Latest KFF Health News Stories
Public Doesn’t Support Cuts To Health Care Programs
Poll finds high support for Medicare and Medicaid, complicating political strategies for election of 2012.
FAQ: Selling Health Insurance Across State Lines
More than 60 House Republicans are sponsoring a bill to permit the sale of health insurance across state lines. Consumer advocacy groups argue such provisions would erode many state protections.
In a new KHN feature, Michelle Andrews writes about the coming changes to health care. Please send comments or ideas for future topics to questions@kffhealthnews.org See 2011’s Insuring Your Health stories. Looking At The Changes 2011 Brings December 22, 2010 Michelle Andrews speaks with KFF’s Jackie Judd about changes in lifetime insurance limits, keeping children insured, […]
Psst, Mr. President, A Little Advice On Your SOTU Remarks
Nine health policy experts explain what they would like to hear from the president Tuesday.
What Will President Obama Say About Medicare?
A big topic on the minds of many in the public policy community is what the future holds for the nation’s out-of-control entitlement spending in general and Medicare in specific.
The Health Law’s Co-op Program: A Political Device Or The Affordable Alternative Consumers Need?
It will take a serious and sustained effort to make co-ops a viable insurance option for consumers and small business owners.
Should Infertility Treatment Be Considered Essential?
Currently, policies provide only skimpy coverage for these services, which are often expensive. But this is an issue that regulators are wrestling with as they determine what conditions should be included in plans under the health law.
Just before Christmas, PolitiFact.com gave their Lie of the Year award to the idea that ObamaCare is a “government takeover of health care.” But, according to Michael Cannon, significant evidence suggests this claim is no lie at all.
GOP Vows To Attack Health Law Tree, Branch By Branch
A look at six provisions that House committees could try to ax as they begin working to revise the health overhaul.
House Republicans Put Spotlight On HHS Insurance Office
The new Republican chairmen of a powerful House committee and its investigative subcommittee want Obama administration officials to explain exactly how they’re implementing the health law.
Abandoning and replacing the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee — a panel that offers recommendations to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on physician reimbursement policy — would be an important first step toward re-stabilizing the nation’s primary care physician supply the U.S. health system.
Fact Check: Questions Mount As Health Law Rolls Out
Even as congressional Republicans are seeking to undo the health law, some of its provisions continue to kick in. NPR answered consumer questions about the impact of law.
Democrats And Republicans Angle For Public Support In Health Law Debate
The House vote to repeal the health law marks the beginning of a new phase of the debate over an issue that both parties hope to turn to their advantage in elections next year.
New Scrutiny For Insurance Mandate After Repeal Vote
Republicans are eager to repeal the requirement in the health care law. Public support for the mandate is shaky, and even some Democrats have signaled a willingness to look at alternatives. Some – but not all – health policy experts say the mandate is essential. KHN interviewed several to get their views.
Video: Partisan Arguments Resonate In Health Law Repeal Debate
As the House of Representatives got closer to voting on the health law repeal, members took to the floor to denounce the arguments from the other side. We have excerpts from Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., George Miller, D-Calif., Steve Scalise, R-La., Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Health On The Hill: House Passes Health Law Repeal
Republicans in the House delivered on their election-year promise to pass a bill to repeal the health care overhaul law signed by President Obama less than a year ago. Now GOP House leaders are trying to apply political pressure on the Senate to bring the bill up for a vote. Marilyn Werber Serafini covered the House debate and spoke with Jackie Judd.
‘Multiple Fictions’ Drive Opposition To Health Law
The health reform debate is not about a fictional war between market-based health insurance and government regulation. It is about whether to provide adequate subsidies to cover the uninsured and whether to begin a process of leveraging change in the delivery and payment systems through which one-sixth of the U.S. economy is devoted to health care.
Health Law Repeal Debate: 22 Freshmen Republicans In Under 4 Minutes
Freshmen Voices: The large class of Republican freshmen swept into office in the November elections had their voices heard in the repeal debate. Republican leadership put a special emphasis on these new members of Congress. Here are excerpts of what some of the freshmen had to say about the law that so many passionately campaigned against.
Health Care Repeal Fades as Centrists Take Stage
As House Republicans hold a largely symbolic vote to repeal President Obama’s health care law, the administration won a powerful set of centrist allies seeking additional reforms that would be popular with many Americans.
Congress’ New GOP Doctors Say Health Law Is Wrong Prescription
Elected last fall, new members of the white-coat caucus are ready and willing to cast their votes for repeal.