Latest KFF Health News Stories
Are Doctors Like Wall Street Lenders?
Unless clarifications are made in the financial overhaul legislation currently pending in Congress, doctors and dentists — as well as other health practitioners — are concerned that they will face hefty costs and paperwork burdens.
Groups Vie For A Piece Of Health Law’s $15 Billion Prevention Fund
Public health officials and a host of prevention and wellness groups have sharply different ideas about how to spend a big pot of new federal prevention money
Groups Vie for $15 Billion In Prevention Money
Public health officials and a host of prevention and wellness groups have sharply different ideas about how to spend a big pot of new federal prevention money
Medicare Doctor Pay ‘Fix’ Deadline Looming – Again
For the third time this year, Congress has just days to avert a scheduled 21 percent cut in pay to doctors who treat seniors and others on the Medicare program. And no one seems to be able to figure out how to solve the problem in anything except a stopgap way.
The Independent Payment Advisory Board and Health Care Price Controls
A new commission created by the health law is supposed to ensure that in 2015, Medicare spending is supposed to be limited to a fixed growth rate.
Hospitals Criticized For Keeping Quiet On Charity Care
Too many nonprofit hospitals fail to adequately publicize their charity-care programs, two advocacy groups say in a survey report released today.
Health Care Insurance Scams Rise as Layoffs Leave Workers Uninsured
A searing recession that left nearly 10 percent of the American workforce unemployed, plus a time when health care costs continue to soar, equals fertile ground for health insurance swindlers.
Studies: When Doctors Take More Responsibility, Care Becomes Cheaper And Better
Medical homes – where primary care doctors are held responsible for coordinating care for individual patients
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Tuesday that “within a couple months we will have a very robust call center operation” to answer consumers’ questions about the new health overhaul law.
Primary Care Docs Earn Less Than Specialists, But More Than We Do
Specialists make a lot more than doctors who are generalists, so-called primary care doctors. But the size of the gap might surprise you: Try more than $100,000 a year.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – May 3, 2010
Some states have told the Department of Health and Human Services that they intend to establish their own high-risk health insurance pool while others have said they want the federal government to do it.
Medical Students Learn First Hand About Health Costs
At the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, students get hands-on lessons about the impact of treatment costs on patients by volunteering Saturdays at the East Harlem Health Outreach Program, a student-run free clinic for uninsured residents of a low-income neighborhood nearby.
Teaching Doctors The Price Of Care
Doctors in training have traditionally been insulated from details about the cost of tests and treatments they prescribe. But concerns about rising health costs are slowly changing that.
Using High Tech To Lower Health Costs
Electronic medical records could help curb health costs by providing doctors with details on the price of tests and drugs, health policy experts say.
The Worst May Be Over, But Big Challenges Remain For State Budgets
With an improving economy and help from the federal government, the worst of the fiscal bloodbath for state governments seems to be over. But the next couple of years still will be challenging and the long-run outlook for state budgets is shaping up to be even tougher.
Health On The Hill – May 3, 2010
Some states have told the Department of Health and Human Services that they intend to establish their own high-risk health insurance pool while others have said they want the federal government to do it.
Sensible public policy shouldn’t ask people to reduce that health care bill by bargaining with their doctors over prices and using things (as one Republican U.S. Senate candidate recently suggested) like chickens to pay for care. It should prevent that kind of financial exposure in the first place.
Medicare Advantage Plans Earn So-So Quality Grades
An analysis by the consulting firm Avalere Health finds less than a fourth of the roughly 11 million people enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans as of this spring belonged to plans that had earned four- or five-star quality ratings from Medicare officials.
Boehner: GOP Will Repeal Health Care Law
House Republican Leader John Boehner has said that his party will repeal the new health care law if the GOP gains a congressional majority in November.
Consumer Confusion Triggers Crackdown By States On Discount Health Plans
In discount health plans, consumers pay a fee for access to a network that offers reduced charges for doctor visits and other care, but the patient is responsible for paying all costs up front. State officials and consumer groups say some of the plans are not legitimate.