Latest KFF Health News Stories
Nurses Fighting State By State For Minimum Staffing Laws
Nurses say understaffing at hospitals should be illegal; hospitals say the laws tie their hands.
Maryland Offers Glimpse At Obamacare Insurance Math
Maryland’s CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield pitches a 25 percent average hike in premiums for individuals, down from 50 percent.
Baucus Vows To Keep Watch On Health Law Rollout Before Leaving Senate
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus stunned his colleagues Tuesday when he announced he would not seek a seventh term next year. But don’t expect him to go quietly. Implementation of the 2010 health care law is a top priority for the Montana Democrat, as is overhauling the tax code, tackling the nation’s debt and pushing […]
Insurer Centene: We Can Do Arkansas-Style Medicaid
Arkansas is the latest and perhaps best hope for those who want states resistant to the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion to reconsider. Last week the Arkansas legislature approved a plan to give Medicaid beneficiaries money to buy individual policies from private insurers on the state’s health insurance exchange — the subsidized, online markeplaces due to […]
Lack Of Competition Might Hamper Health Exchanges
Some supporters of the health law fear that in states dominated by a single insurer, consumers won’t have much choice when health insurance exchanges — a key tenet of the health law — open in October.
New Website Will Disclose Health Industry Payments To Doctors
For the first time, the government will make information about financial relationships between doctors, teaching hospitals and drug manufacturers publicly available. To comply with a provision in the Affordable Care Act, drug and device manufacturers, along with group purchasing organizations, will have to disclose all of their payments and other compensation to physicians and teaching hospitals. Those who […]
Questions Arise About Robotic Surgery’s Cost, Effectiveness
Health plans generally pay for robotic surgery just as they would any other surgical procedure, but that could change, some say, as research helps make clear when robotic-assisted surgery helps improve patient outcomes-and when it doesn’t.
Video: What Insurance Exchanges Mean For Consumers
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/assets/swf/CSPANPlayer.swf?pid=312284-5 KHN’s Jenny Gold appeared on the C-SPAN program, Washington Journal, to discuss the insurance exchanges where consumers will be able to purchase coverage beginning Oct. 1. Watch the above video to learn more about these new marketplaces, or read KHN’s FAQ on exchanges and Jenny’s recent story on marketing of the exchanges to consumers.
Boston Couple Faces Amputation Rehab, Together
Only the most seriously injured of the 188 marathon bombing patients remain hospitalized. Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky Downes are among them. The couple was cheering runners near the finish line of the Boston Marathon when the explosions threw them apart. Patrick and Jessica each lost the lower part of their left legs. Friends are having […]
Seniors Get Hung Up In Health Care Scams
Law enforcement agencies report an increase in phone scams by fraudsters who prey on the public’s confusion over the massive changes taking place in the nation’s health care system — and the thieves often target senior citizens.
Despite Win, UnitedHealth Criticizes Medicare Rates, Eyes Pruning Business
If the Obama administration expected the biggest health insurance company to give thanks for this month’s decision to reverse cuts to private Medicare plans, it was wrong. UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley said Thursday that Medicare Advantage rates are still far too low and that the company may shrink its business of managing care for […]
Beginning End Of Life Care At The Dinner Table
Michael Hebb wants you to pass the butter, and then talk about passing on. As the founder of “Let’s Have Dinner and Talk About Death,” he urged Americans to engage in a conversation about how they want to die, a conversation that could change the high cost of caring for the terminally ill and grant patients […]
Bipartisan Center Offers Plan To Reduce Health Spending
Medicare beneficiaries would have access to better coordinated medical care and the current Medicare physician payment formula would be scrapped as part of a health care cost containment plan the Bipartisan Policy Center unveiled Thursday. The plan offers more than 50 recommendations that would cut the federal deficit by about $560 billion over the next […]
My Child Moved Away, Can I Keep Him On My Insurance?
Michelle Andrews answers a reader question about keeping your children on your health plan until they turn 26, even if they move away.
Jonathan Bush Makes Case For Entrepreneurs In Health Care At TEDMED
Jonathan Bush wants to know why entrepreneurs can come up with an entire Starbucks-style language and culture for coffee but have little traction in health care. “Don’t jam the entrepreneurs,” said Bush, during a high energy, ebullient talk that had the TEDMED audience on its feet by the end. A scion of the Bush political […]
In recent weeks, readers have reacted to stories about climbing death rates at critical access hospitals, the readmissions penalties being imposed on some hospitals and Walgreens’ move to become the first retail chain to diagnose and treat chronic conditions. Other coverage that drew responses included a story about angry doctors as well as coverage of decisions made both by physicians and consumers that impact the cost of care.
Report: Health Law Tax Credit Could Benefit 26 Million
As experts focus on the cost of requiring everybody to have health coverage next year, a new study highlights the broad reach of federal subsidies to help people pay for it. Nearly 26 million Americans will be eligible for tax credits under the Affordable Care Act to partly offset the cost of insurance in online […]
The Medicare Budget Cuts No One Likes
Just in case the Obama administration didn’t know it already, cutting Medicare is hard to do. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday on President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2014 budget, both Republicans who have sought major changes to entitlements, and Democrats, who have vowed to preserve the programs, expressed misgivings. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., accused […]
Health Insurance Actuaries In the Hot Seat On ‘Rate Shock’
Supporters of the health law are questioning the actuarial profession’s close ties to the insurance industry and its predictions that rates are going to soar next year.
Patient Satisfaction May Not Be A Good Indicator Of Surgical Quality, Study Finds
You may have found your doctor to be a great communicator, your hospital room clean and quiet and your pain well controlled. Yet a study finds these opinions are not barometers of whether your hospital’s surgical care is any good. The study, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University medical and public health schools, […]