Latest KFF Health News Stories
High-Deductible Plans: When Spending Less On Health Care Isn’t Always Good News
A recent Rand study found that in families with high-deductible plans, kids were less likely to get immunizations and adults were less likely to get cancer screenings. Not only did this seem to jeopardize the beneficiares’ health, it also called into question the cost savings.
Administration Delaying Some Rules For Appealing Health Insurance Denials
Officials say they will revise the requirements to deal with objections raised by insurers.
Health Insurers Respond To Reform By Snapping Up Less-Regulated Businesses
Health insurance companies respond to new regulations by expanding into related
Healthy Indiana: Conservatives’ Reform Poster Child Or Another Costly Program?
The Healthy Indiana Plan is the Hoosier state’s alternative to traditional Medicaid. It’s boosters also consider it a viable alternative to the dreaded Affordable Care Act. But do they really have a case?
Brokers Seek To Preserve Role In Health Insurance Marketplace
Insurance agents fear the health reform law threatens their livelihood and want changes in rules to protect their commissions and guarantee them a role in the new health exchanges.
Many Adults Struggle To Pay Medical Bills, Report Finds
The recession and rising health costs create financial hardships or cause consumers to forgo care, according to a survey by the Commonwealth Fund.
Dems To GOP: Show Us Your Health Insurance
A bill introduced by House Democrats would require members of Congress to declare whether they are taking health benefits subsidized by taxpayers. The bill has next to no chance of passing because Republicans control the House. But its introduction puts some heat on the GOP.
Pharmacists Expand Role To Help Educate And Coach Patients
Consumers often find it easier to get time with a pharmacist than a doctor, so drug stores are offering more outreach programs about chronic health problems.
Can My Insurer Deny My 22-Year-Old Health Insurance Coverage?
A reader wonders if she can put her 22-year-old self-employed daughter, who currently has insurance on her own, back on the family policy.
Will Access To Health Insurance For My Sick Wife Be Better After 2014?
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers a question from a reader on if access to good health insurance will be better for his sick wife after 2014.
Will My Son With Pre-existing Conditions Be Able To Buy Health Insurance?
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers a question from a reader on if her son with a pre-existing condition will be able to buy health insurance under the new law.
Wyden-Brown And The Health Law: A Match Made In Heaven Or Limbo?
President Barack Obama’s surprise signal last week to governors that he was willing to give states some extra flexibility in implementing the law is particularly noteworthy because it offers a useful window into the health law’ s evolving politics and the future bargaining that will likely take place.
Some Medical Practices Move To Monthly Membership Fees For Patients
These new plans cut out insurance policies and offer unlimited access to doctors and nurse practitioners for a modest, set fee.
Younger, Disabled Medicare Beneficiaries Have Trouble Getting Supplementary Insurance
Federal law does not guarantee beneficiaries under the age of 65 the right to buy Medigap coverage and even when they do qualify for a plan, it is often prohibitively expensive.
So This Is Freedom? They Must Be Joking.
Despite the rhetoric about compromise, what President Barack Obama actually did when he announced that states would have some flexibility in implementing the health law was give states the option of replacing his law with a single-payer health system three years earlier than it otherwise could have happened.
A Message To Health Law Critics: It’s Not About A Lack Of Flexibility
What truly undermines the arguments offered by conservative critics is their lack of workable alternative ideas that would achieve the health insurance coverage expansion goals set by the health law.
Insurance Trade-Off: Reducing Premiums By Eliminating Expensive Doctors, Hospitals
Some insurers are offering consumers a hefty break if they pay more out-of-pocket when they use certain high-cost providers in their network or are cutting the providers from the coverage.
After The Deluge: Health Reform Without An Individual Mandate
As challenges to the health law’s individual mandate wind their way through the courts, it is important to focus on the real question: what happens to the health law if this provision is ultimately struck down?
Pennsylvania Closing State Health Plan For Low-Income Adults
Few options are available for the 42,000 people losing coverage.
Hardliners On Health Law: End It, Don’t Mend It
The conservative group FreedomWorks recommends a system of vouchers to replace Medicare, Medicaid and provisions of the new health law.
