Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Care In Hazard: Gerry Roll
Gerry Roll says people don’t understand the health problems in southeastern Kentucky: “You can get whatever you need as far as traditional medical care goes. Yet we have the highest levels of chronic disease in the nation. So when I hear people talking about access to health care being a problem, I am livid.”
Health Care In Hazard: Cathy Nance
Six years ago, Cathy Nance had to have open heart surgery. Later, she had kidney cancer. Because of poor health and inability to work, she became homeless, until she was helped by Harlan Countians for a Healthy Community.
Don’t Forget About The Other Determinants of Health
As we move to the endgame of what will at best be health care reform 1.0, it is also important to remember that if we want to improve health-presumably health care reform is a means to improving health-we need to focus on more than just health care and reform of the health care system.
Checking In With Dr. Donald Berwick,
KHN’s Phil Galewitz talks to Donald Berwick, M.D., M.P.P., President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and clinical professor of pediatrics and health care policy at the Harvard Medical School.
How The House Abortion Restrictions Would Work
Legislation approved by the House Saturday would bar insurers from selling policies that cover abortion if purchased with federal subsidies. There are already states that have similar policies.
On Hill, Bipartisan Support Emerging For Commission To Control Health Costs
The drive on Capitol Hill to create a bipartisan commission to help “bend the cost curve” of health spending is picking up momentum – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and a handful of moderate Democrats and Republicans are supporting the effort.
Democrats Face Backlash Over House Abortion Limits
Outrage is growing among Democratic activists over new and far-reaching abortion restrictions contained in the health care bill passed by the House. Some warn that Democrats may face trouble at the polls in 2010 if the restrictions survive a final bill. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Current ‘Death Panel’ Uproar Echoes Decades-Old Controversy
It was early summer. A senior federal health official wrote a memo suggesting that living wills — documents that can convey patients’ wishes about when to end life support — could help curb health-care costs.
The bill is enormously expensive, but it is full of perverse incentives
As House Democratic leaders celebrate passage of health care legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to await a Congressional Budget Office analysis as he tries to craft a compromise package between bills passed by the Senate Finance and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees. Read the Transcript
At the moment, Americans are not convinced that health reform will improve their current health care situation.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – November 9, 2009
As House Democratic leaders celebrate passage of health care legislation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to await a Congressional Budget Office analysis as he tries to craft a compromise package between bills passed by the Senate Finance and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees.
Democrats Confront Challenges After House Reform Vote
Democrats get new momentum from House passage of a health care bill, but face new tests in bridging differences within the party — and between the chambers — on cost, financing and coverage.
Health policy experts hold different views on Saturday’s House overhaul vote. KHN asked Karen Pollitz, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Jonathan Cohn, Robert Laszewski, Robert Blendon and John Goodman to respond.
House Hands Health Care Challenge Off To Senate
Democrats are still savoring the the narrow passage of their historic heath care overhaul in the House of Representatives and turning their attention to the deeply divided Senate. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Loading More People Onto the Titanic
Neither fiscal conservatives nor liberals are left with much reason to believe the House-passed bill has much chance of bending any cost curves.
From Now On, We’re All In It Together
The House vote signals that we may be ready to listen to our better angels, and include all Americans in our coverage system.
The House Bill Could Have Been Avoided
With the right leadership, a bi-partisan merger of the Republican alternative and the coverage expansions in the bill itself could have been augmented with real delivery system reforms.
The House Bill Is A Great Start
The House health overhaul bill is a great start. It should just be faster, stronger and–really–bigger.
John Dingell: The House’s Link To Health-Care History
The health care legislation in the House has John Dingell’s name on it. The Democrat from Michigan is the longest-serving member in the history of the House, and he was there when Medicare was passed. Dingell’s father first introduced a bill calling for universal health coverage in the 1930s. This story comes from our partner NPR News.