Latest KFF Health News Stories
Texas Flap: Plan To Increase Medicaid Payments For Disabled Centers Angers Activists
Texas’ 13 state-supported living centers have been under intense monitoring since last year, when lawmakers agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department due to widespread abuse and neglect.
Health Insurance Costs Rise Sharply For Unemployed As COBRA Subsidy Ends
When a program subsidizing health insurance for people who lose their jobs ended this year, it created a costly problem as the recession continues to throw workers off the payroll. COBRA coverage, which employees of many businesses can obtain after being laid off, typically is very expensive.
Five Questions for Gail Sheehy On Caregiving
Gail Sheehy talks about her latest book “Passages In Caregiving: From Chaos To Confidence,” a personal story which includes advice on how to navigate the process.
Physician-Owned Hospitals Prepare For Bleak Futures
The biggest losers in federal health care reform – the country’s physician-owned specialty hospitals – are on pins and needles. With a ban on new facilities, expansion plans quashed and doctor ownership curtailed, 70 such hospitals in Texas are plotting their next move.
Breast Cancer: How Politics Is Driving Up Costs
In spite of clear evidence that the high-priced drug Avastin does not benefit breast cancer patients, politicians want the FDA to maintain approval.
Insurer Mounts Offensive And Defensive Strategies On Health Law
Cigna Corp. has geared up with a high-powered team of executives to find new business under the health law while also preserving current benefits for customers and for the company.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – August 16, 2010
Insurers, lawmakers and state insurance regulators continue to debate what may and may not be included in a calculation of the medical loss ratio. Separately, debate is also ongoing over how much power individual states have to enforce provisions of the health care law.
Health On The Hill – August 16, 2010
Insurers, lawmakers and state insurance regulators continue to debate what may and may not be included in a calculation of the medical loss ratio. Separately, debate is also ongoing over how much power individual states have to enforce provisions of the health care law.
Medicaid Cutbacks Not The Same As Private Insurance Rescission
States don’t have the money to sustain Medicaid expansions during hard economic times, forcing them to make cuts. This is terrible. But to compare Medicaid cutbacks to private insurer rescission is grossly misleading.
Week In Review: State Budgets Get Reprieve From Feds; Health Reform Politics On The Homefront
Party politics were obvious this week as House Democrats approved $16 billion in additional federal Medicaid funds for states.
Health Insurance Debate: Is A Little Coverage Better Than None At All?
The new health overhaul law aims to end all annual dollar limits on health insurance policies by 2014, but insurers that offer limited-benefit plans can seek waivers so they can continue to offer them. Many employers want to keep the plans, criticized by consumer advocates as skimpy.
Medicaid Rescissions Worse than Private Insurers
Lawmakers have largely avoided discussion of Medicaid rescissions and Medicaid abuses in the debate over health reform.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – August 11, 2010
President Obama has signed legislation into law that will give states an additional $16 billion in Medicaid funding. As House members left the Capitol to resume their August recess, some predicted that town hall meetings in their districts would focus more on job and the economy than health care, a change from the town halls of last August where health care was often a combative issue.
Health On The Hill – August 11, 2010
President Obama has signed legislation into law that will give states an additional $16 billion in Medicaid funding. As House members left the Capitol to resume their August recess, some predicted that town hall meetings in their districts would focus more on job and the economy than health care, a change from the town halls of last August where health care was often a combative issue.
Helping Employees Provide End-Of-Life Care Is Good For Morale, Corporate Bottom Line
Juggling a caregiving role with a full-time job is daunting. But it can be even more difficult working during the end stages of a loved one’s life. Some companies are helping their employees manage the tough times.
Health Law Expands Medicare Coverage Of Preventive Care
In addition, beneficiaries will get free annual wellness visits that include a health risk assessment and a review of functional and cognitive abilities.
Doctors and Hospitals Team Up for Payment Reform
Across Texas, hospital systems are scooping up physician groups and solo practitioners, scrambling to create the kinds of coordinated medical teams that federal health care reform puts a premium on.
House leaders are taking the unusual step this week of interrupting the August recess to call members back to consider state aid legislation that includes $16 billion in federal Medicaid assistance. The Senate approved this funding package last week.
Senate Dysfunction and Health Care Cost Control: In Private Sector We Trust?
The senate is mired in dysfunction. Should health care cost changes come from the private sector instead?
From Florida To Oregon, Medicare Advantage’s Benefits
For the 11 million people signed up for private Medicare Advantage plans, their future with the popular program that has been designated for cuts in federal funding may depend on where they live.