The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Some of the laid-off workers receiving government help to pay for their COBRA health coverage are seeing those subsidies run out. Congress has yet to vote on an extension and employers and workers are worried about the future.
Ten years ago this month, IOM’s ‘To Err Is Human’ cast a spotlight on the role of the nurse in keeping patients safe, a role that will become even more important under the ongoing effort to reform the health care system.
A new study says almost one out of three adults in the U.S. currently serves as a caregiver. The time and energy they put into caregiving becomes like an unpaid job.
Hospitals, doctors and insurers are opposed to allowing people under 65 to join Medicare
Despite the economic downturn that’s busting budgets, 26 states this year made it easier for low-income children, parents or pregnant women to get health coverage.
Jackie Judd and Jordan Rau discuss the accuracies and inaccuracies of recent television ads on health care reform legislation. So far, over $165 million has been spent by groups trying to influence the debate.
Consumer advocates and others say it will only become harder for low-income Kansans to get medical services now that the state is cutting Medicaid payments by 10 percent.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues his efforts to find consensus on a health care package that can win 60 votes.
Many African-American women don’t fit the profile of the average American woman who gets breast cancer. For them, putting off the first mammogram until 50 – as recommended by a government task force – could put their life in danger.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues his efforts to find consensus on a health care package that can win 60 votes. He has asked a group of party moderates and progressives to work on several issues, including creating an alternative to the “public option” health insurance plan Reid has in his bill.
In the health reform debate, there is widespread confusion over the definition of cost–a confusion that has been hanging over this debate for the last few months and is continuing to distort it.
To get the necessary 60 votes to pass health overhaul legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid must resolve Democrats’ disagreements on the public option, abortion, cost and affordability.
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey reports from Capitol Hill, where the Senate voted on four amendments to the Democrats’ health overhaul bill.
Two-thirds of employers would raise deductibles, change insurers or scale back coverage to avoid the so-called Cadillac tax on high-cost benefits proposed in the Senate Democrats’ health care bill, a survey to be released Thursday by consulting firm Mercer says.
To get a sense of who’s right on cost-control, some perspective is necessary.
An independent advisory board has a new way to evaluate geographical differences in Medicare spending. Now, McAllen, Texas is no longer considered as one of the top two expensive areas in the country.
The Senate and House health care overhaul bills are each about 2,000 pages long. While the bills are mostly aimed at revamping the health insurance system, tucked in the pages are provisions that would spell big changes for the food, drug and medical device industries, too.
Facilities, which generally provide social and medical services, rely heavily on funding from state governments and charities, which have been hit hard by the recession. Advocates say the 4,000 state-licensed centers around the country provide a cost-effective alternative to nursing homes and allow caregivers to remain in the workforce.
Comparing plans can save hundreds of dollars for some consumers but many people are overwhelmed at the prospect of making such a change. Seniors have until the end of the year to revise their coverage.
According to analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate Democrats’ health care overhaul bill would substantially reduce premium costs for 57 percent of people who buy subsidized coverage through new exchanges, while rates would hold steady or decline slightly for large and small employers.
