Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 26, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how health policy issues are playing across the election landscape and how business leaders are urging a deficit deal with more taxes and with efforts to address entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The Associated Press/Los Angeles Times: CEOs Urge Congress To Reduce […]
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 25, 2012
Good morning, here are your headlines: The Washington Post: Obama Says He’ll Renew Pursuit Of ‘Grand Bargain,’ Offering Specifics On Agenda President Obama, criticized as failing to offer a vision for a potential second term, has begun sketching out his agenda with greater specificity in recent days, including a pledge to solve the nation’s intractable […]
Medicaid Spending Growth Drops As Enrollment Slows
Enrollment growth in Medicaid slowed this year as the economy improved, easing pressure on government spending.
Three Major Themes In U.S. Health Care Spending
Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Julie Appleby examines the factors driving the $2.6 trillion in annual health care spending in the U.S.
Fixing Health Care Isn’t About Party, ‘It’s About Building A Sustainable System’ – The KHN Interview
Dr. Vivek Murthy, the co-founder of Doctors for America, talked about his organization’s recent bus tour and what concerns physicians about the way the nation’s health system operates.
Seven Factors Driving Up Your Health Care Costs
The United States spends more on health care services than any other country, exceeding $2.6 trillion, or about 18 percent of gross domestic product. Here are seven ways you or your medical providers play a role.
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 24, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, incluidng reports about a variety of Medicaid-related issues, such as how a scheduled pay raise for physicians who participate in the program will not be easy to implement. Los Angeles Times: Voters In Ohio Village Skeptical Of Both Obama And Romney The hardworking people in struggling […]
Industry Likes Medicare Home Care Expansion, But Cost Is Unknown
Patient advocacy and industry groups are cheering Medicare’s move to start paying nursing home, home care and physical therapy bills for some patients who were previously denied coverage. But how much extra it will cost the government is far from clear. The change “is expected to affect the lives of tens of thousands of Americans, perhaps hundreds of thousands” […]
Next Generation Of Doctors Will Face Training Challenges
Things are looking good for medical schools this year, with a record number of students in the 2012 class and the most diverse cohort yet. But a government freeze on residency training positions may stop that momentum in its tracks. With the nation facing a projected shortage of as many as 90,000 doctors in the […]
Oklahoma Looks for Ways to Keep Mentally Ill Ex-offenders Out of Prison
Oklahoma prisoners with mental illnesses face a myriad of obstacles in rejoining society, but a state program seeks to reintroduce them to society, keep them on medication and save them from returning to prison.
Questions Linger About Implementing Doctors’ Medicaid Pay Raise
The health law seeks to lure more doctors to treat the poor by increasing the pay rates but states and physicians have concerns about how this will work.
GOP Plan Would Cut Medicaid By $1.7 Trillion, Study Says
The House Republican plan to repeal President Barack Obama’s health law and turn Medicaid into a block grant program would save the federal government $1.7 trillion from 2013 to 2022, a 38-percent spending reduction, according to a report today by the Urban Institute for the Kaiser Family Foundation. It would also result in 31 million […]
The Stakes Are High For Physicians In This Election Year
Despite varying political backgrounds, three health care experts are advising physicians that the presidential election will be crucial in deciding the way they practice and how it can be financed. Discussing some of the prickliest issues at stake in the health care delivery system, Dr. David Blumenthal, previously a director of health IT for the […]
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 23, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports from the campaign trail as well as the latest news about current meningitis outbreak. The New York Times: Check Point: Looking Closely At Statements From Candidates On Foreign Policy Who knew that fact-checking the sole foreign policy debate of the presidential campaign would include […]
Updated on Oct. 13 at 9:35 a.m. Just hours after posting it Monday, the Food and Drug Administration removed from its website a list of hospitals and doctors that had received products from the compounding pharmacy now at the center of the fungal meningitis outbreak, saying data may be incorrect. The agency said it is working […]
Wis. Senate Candidates Spar Over Health Issues
Former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and Rep. Tammy Baldwin bring an unusual level of health care expertise to the campaign.
Insurers Are Again Selling Child-Only Health Policies After Interventions From States, Study Finds
Many companies stopped selling the plans that cover just children after the federal health law prohibited them from rejecting kids with preexisting medical conditions.
Nursing Home Patients Returning To The Community
A federal program is helping thousands of elderly and disabled patients transition from nursing homes to more independent living.
Revised Medicare Penalties Hit Some States Hard
Medicare’s readmissions penalties are falling hardest on hospitals in New Jersey, New York, Arkansas, Mississippi and the District of Columbia, a Kaiser Health News analysis of updated government data shows. Medicare revised its penalties from the new Readmissions Reduction Program at the end of September after discovering it had made small errors in its calculations […]