Latest KFF Health News Stories
Some Middle-Class Families Find Price Of Subsidized Health Coverage ‘Awfully High’
For nearly 3 million Americans, subsidies don’t kick in until they’ve paid up to 9.5% of their income toward premiums.
Family Planning Clinics In Calif. Squeezed By Health Law
As more clients go on Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, some birth control clinics are losing money and looking for creative ways to adapt.
The Rise Of Medical Identity Theft In Healthcare
As modern technology has ushered in more convenience and flexibility for users, it has also burdened victims with one worry: Identity theft.
A Reader Asks: Can Foreign Visitors Buy Health Insurance Exchange Plans?
KHN’s consumer columnist says policies are limited to people who reside in a state.
Hill Plan Would Reward Medicare Doctors For Quality
But finding a way to finance the SGR replacement may be even more difficult.
Rocky Mountain High Insurance Prices Rankle Ski Towns
Colorado Insurance Commissioner Margeurite Salazar has been getting an earful about high health insurance premiums in pockets of the state since prices she approved were unveiled Oct. 1. She is under increasing pressure to do something about them now that part of Colorado has been identified as having the most expensive premiums in the country. […]
Obamacare Thrives In San Francisco’s Chinatown
The immigrant community became self-sufficient by necessity, building its own hospital more than a century ago. Now, that hospital offers a health plan on Covered California that is exceeding its enrollment goals.
The Health Law’s ‘3 Rs’ For Insurers: A Bailout Or Necessary Safeguards?
The provisions in the law are designed to help insurance companies adjust to the new markets, but Republicans warn that the program could turn out to be costly for taxpayers.
Insurers Eye Market For Supplemental Health Coverage To Fill Gaps Left By Obamacare, Employer Plans
While these plans represent one of the fastest growing components of the employer benefits marketplace, some experts warn they might cause consumer confusion.
Humana ACA Enrollees Younger Than Expected
Here’s more fodder for the debate over whether older, sicker members will swamp insurance plans created by the Affordable Care Act. Insurers have wondered whether enough younger, healthier “invincibles” would sign up through online exchanges to subsidize folks with poorer health. The worry was that, without their premiums, expenses for older folks would drive up average […]
Hill Republicans Hammer Health Law’s ‘Risk Corridors’
Republicans labeled the provision a bailout for insurers despite projections it will raise $8 billion. KHN’s Julie Appleby and Mary Agnes Carey discuss.
Washington State Officials Want To Lift Veil On Health Care Pricing
Gov. Jay Inslee and some lawmakers are pushing to create a public database listing hundreds of medical procedures, what they cost at clinics and hospitals statewide, and information about the quality of the providers.
CBO Reports That Health Law Provision Called ‘Bailout’ By GOP Will Raise $8B
New findings from the Congressional Budget Office may make it harder for Republicans to portray a provision in the health law designed to limit insurers’ losses and gains as a “bailout” for the industry. The House Oversight and Government Reform panel is scheduled to have a hearing Wednesday examining the law’s “risk corridors,” which limit […]
A Third Generation Doctor Questions The Profession
Overwhelming bureaucracy and crushing student loan debt were not part of the package for Dr. Michael Sawyer’s father and grandfather. Still, he feels medicine is a calling.
A Small West Virginia Town Rallies For Better Health
“Sustainable Williamson” campaign includes 5K races, a community garden, healthier food and cancer screening.
Medicaid Expansion Only A First Step To Better Health In Troubled W.Va. Communities
Even as tens of thousands of West Virginians enroll in Medicaid, experts caution that the culture also will have to change.
New Rule Gives Patients Direct Access To Their Lab Reports
Calling your doctor to get lab results might be a thing of the past: a new federal rule will allow patients to have direct access to their completed laboratory reports. The regulation was announced Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services. It amends privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act […]
Patient Coordination Would Get Boost If Medicare Changes How It Pays Docs
If Congress finally overhauls the way Medicare pays doctors, experts say patients would see new emphasis on coordinated care and preventive services.
Experts: Moving New Medicaid Patients Out Of ER Will Take Time
The health law seeks to change how the poor get routine care, moving them into doctors’ offices where more consistent supervision may improve their health.
From Ethiopia To West Virginia, Community Health Workers Help Close Access-To-Care Gaps
Outreach efforts in remote places like Ethiopia could offer models for medically underserved areas in the U.S.