Latest KFF Health News Stories
Premium Rebates, Coverage Labels, Reduced Medicare Drug Costs Highlight 2012 Health Law Changes
Despite deep political division about the health overhaul, implementation marches on.
Off-Label Use Of Risky Antipsychotic Drugs Raises Concerns
The expensive medications, designed for people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorders, are being prescribed regularly for common problems such as anxiety and attention-deficit disorder and are being used on children and the elderly.
Rules For New Insurance Marketplaces Give Insurers Clout
The long-awaited rules may disappoint consumer groups which had sought to reduce the clout of insurers on the governing boards.
Today’s Headlines – March 12, 2012
Happy Monday. We hope you had a good weekend and that you’re ready to read your morning headlines! Politico: On Health Care, Supreme Court’s Final Word May Not Be Final In two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case that could lead to the biggest “I told you so” of 2012. The challenge […]
The Hardest Job To Fill (And Keep) In Washington: CMS Chief
The revolving door at the top of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services raises questions about the key agency implementing the health law.
Santorum’s Pro-Government Record
Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. Mother Jones: Santorum In ’93: More Government Needed in Health Care If elected president, Santorum vows, he will end the “tyranny” of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Yet as an up-and-coming congressman in the early 1990s, Santorum took a much different line. Then—like […]
Forget The Robots: Venture Capitalists Change Their Health Care Investments
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes KQED, and Kaiser Health News. It wasn’t that long ago that money flowed steadily to entrepreneurs who dreamt up whiz-bang medical devices. Hospitals souped up their surgical suites with robots or high-tech radiation machines for cancer treatment. Cost wasn’t an issue: They just got passed along […]
Today’s Headlines – March 9, 2012
Good morning and happy Friday! Here are your morning headlines to get your day started: The New York Times: White House Works To Shape Debate Over Health Law The White House has begun an aggressive campaign to use approaching Supreme Court arguments on the new health care law as a moment to build support for […]
Farzad Mostashari: Man On A Digital Mission
An eBay merchant who sells funny barbecue aprons out of his living room is better equipped to send information electronically than many physicians. Farzad Mostashari is the guy trying to change that.
N.Y. Governor Raps Insurers, Health Providers For ‘Unacceptable Opaqueness’ In Billing
Too often patients who thought they had all the right approvals from their insurers get hit with surprise bills for out-of-network medical costs, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says in a report that calls on insurers, doctors and hospitals to help craft reforms. Complaints about out-of-network costs were among the most common found in a state […]
New Insurer-Hospital ACO Touts Early Success
Illinois’ largest hospital system and biggest health insurer agreed in late 2010 to form an accountable care organization, a network in which the organizations would cooperate to boost quality and restrain cost increases, sharing in any savings. Chicago-based Advocate Health Care gambled that its portion would compensate for the lost revenue from the resulting empty beds. Now, with six months of operating […]
House Republicans Find Democratic Allies In IPAB Repeal Effort
Later this month, just as the Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the 2010 health law, the House is expected to pass a measure that would repeal an advisory board created in the law to curb Medicare spending if it exceeds specific targets. But the debate is not shaping up like the usual House legislative fight […]
Oregon Emphasizes Choices At Life’s End
The state has been at the forefront of trying to make sure a person has as much control over the end of life as possible with a detailed directive that has been adopted by 14 other states.
Can GOP Deliver On Its Promise To Preserve Traditional Medicare?
Republicans say they can overhaul the entitlement program while still offering the current option. But it may not look the same as it does today.
GOP Presidential Hopefuls: Where They Stand On Health Care
An interactive chart shows where eight of the current and former candidates – Gingrich, Paul, Romney, Santorum, Bachmann, Cain, Huntsman and Perry – stand on major health care issues.
Today’s Headlines – March 8, 2012
Good morning! Grab your coffee, here are your early a.m. headlines to get your day going: The Washington Post: New Front In Birth Control Rule Battle: The Courts Since November, at least eight lawsuits have been filed in federal district courts across the country challenging the constitutionality of the rule, which requires employers, including church-affiliated […]
Coming Soon To Massachusetts’ Dental Offices-Maybe
Could the mid-level dental care providers now at work in Minnesota solve the access problem in Massachusetts and other states?
Health IT Chief Disputes Study On EHR Testing, Costs
A study published in the journal Health Affairs this week found that doctors who use electronic health records may order more diagnostic testing, and therefore drive up the cost of health care, despite claims to the contrary by the federal government and health IT industry. Now, Dr. Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for health information technology, […]
Today’s Headlines – March 7, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines for Wednesday — halfway through the week! USA Today: Romney Takes 6 Of 10 Super Tuesday Contests Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, scored substantial wins in GOP primaries in Tennessee and Oklahoma and won easily in North Dakota’s caucuses, where Ron Paul finished a distant second and Romney finished […]
Super Tuesday Speeches: Santorum Attacks Romney, Obama On Health Care
On a day with 10 GOP primaries and caucuses, former Pa. Sen. Rick Santorum calls health care “the most important issue of the day.” Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney repeats pledge to “repeal Obamacare.”