Latest KFF Health News Stories
Auditors: Medicare Could Save Millions By Limiting Advance Payments To Insurers
Medicare could earn up to $111 million annually if it limited insurers’ ability to retain investment earnings on the billions they are paid through the prescription drug program, according to a government reportout today. That’s because Medicare prepays the private insurers approximately 20 days before the insurers pay their pharmacy bills and does not require them to return […]
Questions About Colon Screening Coverage Still Vex Consumers
Although the federal government has tried to clarify the preventive care provisions that mandate no out-of-pocket expenses for patients on screening exams, there is still a good bit of confusion.
Alicia Keys Shines Light On Women And HIV
One in 32 African American women in the United States is likely to be diagnosed with HIV in her lifetime. “One in 32, think about that,” said singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistic at an event Monday. “Thirty years after we first heard of AIDS, it is really a […]
Got alarm fatigue? Some doctors and nurses do, according to The Joint Commission, a nonprofit hospital accrediting organization. In their latest Sentinel Event Alert, issued April 8, the commission highlighted the dangers that result when doctors and other health professionals develop “alarm fatigue” or become desensitized and immune to alarm sounds set off by medical […]
Programs Help Independent Artists Access Health Care
Updated at 10:50 a.m. When Corynn Stoltenberg, then 31, found out she was at high risk for cancer at a health fair in Minnesota, she hadn’t been to the doctor in 10 years. As a dancer and theater artist who supported herself by working at coffee shops and cleaning houses, she often was without health […]
Five Ways The President’s Budget Would Change Medicare
President Obama’s 2014 budget plan includes a number of money-saving changes to Medicare, some of which have triggered concern from patient and provider groups.
Doctor-Owned Hospitals Prosper Under Health Law
Even though the 2010 health law stymies their growth, these hospitals are gaining under Medicare’s quality payments programs.
Wait For Obamacare Price Tags Could Be Months
Last week Vermont became the first state to provide a glimpse of how expensive individual health insurance might be under the Affordable Care Act. Proposed rates there, while of questionable relevance to the rest of the country because of the state’s unusual insurance market, showed little change from current prices and reassured health law supporters […]
Is My Retiree Insurance Coverage Subject To The Health Law?
Michelle Andrews answers a reader’s question about whether retiree health plans must comply with new rules under the ACA.
Harkin Accuses Administration Of ‘Robbing Peter To Pay Paul’
A Democratic senator chastised the White House Thursday for raiding the health law’s Prevention and Public Health Fund to pay for a program to help the uninsured sign up for coverage in new insurance marketplaces. “This is robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions […]
Minnesota Hospital Merger Talks Derail
Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services says it will focus on finding a permanent CEO now that rural health care giant Sanford announced Wednesday that it felt “unwelcome” and was cutting off merger discussions with Fairview. Fairview is one of Minnesota’s largest health systems and owns the University of Minnesota’s main teaching hospital. Sanford runs clinics in […]
Groups Seek To Fast-Track Efforts To Curb Costs, Boost Quality
Five veteran health care leaders representing insurers, hospitals, employers and consumers on Thursday outlined an ambitious set of recommendations aimed at slowing rising costs, focused mainly on changing the way America pays for health care. Many of the ideas draw on existing efforts, such as accelerating Medicare’s efforts to pay for quality rather than just […]
Insurers Battle Over Federal Employees’ Health Coverage
For-profit insurers ask Congress to open FEHB to greater competition from regional plans.
HHS Seeking $1.5B In Funding To Run Federal Health Insurance Exchanges
The administration budget request also includes $2 billion in grants to states for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.
Colorado’s Pitch For New Business: Healthy, Lean Workers Cost Less
The cost of doing business may be lower in areas where there’s a “culture of health.” And that’s put Colorado, which has the lowest adult obesity rate in the nation, on the map for companies looking to relocate or expand. Kelly Brough is proud of this. She runs the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and she’s […]
Medicare Effort To Cut Readmissions Isn’t Counting Patients Who Come Back To ER
A study published Tuesday says Medicare may be missing factors that lead to post-hospital health problems because it isn’t counting many discharged patients who come back to the emergency room but aren’t admitted. The study in Annals of Emergency Medicine looked at 11,976 patients discharged from Boston Medical Center, the largest safety net hospital in New […]
Funding To Enroll Uninsured In New Markets Called ‘Drop In Bucket’
Feds announce $54 million to hire ‘navigators’ in 33 states, but some say that’s too little to get job done.
Consumer Groups Fear Patients Could Be Hit With Large Out-Of-Pocket Costs
The Obama administration’s decision to delay the health law provision setting a maximum payment cap for some plans spurs complaints from several dozen organizations.
Tavenner Fields Questions on Leaks, Premium Costs, Future Of Medicare
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., set the tone for a very-supportive Senate Finance Committee hearing on Marilyn Tavenner’s nomination to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. But others questioned Tavenner, who is acting administrator, on a variety of other issues. Here are video excerpts of the hearing.
‘Remarkably Friendly’ Hearing For Acting Medicare Chief
Marilyn Tavenner, the acting head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and President Obama’s nominee to keep the job, found both Democratic and Republican support during a Senate Finance Committee hearing today. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey talks with Jackie Judd about the hearing and when the Senate could vote on the confirmation.