Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pennsylvania Blues Plan Pinpoints Potential Customers Using Data
With less than five weeks before the online exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act open for enrollment, insurers are using tools pioneered by political campaigns to identify potential customers and analyze their needs.
Consumer columnist answers questions about marketplace operations.
No Shopping Zone: Medicare Is Not Part Of New Insurance Marketplaces
Administration officials are planning campaign to convince millions of seniors that they don’t need to sign up for the online exchanges.
Bare Bones Health Plans Expected To Survive Health Law
Retailers, restaurant chains and others find they can continue to offer such coverage and avoid the health law’s heftiest fines.
Letters to the Editor is a periodic KHN feature that details readers responses to recent KHN stories.
States Use Out-Of-The-Box Approaches To Raise Awareness Of Health Exchanges
In the 16 states and the District of Columbia that have opted to run their own online health insurance marketplaces, catchy jingles, ad campaigns and cartoon characters are among the tools being used to make sure residents know the exchanges will be open for business Oct. 1.
UPS Won’t Insure Spouses Of Some Employees
Partly blaming the health law, United Parcel Service is set to remove thousands of spouses from its medical plan because they are eligible for coverage elsewhere.
Health Law Adds New Expense For Farmers: Insurance For Field Workers
California’s mild climate means that farm work is a year-round business, and come 2015, the Affordable Care Act will require farm labor contractors to offer health insurance to field workers for the first time.
An Alaska-Sized Price Difference: A Circumcision In Anchorage Hospitals Can Cost $2,110 or $235
Some pediatricians, upset about the pricing for their patients and the lack of easy access to what the hospitals charge, are doing the procedures in their offices instead.
Family Insurance Premiums Rise 4 Percent For 2nd Year In Row, Survey Finds
But a growing number of workers, especially those employed by small businesses, feel the pinch of deductibles of at least $1,000.
Missouri Consumers In The Dark As Health Insurance Exchange Nears
The administration of Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has walked a political tightrope as the state gets ready for a federal initiative that the Republican-led Legislature strongly opposes and state voters have weighed in against – twice.
New Online Markets For Small Businesses May Offer Some Workers Greater Choices
The SHOP exchanges are intended to make it easier for small businesses to offer their employees a variety of good plans, but that option is being delayed for a year in 33 states.
Taking A New Tack To Persuade ‘Young Invincibles’ To Buy Health Insurance
The health insurance premiums of younger, healthier adults will be important to balancing the cost of covering older, sicker Americans, but the challenge is to convince them they need the coverage.
Amid Health Law Expansion, Some States Trim Medicaid Rolls
Maine, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont are tightening eligibility requirements to shift some residents receiving Medicaid benefits into the online insurance marketplaces created by the health law.
Feds Award $67 Million In Grants To Help Consumers Navigate The Health Law
More than 100 organizations receive money to help consumers sign up for coverage in online marketplaces in 34 states.
Wash. Rejection Of 5 Companies’ Health Plans Draws Criticism
Critics say the rejection of individual plans from five companies that applied to sell inside the insurance marketplace will limit consumer choices and hurt continuity of care.
Obamacare Presents Complex Choices For People With Disabilities
Some categories of essential benefits under the health law, like maternity care and preventive care, are straightforward. But “habilitative services” — including treatments like physical and speech therapy — are much more subjective.
Supreme Court Decision On Same-Sex Marriage Leaves Many Couples Awaiting Federal Rules On Insurance
The recent ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act didn’t address question of tax implications for health care for couples who live in a state that doesn’t recognize marriages.
The Health Care Battle Over Navigators
After lobbying from insurance agents, states move to regulate a key to Obamacare’s insurance marketplaces.
Red State Idaho Embraces Obamacare Insurance Exchange — Reluctantly
Gov. “Butch” Otter and employer groups fought to keep control of their health insurance marketplace — the only GOP-controlled state to run a state-based exchange –
