Latest KFF Health News Stories
Finance Bill’s Fine Print May Cause Sticker Shock For Some Consumers
Legislation seeks to limit the amount low-and middle-income people will pay for health insurance. But a shift in the way their share of the premium is calculated in the second year of the program may make it more expensive.
Health Care Pools: Let Youth Jump, Or Push Them?
In drafting national standards on how health insurers should be able to use age to set premium rates, congressional committees agree that older people should pay more. But they differ widely on just how much. Ultimately, it comes down to how many young adults get into the pool.
End Of COBRA Subsidy Rattles Newly Unemployed
As part of the economic stimulus, the government offered subsidies so laid-off workers could keep their health insurance. For some, the subsidies are running out.
An Experiment In Reducing Costs, Improving Care At Hillcrest Medical Center
Seventy-six year old Frank Morrow is not only having his knee replaced at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He’s also helping to test a Medicare payment system.
Tulsa Hospital Gives Medicare Patients Cash Back For Surgery
At Hillcrest Medical Center, which is testing a “bundled” Medicare payment system, some seniors get paid up to $1,157 for having surgery. The pilot program aims to save money and improve care by paying doctors and hospitals a lump sum and rewards the patients with part of the savings.
Democrats Push To End Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption
The relationship between the Democrats and health insurers has turned ugly since the industry began to spurn the health care makeover it once supported. Now, some members of Congress Democrats want to strip the industry’s exemption from federal antitrust laws.
Opponents Try To Undo Health Bill Deals
While top members of the House and Senate are struggling to put together health care overhaul bills on Capitol Hill, elsewhere in Washington, patient advocates and other groups are trying to take apart some of the deals already cut with top health care industry groups.
Attacking Dartmouth Atlas Is Off-Target
Trying to discredit the Dartmouth data is a distraction from the real work that’s needed to understand and remedy the extraordinary amount of money spent on care that does not appear to make a difference in health.
Drug Coupons Hide True Costs Of Medicines From Consumers
Pharmaceutical companies have found a way around higher insurance copays for brand-name drugs. They offer coupon cards so patients don’t have to pay more. But insurance companies say that if everyone uses the cards to get pricier name-brand drugs, premiums will rise. This story comes from our partner NPR News
What the Insurance Industry Got Right
Buried inside the insurers’ new piece of propaganda were two perfectly valid arguments–arguments that advocates of reform would be foolish to ignore.
Selling Sickness: How Drug Ads Changed Health Care
Prescription drug spending is the third most expensive cost in the U.S. health care system. The average American gets 12 prescriptions a year, and this number only seems to grow larger. We examine what drove the increase in prescription drug consumption in America. This story comes from our partner NPR News
A Forgotten Health Debate: Funding Long-term Care
Donna Taylor’s father planned ahead – he had insurance and savings to pay for health coverage when he retired. But when he got sick and couldn’t walk, he found he did not have enough coverage to pay for care for himself and his disabled wife.
Baby Boomer Retirement: The News Gets Worse
We are not ready for healthy retirement, and we are desperately unprepared for the costly medical and long-term care we are likely to need in old age.
Why Are Health Costs So High? The System Pushes Doctors To Give Unnecessary Care
In the mid-1970s, an unconventional researcher named Jack Wennberg discovered an unusually high rate of hysterectomies in Lewiston, Maine. That was just one of a series of studies that led to a very surprising conclusion about health care: a large portion of the medical care Americans get is unnecessary.
Buying Insurance On The Individual Market
Freelance writer Cindy Richards buys insurance on the ‘individual market’ – from a broker – to cover herself and her son and daughter. Her husband had to buy a policy separately. Between them, they pay $500 a month in premium costs and have a yearly deductible of over $10,000. She believes it’s “too difficult” to get health insurance in America.
As a part of our “Are You Covered?” series, KHN and NPR examine how a health overhaul would affect the individual insurance market.
On Their Own, Self-Employed Search For Health Care
Cindy Richards and her husband Scott Fisher at their home in Oak Park, Ill. Richards is a freelance writer and editor who buys health insurance to cover herself and her family.
‘Facility Fees’ Are Surprise Cost For Many Patients
Facility fees, charged to patients who get treatment in hospital-owned outpatient clinics, are used defray to hospital overhead, pay salaries and meet stringent standards, hospital officials say. Critics say the fees are a way to increase the cost of care when patients can least afford it.
Grady’s Challenges Highlight Problems of Safety-Net Hospitals
The cornerstone of Atlanta medical care strives to turn a corner, but fight over dialysis center underscores difficulties of meeting increasing demands in a poor economy.
Health Care Bill or No, Medicare Advantage Premiums Will Rise
Miami seniors will still pay nothing for coverage; rates to rise in New York and Philadelphia.
