Latest KFF Health News Stories
House Spending Bill Cuts Funding For Exchanges
You don’t hear much these days about Republicans trying to repeal the 2010 health care law. The Supreme Court ruling last June upheld most of the measure. President Obama’s re-election and Democrats’ continued control of the Senate have helped “Obamacare” implementation to move ahead. But there is one way to slow things down: use the power […]
Medicaid Expansion Divides Florida GOP
House speaker talks about his family’s reliance on “safety net” help when he was young, but he still opposes health law’s new Medicaid funding.
Why N.Y. City ER Doctors Won’t Write That Painkiller Prescription
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. Early this year, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said public hospitals there would take steps to reduce overdoses and abuse of opioid painkillers. The drugs have become a public health problem. Narcotic painkillers, such as Vicodin and Oxycontin, are involved in more than 16,000 overdose deaths […]
N.C. Medicaid Director: ‘We Want Bold Proposals’
Tar Heel State will not be expanding Medicaid. Carol Steckel explains that before the state can contemplate expanding the program, “We’ve got to clean up internally.”
Minnesota Legislature Hammers Out Exchange Bill
Abortion restrictions passed the Democratic-majority House but could face a veto by Gov. Mark Dayton, a Democrat. The state Senate takes up its exchange bill on Thursday.
Got A Health Care Puzzle? There Should Be An App!
Kansas City, Mo., is looking to boost its health-tech cred. So the city that’s home to Cerner Corp. and other health information firms seemed a natural to host something called the Hackovate Health Innovation Competition. A mashup of innovation and old-school hacking (in its benign sense), the goal of the competition was to improve the nation’s […]
Opposition To Medicaid Expansion In Texas House Has Caveats
Republicans in the Texas House agreed not to expand Medicaid, but left the door open to doing so if the Obama administration grants the state enough flexibility.
Access To Primary Care Is A Challenge For Some Texas Medicare Patients
The annual congressional battles over the “doc fix” and the threat of lower reimbursements have left some Texas doctors insecure and unwilling to take on more Medicare patients.
Caveat For Contraceptive Coverage; Early Retirees May Get Cheaper Plans On Exchanges
Columnist answers readers’ questions about birth control provisions and subsidized coverage on state-based insurance marketplaces.
Hospitals Crack Down On Tirades By Angry Doctors
For many years, hospitals were reluctant to address physicians who berated nurses, threw scalpels or demeaned co-workers. But increasingly such actions bring discipline.
C-Section Delivery Rates Vary Widely Across Nation
Rates of C-section deliveries vary widely across the nation, according to the findings of a new study. The study, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, found that the overall rates of C-sections — the most common type of surgery in the U.S. — varied from about 7 to 70 percent across the nation’s hospitals. […]
Prostate Screening Tests In Older Men Decline, But Many Still Get Them, Study Finds
Fewer men over age 75 are being routinely screened for cancer with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test following a 2008 recommendation against the tests, researchers said today, suggesting a less-is-more approach sometimes works. But while the numbers have declined, they remain significant – more than 4 in 10 men in that group still get the […]
Florida House Panel Opposes Medicaid Expansion
The Florida House of Representatives has signaled it won’t go along with Gov. Rick Scott to expand Medicaid coverage to more than a million low-income Floridians under the Affordable Care Act. The party-line vote came Monday shortly after a joint committee hearing on the law’s financial impact on the state. Under the federal health care […]
Expert: Hospitals’ ‘Humongous Monopoly’ Drives Prices High
The American Enterprise Institute didn’t plan its panel last week on hospital consolidation to coincide with Steve Brill’s much-talked-about Time magazine article on hospital prices. But the Friday session could have taken the piece, Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us, as its text. Participants mentioned it several times. The basic message, delivered at the pro-markets […]
In New York, Palliative Care Adds A Layer Of Support For The Seriously Ill
A New York law passed last year ensures that everyone with “advanced life limiting conditions or illnesses who might benefit from palliative care” not only be informed of these services but also that the provider facilitate access to that care if they desire it.
Panel Calls For ‘Drastic Changes’ In Medicare Doctor Pay
A panel convened by a major medical group is recommending that Medicare heal its physician payment shortfalls with “drastic changes” in how it reimburses doctors and other providers, rather than seeking more taxpayer money. Medicare needs $138 billion over the next decade to avoid steep cuts in physician pay. Avoiding those cuts has become an […]
Nurse Practitioners Say How They’re Paid Affects Care They Can Provide
Many nurse practitioners say restrictive payment policies impact how they care for patients more than state laws governing what care they can give, according to a new study. In the study, published Thursday by the National Institute for Health Care Reform, researchers found that while so-called “scope of practice” laws did not appear to restrict […]
New Reasons To ‘Like’ Online Hospital Reviews
Millions of dollars and some of the best minds in health care have been devoted to measuring how good a hospital is. But two studies suggest users of two social media giants, Facebook and Yelp, may do a solid job of reflecting quality. The findings are particularly important as more people are turning to the […]
Mass. Weighs Governor’s Plan To Tax Candy And Soda
Are candy and soda food? In Massachusetts, candy and soda are considered food and are exempt from the state’s 6.25 percent sales tax. But Gov. Deval Patrick wants to change that. He’s proposing that the legislature tax every bag of M&M’s and bottle of Pepsi bought in the state. “Half of the people in the […]
Medical Research, FDA And Mental Health Programs Face Budget Bite
Federal funding for Medicaid is untouched but doctors, hospitals and other Medicare providers will see a 2 percent reduction.