Latest KFF Health News Stories
An Alaska-Sized Price Difference: A Circumcision In Anchorage Hospitals Can Cost $2,110 or $235
Some pediatricians, upset about the pricing for their patients and the lack of easy access to what the hospitals charge, are doing the procedures in their offices instead.
Family Insurance Premiums Rise 4 Percent For 2nd Year In Row, Survey Finds
But a growing number of workers, especially those employed by small businesses, feel the pinch of deductibles of at least $1,000.
HHS Offering Prizes For Videos Promoting Obamacare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lBw9YTx4Lo The “young invincibles” are what health policy wonks call healthy young adults (18-30) who don’t see being uninsured as a problem. But it is a problem, at least for the success of the Affordable Care Act. That’s why the Department of Health and Human Services is spending $30,000 on prizes for a national video […]
Missouri Consumers In The Dark As Health Insurance Exchange Nears
The administration of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has walked a political tightrope as the state gets ready for a federal initiative that the Republican-led Legislature strongly opposes and state voters have weighed in against – twice.
New Online Markets For Small Businesses May Offer Some Workers Greater Choices
The SHOP exchanges are intended to make it easier for small businesses to offer their employees a variety of good plans, but that option is being delayed for a year in 33 states.
Answering Your Questions About The Latest Obamacare Delays
KHN’s Julie Appleby was on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal Monday morning taking questions about the latest Obamacare implementation delay — this one delaying a provision of the law that limits some consumers’ out-of-pocket expenses for one year. Read more: Consumer Groups Fear Patients Could Be Hit With Large Out-Of-Pocket Costs and Federal Rule Allows Higher Out-Of-Pocket Spending […]
Pa., N.J. Insurers Gearing Up For Obamacare Business
This story was produced in partnership with With new federal rules and mandates, you’d think that health insurers would be beating the loudest drum in the repeal-the-Affordable Care Act band. But they’re not, and there are a couple of reasons why. The first is pretty obvious. Millions of uninsured people will be flooding the online […]
Taking A New Tack To Persuade ‘Young Invincibles’ To Buy Health Insurance
The health insurance premiums of younger, healthier adults will be important to balancing the cost of covering older, sicker Americans, but the challenge is to convince them they need the coverage.
Colorado Exchange Releases Health Insurance Rates
Colorado released its Obamacare insurance rates on Friday, joining 13 states and the District of Columbia in making rates public. The state earlier made the call to be a clearinghouse exchange, rather than an active purchaser, and so, it has approved all 242 health plans submitted for sale on its marketplace, Connect for Health Colorado. Thirteen carriers will […]
Amid Health Law Expansion, Some States Trim Medicaid Rolls
Maine, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont are tightening eligibility requirements to shift some residents receiving Medicaid benefits into the online insurance marketplaces created by the health law.
Moving People Home After Nursing Home Stay Is Complicated
A program aimed at getting people out of nursing homes and back in their own homes is off to a slow start. Organizers say it’s a challenge to find out which services each person needs, from meals delivered to a whole new apartment.
Feds Award $67 Million In Grants To Help Consumers Navigate The Health Law
More than 100 organizations receive money to help consumers sign up for coverage in online marketplaces in 34 states.
HHS Watchdog Says Rural Hospital Program Needs A Trim
The federal government’s program to help rural hospitals has grown bloated and unwieldy, according to a report released Thursday by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services. The program costs the government and Medicare beneficiaries up to a billion dollars a year more than the original parameters of the […]
Talking Scales and Telemedicine: ACO Tools To Keep Patients Out Of The Hospital
A Minnesota hospital’s care for congestive heart failure patients set the stage for it to become an Accountable Care Organization under the health law.
Report: Mass. Residents Paying More, Getting Less From Health Insurance
If Massachusetts residents have the feeling they’re getting less coverage from their health insurance even though it’s costing more, there’s now evidence that they’re right. A state report says Bay State premiums rose 9.7 percent between 2009 and 2011, while the value of that coverage shrank 5.1 percent. “What we’ve seen over the last couple of years […]
What You Should Know About The Obamacare Delay On Some Out-Of-Pocket Caps
The federal health law brings many big changes to the nation’s health system; in some ways the changes are spelled out in detail in the law, and in other ways we learn about them only as implementation proceeds. As KHN’s Julie Appleby reported in April, and the New York Times reported yesterday, the law’s cap […]
How Much Of A Subsidy Will You Get In Obamacare? Here’s An Estimate
If you buy your own health insurance, you’ve no doubt heard that subsidies will be available next year to help pay the premiums. But will you get a subsidy and how much? Researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation have a report out Wednesday that provides some insight. Based on their analysis, about 48 percent of adults […]
A Nevada Health Plan — Without The Insurance
A novel medical discount plan negotiates lower prices at the doctor’s office or hospitals for members who aren’t insured.
Poll: Majority Favors Charging Smokers Higher Insurance Rates, But Not Overweight People
Fifty-eight percent of Americans surveyed favor charging smokers higher insurance rates, but only 41 percent would charge overweight people more, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. Under the Affordable Care Act, states have the option of allowing health plans participating in online insurance marketplaces to charge smokers up to 50 percent higher premiums than non-smokers. […]
As Lawmakers Roam Their Home Territory, Health Law Arguments Simmer
The battle over the Affordable Care Act shows absolutely no signs of abating, so it’s no surprise that the packets distributed by both parties on Capitol Hill for members heading home for the August recess paint the 2010 health care law in starkly different ways. Before leaving town for the five-week-long break, House Republicans held […]