Latest KFF Health News Stories
New Health Law Expands High-Risk Coverage
Many states have “last resort” health insurance programs, but they cover few people.
COBRA Health Insurance Subsidies Waiting For Senate Action
People recently laid off are waiting – once again – to hear if they will be eligible for subsidies to stay on their employer’s health insurance.
Consumers Guide To Health Reform
The new health reform law will extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, but also has an effect on almost every citizen. Here’s how the law might affect you.
True or False: Seven Concerns About The New Health Law
The bill signed by President Obama is long and technical, so it’s no wonder that consumers are confused. KHN staff writers check out several key concerns.
Changes Coming To Insurance Plans
Consumers soon will see plans without lifetime coverage limits or the ability to drop enrollees retroactively, plus there will be added benefits for children and reviews of rate increases.
Insurance Protection For Adult Children Won’t Come Fast Enough For Some Parents
A much-publicized provision of the new health overhaul law would give parents the option of keeping adult children on their insurance plans until age 26, but many details affecting eligibility and timing remain to be worked out.
The First Test Of New Health Law: Covering Hard-To-Insure People
In a test of the Obama administration’s ability to smoothly implement the sweeping health care overhaul law, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services have just 90 days to launch an insurance program for people who can’t get private coverage because of health problems.
Federal Agencies To Iron Out Health Care Details
Health care experts say enforcement of the new health care bill will fall to the Department of Health and Human Services and the IRS. One expert says the pages of regulations could dwarf the 2,400-page bill. This story comes from our partner NPR News.
Transcript: President Obama’s Health Care Rally In Iowa
President Barack Obama’s speech on health reform takes place today, in Iowa. Read his speech, as released by the White House.
Coverage For Sick Kids Under Question In New Law
The Obama administration says the new health overhaul law bans insurers this year from denying coverage to kids with pre-existing illnesses. Insurers say that’s not their interpretation of the law.
Doctors, Hospitals, Insurers, Pharma Come Out Ahead With Health Bill
Hospitals and drug makers are among the biggest winners in the legislative bonanza.
‘Cadillac’ Insurance Plans Explained
The Democrats final health bill negotiated by the House, Senate and White House and released today contains a scaled-back tax on high-cost insurance policies. Here is a brief guide to these types of insurance plans.
‘Cadillac’ Insurance Plans Explained
The Democrats final health bill negotiated by the House, Senate and White House and released Thursday contains a scaled-back tax on high-cost insurance policies. Here is a brief guide to these types of insurance plans.
Piecemeal COBRA Health Insurance Subsidy Extensions Puzzle Laid-Off Workers
Congress has extended the COBRA subsidy periods again and again, helping many laid-off workers keep health insurance but sowing confusion as well.
Novel Health Programs Try To Help Uninsured
Gold Dust Saloon owner Ruth McDonald uses an innovative “three share” model to provide health coverage for her workers. The restaurant is one of 30 employers in a Colorado program that provides low-cost coverage to small businesses.
Carrot-And-Stick Health Plans Aim To Cut Costs
Workers at a Portland, Ore., steel mill soon will be able to pick a new type of health insurance: one with financial rewards to use proven treatments and disincentives to use less-effective surgeries and diagnostic tests.
Florida Couple Pays $3,000/Month For Health Insurance
One family in Tampa is trapped in an expensive insurance policy because it covers their 19-year-old daughter, who has a serious digestive disease and has been through several surgeries.
How Blue Cross Became Part Of A Dysfunctional Health Care System
If the Democrats get their way, Blue Cross companies will have to change their business model, so that they act a bit more like the Blue Cross plans of old–the ones that helped schoolteachers, not stockholders.
How Health Reform Could Affect The ‘Young Invincibles’
Under the health bills being debated in Congress, young adults would be required to buy insurance – but they could buy low-cost “catastrophic” plans, requiring high deductibles. That’s igniting a fierce debate whether young adults – sometimes known as the “young invincibles” – would benefit from such plans.
Popular But Ineffective: Repealing Insurers’ Antitrust Exemption
There are exempt insurance practices that, at least in theory and under certain conditions, could help insurers defend and expand their market share against competitors. But the exemption simply does not shield the most straightforward kinds of conduct by which companies get big.
