Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare Advantage Competitive Pricing: The Political Failure of a Good Idea
Congressional meddling has become almost synonymous with Advantage administrative pricing and the trend continued after the passage of the health care reconciliation bill.
Developing Nations: Laboratories For Health Care Innovation
Without big budgets, developing nations have to be creative and flexible when it comes to health care. As a result, some interesting new technologies and techniques have emerged that Westernized countries have adopted.
Can Massachusetts’ Experiment Tell Us What’s Next?
Now that the year-long debate in Congress over health care legislation has come to a close, it’s reasonable to ask: What’s next? Some think that enactment will quickly lead to widespread and generally quiet acquiescence to the terms of the new law, even by those who were strongly against its passage by Congress. Perhaps. But […]
Tennessee Removes About 100,000 People From Medicaid Rolls
The TennCare cuts, which followed the resolution of a long-running court battle, affected mostly elderly or disabled residents, including approximately 37,000 who had relied on the state program for all their health care needs.
Savings From Computerizing Medical Records Are Hard To Measure
A study about the Veterans Administration takes a step towards putting a dollar value on the savings a health care system can get from electronic medical records.
Study: Back Pain Too Often Treated With Expensive Surgery
Too many people are getting complex back surgeries when more minimally-invasive procedures would work just as well. The number of these surgeries has increased by 15 times in five years. Overuse of medical care is one of the reasons the nation’s health bill is so high.
Health Reform’s Medicaid Expansion, Payment Increase Causes Mixed Feelings For MDs
While doctors are worrying a lot about whether Congress will block the 21 percent scheduled cut in Medicare payments, a fix to another public health program is raising another question.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – Early Implementation Challenges To Health Law
Obama administration officials have begun the process of implementing health care overhaul legislation the president signed into law last month.
Health On The Hill – April 6, 2010
Obama administration officials have begun the process of implementing health care overhaul legislation that the president signed into law last month.
True or False: Seven Concerns About The New Health Law
The bill signed by President Obama is long and technical, so it’s no wonder that consumers are confused. KHN staff writers check out several key concerns.
Changes Coming To Insurance Plans
Consumers soon will see plans without lifetime coverage limits or the ability to drop enrollees retroactively, plus there will be added benefits for children and reviews of rate increases.
Government Trying To Cut Health Care Costs With Healthy Eating Program
Efforts to alter a modern lifestyle too dependent on processed foods are being supported by the federal government and are crucial to the nation’s fiscal health as medical spending for chronic diseases including diabetes, arthritis and heart disease threatens to overrun the health system.
Flexible Spending Accounts Getting Slightly Less Flexible
Changing rules on flexible spending accounts mean that starting next year, you can use money from an FSA account to pay for eyeglasses or acupuncture but not an aspirin — that is, unless you have a prescription for it.
Interview with NIH Director Francis Collins
Video interview with physician-geneticist Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.
The New Health Law Will Affect States’ Budgets
State officials like the amount of increased federal spending in the new health care law, but they worry that their costs could go up and their workload will become heavier.
Long-Term Care Program Debuts In New Health Law
The act will promote saving for long-term assistance and will especially benefit senior citizens. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Insurance Protection For Adult Children Won’t Come Fast Enough For Some Parents
A much-publicized provision of the new health overhaul law would give parents the option of keeping adult children on their insurance plans until age 26, but many details affecting eligibility and timing remain to be worked out.
Medicaid Expansion Now Could Save Some States Money
Starting April 1, the first federal funding from the health overhaul law becomes available to expand coverage of Medicaid programs. Some states are seeking to use that money in current programs that cover low-income people who do not qualify for Medicaid.
“Here & Now” Audio: States Must Now Make Health Care Reform A Reality
KHN’s John Fairhall and Oregon Health Authority’s Barney Speight discuss how states will implement health care reform, on WBUR’s “Here & Now” radio show.
Medicare Plans That Broke Rules Include Familiar Names
A multinational company and two members of the Fortune 500 were named among six insurers found in violation of Medicare marketing rules when federal inspectors checked their books and sat in on presentations as “secret shoppers.”