Latest KFF Health News Stories
States Ease Barriers To Medicaid, CHIP Enrollment, Survey Says
Updated at 10:55 a.m. Half the states last year made it easier for children and their parents to enroll in Medicaid by streamlining enrollment and using technology advances to verify citizenship requirements, according to a report released Wednesday. Medicaid is the state-federal health insurance program for the poor and disabled that covers about 60 million Americans. […]
Today’s Headlines – January 18, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines to get you going: The Wall Street Journal: Nearly Half Of U.S. Lives In Household Receiving Government Benefits The pool of Americans relying on government benefits rose to record highs last year as an increasing share of families tapped aid in a weak economy. Some 48.6% of the population […]
Retail Labs Give Patients Information, But Needle Doctors
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. You could call Michael Brooks a supplement junkie. He pops exactly six pills a day, three times a day, not to mention powders and shakes and chews. “A multivitamin, vitamin C, omega-3s, alpha lipoic acid,” he says. “I’m taking a digestive enzyme.” Brooks is a personal […]
Alaska To Spend $200K A Year For Each High Risk Pool Member
Alaska has long been known as one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. Those higher costs extend to health care services as well. A high risk pool set up under the federal health overhaul to help the uninsured who have pre-existing medical conditions expects to spend $10 million this year […]
‘Tiered’ Insurance Confounds Consumers, Docs In Mass.
Tiered insurance is being offered by various companies in Massachusetts as a way to meet employers’ demands for cheaper insurance premiums.
Today’s Headlines – January 17, 2012
Good morning! Here are your early morning headlines! The Washington Post: Obama Hopes To Strike Balance In State Of Union Address The president has been using the refrain “Change is . . . ” to catalogue a list of actions — including rescuing the auto industry, enacting health-care reform and ending the war in Iraq — he […]
Video: Romney Calls Health Law ‘Fourth Entitlement’
In Monday’s GOP presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, front-runner Mitt Romney described his approach to Medicare, which includes charging wealthier recipients more and including ‘premium supports.’ He also attacked the health law, the only candidate on the stage to discuss the law. Former Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich both challenged Romney. The S.C. primary is on Saturday.
Peeking In On Your Doctor’s Notes
The movement to give patients direct access to their health information has picked up steam.
New Group To Set Priorities for Medical Effectiveness Research
Congress is betting more than $3 billion over the next decade that “comparative effectiveness” research can transform medical care by helping determine the best approach to a particular illness.
The High Cost Of A Good Night’s Sleep
Diagnosing sleep apnea, which has been shown to increase the risk of serious illnesses, is a big business. Critics worry, though, that sleep tests are overprescribed at great cost to the health system.
Are Politicians Playing Whac-A-Mole With Medicare?
Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reads from around the Web. The Washington Post Magazine: A Family Learns The True Meaning Of The Vow ‘In Sickness And In Health’ Seven years later Robert was still mentally impaired and his personality far different than before the accident, but he knew his family, knew he had […]
Today’s Headlines – January 13, 2012
Happy Friday! Here are your headlines: NPR: Biggest Bucks In Health Care Are Spent On A Very Few Researchers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality looked at the way people actually spend money on health care. They found that half the population spends practically nothing on health care in any given year, while […]
Considering Cost: Bloggers Reveal ‘Parsimonious’ Ponderings
Should doctors think about cost when they’re helping you make your health care decisions? Yesterday on the main KHN site we had a round robin of experts talking about the American College of Physicians’ latest update of its ethics manual. The manual encourages doctors to be “parsimonious” in doling out health care — that is, if you […]
HHS Calls Trustmark’s Rate Increases ‘Unreasonable’; Insurer Begs to Differ
The Department of Health and Human Services Thursday deemed a health insurer’s proposed premium increases in five states “unreasonable” and called on the company to rescind the rates, issue refunds or justify the increase. Trustmark Life Insurance Company proposed health insurance premium hikes of 13 percent for 10,000 residents in five states: Arizona, Alabama, Pennsylvania, […]
Panel Winnows Proposed Quality Measures For Medicare And Medicaid
Updated 12:25 p.m. A panel of health care experts and industry officials has winnowed down 368 quality measures the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is considering to use in evaluating nursing homes, hospitals, diabetes facilities and other providers. The panel said 45 percent of the potential measures it reviewed shouldn’t be used by the […]
Unique in the nation for having public health insurance plans that are run by counties, California has public plans that stretch from San Francisco to the Mexican border and cover 2.5 million people.
Gingrich, Romney Go At It Over Abortion
This story comes from our partner ‘s Shots blog. The latest abortion battle doesn’t pit people on opposite sides of the issue against each other. Rather, it features two of the leading GOP candidates for president, each charging that the other is less than pure as the race heads to socially conservative South Carolina. Both […]
Today’s Headlines – January 12, 2012
Good morning! Here are your headlines to get your morning going: The Hill’s Healthwatch: Nearly 500 State Lawmakers To Press Supreme Court To Uphold Healthcare Mandate More than 480 state lawmakers plan to file a brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court to uphold President Obama’s healthcare law. The group includes at least one lawmaker from […]
Gym Memberships In Medicare Advantage Plans Cater To Healthy Seniors
Despite federal regulations that prohibit health insurance plans from cherry-picking their beneficiaries, some Medicare Advantage plans may be doing just that, only indirectly. A new study from the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that when Medicare Advantage plans alter their benefits to include perks like gym memberships, they tend to attract healthier seniors. That […]
Do No Harm – And Keep An Eye On Costs
Kaiser Health News staff reporters talked with physicians and health policy experts about the recent American College of Physicians’ ethics statement that focuses on the principle of cost-effectiveness in delivering health care.