Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 5, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the final round of polls, forecasts regarding which party will control the House and Senate and analysis of how campaign-trail messages have been playing during the election season’s final hours. The Wall Street Journal: Obama And Romney Deadlocked, Polls Show The dueling assertions […]
Health Issues On The Ballot In The States
Sprinkled throughout ballots across the country are state initiatives that run the gamut from education to animal rights to marriage. And health care is well-represented, too. The National Conference of State Legislatures labels health a “key issue” in this cycle’s roundup of state ballot questions. Here is a selection of those referenda, as reported by our […]
As California Prepares To Expand Medicaid, Only the Poorest Will Benefit In Sacramento
This month Sacramento rolls out the Low Income Health Program, but it will only be serving the poorest of the poor in the county.
Petition Calls For Hurricane Sandy First Responder Health Benefits
From leading evacuees through flooded streets to carrying a family pet out of a collapsing home, first responders have been dubbed the heroes of Hurricane Sandy. But not all of them had health benefits as they headed into the disaster zones this week. While local, full-time police, firefighters and EMTs have full coverage, first responders […]
Medicare Excludes Mid-Sized Physician Groups From Start Of New Payment System
Medicare is sparing 5,300 mid-sized physicians groups from the first phase of the government’s effort to pay doctors based on the quality of care. Medicare had originally planned to apply the “value-based payment modifier” to medical groups of 25 or more professionals, starting in January 2015 but based on physician performance during 2013. Doctors that […]
Los cerca de 1.200 centros comunitarios de salud a nivel nacional proveen cuidado de salud a m
The Price Is Right There In Front Of You, In Colorado At Least
The price of a knee MRI in Colorado varies from $350 to $2,336. It’s a huge gap, but it’s also remarkable that the prices themselves are known at all. Prices for health care aren’t public in most states, making shopping for the best deal nearly impossible. Different patients pay different prices for the same procedures […]
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 2, 2012
Los Angeles Times: Romney Resumes Criticizing Obama On The Stump With five days to go until election day, Romney said voters faced a clear choice, and painted a dim picture of the nation’s future if Obama were reelected – seniors unable to find doctors who were taking additional Medicare patients, middle-aged Americans seeing stagnant wages, […]
OB/GYNs And ER Docs Excluded From Health Law’s Medicaid Pay Hike
Obstetricians, gynecologists and emergency room physicians won’t be eligible for higher Medicaid pay rates for primary care doctors that start in January under the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration ruled late Thursday. Instead, the higher Medicaid rates, which will be in effect for two years, are reserved for family doctors, internists and pediatricians, because those specialties are specifically listed in […]
Halvorson: Premium Costs In The Exchanges Will ‘Depend Entirely’ On Participation
The Kaiser Permanente chairman and CEO offers his take on a wide variety of health care issues insurers face in the current marketplace.
Q&A: Does The Health Law Require Me To Cover My Adult Child?
Michelle Andrews answers a reader question about the obligations of insurers — and parents — under the 2010 health law.
How The Health Law Might Be Changed By The Next President
Obama has pledged to carry out the law, but fiscal concerns and political pressure could drive him to alter some provisions. Meanwhile, Romney’s vow to repeal the law is unlikely to be realized, but he could still have a strong impact on it.
Today’s Headlines – Nov. 1, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including highlights from the campaign trail, from the top of the ticket to some of the attention-grabbing Senate races across the country, as well as a report that the Obama administration will not oppose efforts to reopen the religious challenge to the health law. The Wall […]
Employers, Unions Jointly Demand Health Care Price Transparency
Employees who feel completely mystified by the prices they’re charged for medical procedures might be surprised to know their employers feel the same way. On Thursday, a consortium of major companies and labor unions, including GE, Wal-Mart, Boeing and the AFL-CIO issued a manifesto demanding price transparency from both health care providers and insurance companies. Consumers […]
Physicians Swap Traditional Practices For New Models
Last Thursday Dr. L. Markham McHenry, a family physician, held a meeting with some patients to tell them about changes he was planning. After 15 years of working in a private practice, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based doctor is in the process of transitioning to a subscription-based model. His patients, who he said come from a range […]
State Averages: Quality Of Care At Community Health Centers
State averages of community health center scores on seven measures of clinical performance, collected by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
Interactive Chart: Look Up How Your Local Health Center Performed
Community health center scores on seven measures of clinical performance, collected by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration.
Quality Of Community Health Centers Varies Widely
Federally funded centers in New England generally perform better than those in the South and West.
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 31, 2012
Happy Halloween! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including that latest about how health policies are playing on the campaign trail as well as how Mega-Storm Sandy took its toll on New York hospitals. Los Angeles Times: Romney Says He’ll Undo Obama Healthcare Reform On Day 1. Can He? Mitt Romney has […]
Romney Narrows Gap With Obama On Voters’ Trust To Manage Medicare
As the race for the White House has tightened, President Barack Obama has seen his advantage on several key health issues narrow significantly among likely voters, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released Wednesday. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the foundation). Most troublesome for Obama is that, among likely voters, GOP candidate Mitt Romney has pulled nearly […]