork” to […]
States Battle Asthma as Numbers Grow
With a climate especially bad for asthmatics, Missouri has been a pioneer in fighting the disease.
Survey: Health Insurance Enrollment In California More Complex Than Anticipated
Newly insured Californians felt relieved after signing up for health coverage but encountered numerous obstacles with technology and communication during the enrollment process, according to a report released Monday by the California HealthCare Foundation. Surveyed in interviews and focus groups, consumers said they had trouble getting through to the call center, choosing a health plan […]
Focus On Marketplace Enrollment Overlooks Millions Who Bought Private Insurance
The federal government hasn’t been counting the number of people who buy non-exchange plans directly from insurance carriers — and that number could be substantial.
Abortion Coverage Details Hard To Find On Marketplace Plans
Both opponents and supporters complain that consumers cannot easily see whether the policies will pay for abortion services.
Patients Often Win If They Appeal A Denied Health Claim
The health law set national rules for appealing a denied claim, and advocates say consumers should take advantage of them.
Doctors Overlook Lucrative Procedures When Naming Unwise Treatments
In the “Choosing Wisely” campaign, medical specialty societies have published lists of procedures that doctors and patients should consider skeptically. But some groups overlooked their own dubious, but profitable procedures.
Waiting And Waiting On The Nursing Home Inspector
Mary Chiu complained in 2011 that her elderly mother suffered terribly from poor care in a nursing home. Hers is among hundreds of cases that remain unresolved due to a backlog of investigations in Los Angeles County.
Sebelius Resigns; Obama Names OMB Chief Burwell To Head HHS
The cabinet member who shepherded the implementation of the health law told the president last month that she wanted to leave after open enrollment was finished, a White House official says.
State Exchange Directors Offer Enrollment Snapshots
This post was corrected and updated at 4:50 pm, April 11. The Obama administration is touting the success of the health law’s open enrollment, which signed up at least 7.5 million Americans for health coverage through the online insurance marketplaces. But the experience varied according to states and Families USA brought together five state exchange […]
Obama Hails Sebelius’ ‘Extraordinary Service’
Obama said in remarks at the White House that Kathleen Sebelius told him in March that she was going to step down as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services after the health law’s first open enrollment period came to an end. Sebelius also spoke at the event Friday.
Texas Doctors Shun Insurance, Offering Care For Cash
Doctors who use the model say they can keep their costs down by avoiding the bureaucracy of the health insurance system.
A Reader Asks: Do I Face A Penalty If My Kids’ CHIP Coverage Starts In April?
KHN’s consumer columnist says new federal guidance says as long as you applied during open enrollment you will not face a penalty.
L.A. County Nursing Home Inspections Chief Reassigned
An audit that followed a KHN report revealed an alarming backlog of more than 3,000 open inspections at nursing homes. The supervisor in charge of the inspections has been replaced and moved to a ‘special assignment.’