Latest KFF Health News Stories
‘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.
Parity Law Expands Mental Health Access
Many patients seeking mental health treatments, such as Denise Camp of Baltimore, have been forced to pick up a bigger share of the cost than they do with other medical bills. But a law that went into effect Jan. 1 prohibits such double standards.
Bipartisan Agreement: Health Insurers Shouldn’t Revoke Coverage
While Democrats and Republicans are at odds over much of health reform, they do agree that insurers should not be allowed to retroactively cancel health insurance policies. Capitol Hill watchers say the practice could be outlawed within a few months.
Transcript: White House Health Summit, Afternoon Session
The White House transcript of yesterday’s remarks from the health care summit convened by President Barack Obama.
Transcript: Health On The Hill: After The Summit
A health care summit between President Obama, Republicans and Democrats ended with the president laying out some areas of consensus between the two parties but many disagreements remain.
Transcript: White House Health Summit, Morning Session
The White House released the first set of this morning’s remarks from the health care summit convened by President Barack Obama.
The Antitrust Exemption For Health Insurers: Meaningful Or Not?
With comprehensive health care legislation foundering, House Democrats are turning to a narrower piece of legislation they hope has populist appeal: repealing the antitrust exemption for health and medical liability insurers. Policy makers disagree on the effect the repeal would have.
State Regulators Criticize Obama Plan To Create Federal Authority Over Health Insurance Rates
Three veteran state insurance commissioners said they’d welcome federal advisory help, but draw the line at giving the government authority over rates, a power they say states should retain exclusively.
Republicans Spurn Once-Favored Health Mandate
The last time Congress debated a health overhaul, when Bill Clinton was president, several senators who now oppose an individual mandate actually supported a bill that would have required it. In fact, says Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, the individual mandate was originally a Republican idea.
As Focus Shifts To Jobs, The Uninsured Seek Solutions
Nurse practitioner Mary Mackie reviews a patient’s file with a health counselor in the temporary site of the New Orleans Faith Health Alliance. (Debbie Elliott/NPR) The national debate over health care appears to be taking a back seat to jobs creation – but the problem persists for people who have jobs but no health insurance. […]
Should Health Insurance Companies Be Allowed To Sell Individual Policies Across State Lines?
With health care legislation stalled, the GOP is touting its plan which includes allowing Americans to buy health coverage from another state. Democrats include a version in their bills. Critics say this would erode consumer protections.
The Debate Over Selling Insurance Across State Lines
With health care legislation stalled, the GOP is touting its plan which includes allowing Americans to buy health coverage from another state. Democrats include a version in their bills. Critics say this would erode consumer protections.
Many Still Hope For Insurance Reform
Some lawmakers are considering a scaled-back health bill in place of the comprehensive legislation now stalled in Congress. But there’s debate about whether popular insurance reforms, such as requiring insurers to accept applicants with health problems, can be successful without an unpopular individual insurance mandate.
