Latest KFF Health News Stories
Relying On The Health Care Safety Net: Choosing Between Dinner And A Medical Test
Without Medicaid expansion, South Florida’s low-income residents have found out the hard way that the healthcare safety net designed to catch people before they hit bottom is no substitute for insurance.
850,000 Floridians Stuck In Health Care Limbo — And No Solution In Sight
With legislators seemingly deadlocked on Medicaid expansion in Florida, residents in the “coverage gap” are stitching together their medical care through personal ingenuity, half doses of medicines and low-cost clinics.
EEOC Proposal On Wellness Program Earns Business Praise, Consumer Concerns
The announcement is an effort to give employers more guidance on how to implement the programs promoted by the federal health law without overstepping the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Big Bills A Hidden Side Effect Of Cancer Treatment
High deductible health insurance plans and soaring drug costs make cancer a tremendous financial burden for many patients.
Federal Marketplace More Adept Than States At Enrolling Customers, Study Finds
The research by Avelere Health shows that the exchange the federal government runs in three dozen states had a higher percentage of new and returning enrollees than the other marketplaces run by individual states.
Coalition Hopes To Amp Up Push For Health Care Transparency
A new coalition of insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and provider and consumer advocacy groups launched an initiative to make more information available to consumers about the actual costs of health services.
Study Finds Lackluster Sign-Ups On State-Run Health Insurance Exchanges
Enrollment in private plans fell 2 percent in Washington state, but officials say the study doesn’t take account of the fast-growing Medicaid numbers.
Georgia Insurers, Doctors Partner To Improve Patient Care, Cut Costs
Primary care providers are teaming up with insurers, hospitals and others to improve patients’ health by coordinating their care and, the theory goes, curbing out-of-control health care costs.
Many People With Substance Abuse Problems May Find Few To Treat Them
More people are getting insurance coverage for addiction treatment, but there’s already a shortage of trained professionals.
Rule Proposed On Providing Mental Health ‘Parity’ In Medicaid Program
Seven years after passing a mental health parity law, the federal government issues its first proposal on how public programs such as Medicaid and CHIP should comply.
Shifts In Earnings For Consumers Near Medicaid Line Can Threaten Coverage
Marketplaces face challenges ensuring that low-income customers continue to get coverage if their incomes change to put them above or below the Medicaid eligibility line.
High-Deductible Health Plans Can Ruin Finances
While coverage that requires enrollees to have ‘skin in the game’ is supposed to spur smarter consumer choices, the costs can be staggering for some.
Cancer Survivor Worries About Supreme Court Ruling On Obamacare Subsidies
A Philadelphia-area caterer who had been uninsured for five years before the ACA frets about her future if the Supreme Court strikes down federal exchange subsidies.
Consumers Contributing Less To Health Savings Accounts, Study Finds
The accounts are designed to provide a way for people with high-deductible insurance plans to save money tax free to use on health expenses.
KHN Video: Tax Deadline Meets The Health Law
As April 15 approaches, most of the consumers who didn’t get insurance coverage face penalties while others who used federal subsidies to buy their plans must reconcile their actual earnings with the estimates that they made last year.
Premera Negligent In Data Breach, 5 Lawsuits Claim
The breach at the Washington state-based health insurer continues to reverberate as officials answer questions about what happened.
The Red State Solution On Medicaid: Georgia’s Not Part Of It
The final piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s series on Arkansas’ privatized Medicaid expansion looks at how several red states are considering such a model as a politically palatable way to extend coverage to the poor.
To Avoid Extra Payments, Notify Your Marketplace Plan When You Move
KHN’s consumer columnist answers readers’ questions about what happens to your plan when you move out of state, smoking cessation expenses and sending workers to the exchange to buy policies.
Policy Shift By Nation’s Largest Insurer Could Leave Some With Unexpected Bills
UnitedHealthcare is no longer routinely paying for out-of-network emergency room physicians and other specialists even when they work for hospitals in the insurer’s network.
Many People Entitled To Hefty Subsidies Still Opt Against Coverage
A study by health consultant Avalere finds that three-quarters of those eligible for the highest levels of premium help enrolled in marketplace plans, but many others with only slightly higher incomes did not.
