Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare Lags In Project to Expand Hospice
The 2010 health law called for an experiment to see if allowing patients to continue to have lifesaving treatments when they join hospice would improve their quality of care and save money.
Colorado Launches $2M Ad Campaign For New Online Marketplace
With less than five months until Colorado’s new online health insurance marketplace opens for business this fall, officials are concerned that few state residents have heard of it. This week, it became the first state to launch a public awareness campaign with television, print, radio and billboard ads that will cost $2 million and run two months. The […]
Medicare Data Show Wide Variation In Hospital Pricing
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. When it comes to health care, the biggest of the big data are all about Medicare. So, it’s kind of a BIG deal when the government releases what individual hospitals charge Medicare — and what they actually get paid — for the most common diagnoses and treatments. In […]
Harkin Withdraws Hold On Tavenner; Reid Says Timing For Vote Is Unclear
Sen. Tom Harkin Tuesday removed the hold he had placed on the nomination of Marilyn Tavenner to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and said he would no longer stand in the way of a Senate vote despite actions by the Obama administration that he said violate “both the letter and the spirit” of the 2010 health […]
Study Models Three Big Changes To Medicare
Lawmakers are looking for ways to tackle the growth of Medicare spending, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will account for 24 percent of the federal budget by 2037. But some strategies to cut program costs could leave millions of beneficiaries without coverage. A study from the Rand Corporation, a nonprofit research organization, compared the […]
Health Law’s Medicaid Expansion And Online Marketplaces Offer Veterans New Care Options
Many former service members have access to health care through the VA, private insurance or other government programs, such as Medicare and Tricare. But having so many choices can also lead to fragmented care.
2 Studies Assert Lower Spending Growth Is Due To Structural Health Changes
Two new studies assert that the country’s unusual slowdown in health spending growth rates may be due more to structural changes in the health care system than to the lagging economy, and thus could continue even after business picks up. National health spending grew by 3.9 percent a year between 2009 and 2011, the lowest […]
Boston Children’s Hospital Creates ‘Living’ Practice Guidelines
Overuse of some medical treatments – and underuse of others, when patients fail to get recommended care — are two factors linked to high medical spending in the United States. But efforts to set “best practice guidelines” have often drawn criticism from physicians and patients as “cookbook medicine” that could limit doctors’ autonomy or restrict […]
Doctors’ Diagnostic Errors Are Often Not Mentioned But Can Take A Serious Toll
Diagnoses that are missed, incorrect or delayed are believed to affect 10 to 20 percent of cases, far exceeding drug errors and surgery on the wrong patient or body part, both of which have received considerably more attention.
State Spending On Consumer Assistance Could Have ‘Huge Impact’ On Marketplace Enrollment
Some states with high uninsured rates get far less money to help people sign up for coverage under the health law.
Florida Legislative Session Ends Without Deal On Medicaid Expansion
The question of whether Florida would expand its Medicaid program to cover more low-income people has been answered, and it’s a “no” – at least for now.
Bloggers See Own Reflections In Oregon Medicaid Study
This week’s study of Oregon Medicaid recipients has quickly become a Rorschach test for how partisans and health policy wonks view the health care law. To recap, that study compared the health care of the winners and losers of a lottery held by Oregon in 2008 to decide who could enroll in the limited spots in the […]
Call Centers For Health Law Marketplaces To Create 9K Jobs
The federal health law derided as a “job-killer” by critics will create an estimated 9,000 jobs in 14 states this summer to handle consumer inquiries about new online insurance marketplaces. The jobs are through Vangent, a General Dynamics subsidiary, which was awarded a $530 million one-year contract by the federal government to set up call centers to […]
Women’s Health Groups Angered By Administration Morning-After Pill Policies
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. The Obama administration’s actions this week on emergency contraception have left many women’s health groups sputtering with anger. But what really has some of the President Barack Obama’s usual allies irritated is the fact that the moves are in direct contrast to speeches he made in […]
Medicare Seeks To Limit Number Of Seniors Placed In Hospital Observation Care
The proposal, part of the annual payment update, would help ease confusion over when beneficiaries are admitted to the hospital
Advocates Head To Court To Overturn Medicare Rules For Observation Care
Some hospital stays are not considered in-patient care, but seniors often don’t know that until they find they don’t qualify for full Medicare coverage.
Colorado Weighs Reopening A Psychiatric Hospital To Serve The Homeless
A proposal by Gov. John Hickenlooper would bring mentally ill and addicted homeless people to Fort Lyon, a one-time mental hospital, then prison, that’s been shuttered for two years. The patients would voluntarily come to the institution. And the tiny town of Las Animas would welcome the jobs that reopening the facility would create.
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State-By-State: A Progress Report On Medicaid Expansion
As of May 1, 16 states plus the District of Columbia have approved the expansion or are headed in that direction, 27 have rejected it or about to and seven states could still go either way.
Expanding Medicaid Didn’t Lead To Big Health Gains In Oregon, Study Finds
Although expanding Medicaid coverage to some low-income Oregon residents substantially improved their mental health and reduced financial strains on them, it didn’t significantly boost their physical health, according to a study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The findings are less upbeat than a preliminary report by the same group, which had found that Medicaid made […]