Latest KFF Health News Stories
High-Deductible Plans Jeopardize Financial Health Of Patients And Rural Hospitals
Small hospitals and patients in rural areas have been hit hard by the boom in high-deductible health plans. Often when a patient arrives at a rural hospital needing critical care, the person is stabilized and transferred to a larger facility. But bills from the first site of care generally get applied to the patient’s deductible. When patients can’t afford their deductible, the smaller hospital winds up eating the costs.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
One-On-One With Trump’s Medicare And Medicaid Chief: Seema Verma
Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, sat down for a rare interview with KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney. They discuss her views on President Donald Trump’s plan for sustaining public health insurance programs, how the administration would respond if Obamacare is struck down by the courts in the future and her thoughts on how the latest “Medicare for All” proposals would affect innovation and access to care.
Watch: Behind The Troubling Rise Of Uninsured American Kids
Kaiser Health News senior correspondent Sarah Varney and PBS NewsHour producer Jason Kane report from Tennessee, where the rate of uninsured kids has soared.
Watch: Woman Hit With $28K Bill For A Throat Swab
A routine doctor’s visit for a sore throat brought more than $28,000 in charges for one New York City woman in our latest “Bill of the Month” installment.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: How Do Other Countries Pay For Health Care?
Every country provides and pays for health care differently. Yet surveys show the U.S. health system covers fewer people and costs more than the systems of most other industrialized countries. Are there international systems that the U.S. could emulate or borrow from? On this special episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” host Julie Rovner interviews international health experts Gerard Anderson of Johns Hopkins and Christopher Pope of the Manhattan Institute.
Paying It Forward: ‘Bill Of The Month’ Series, A Vital Toolkit For Patients, Wraps Year 2
In our ongoing, crowdsourced investigation with NPR and CBS, we’ve armed future health system pilgrims with the tools they need to avoid exorbitant medical bills and fight back against unfair charges. Here’s a look back at 2019’s stories.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Demócratas debaten si es “realista” un Medicare para Todos
Los siete candidatos que participaron del último debate de 2019 hablaron sobre la practicidad de una reforma radical de la atención médica, específicamente, de Medicare para Todos.
Democrats Debate Whether ‘Medicare For All’ Is ‘Realistic’
Candidates again sparred over “Medicare for All” and other approaches to health reform — but this time they waited more than two hours before wading into health policy issues.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: ACA Still Under A Cloud After Court Ruling
A federal appeals court in New Orleans has agreed with a lower court that a key piece of the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. But it is sending the case back to the lower-court judge to decide how much of the rest of the law can stand. Also, Congress is leaving town after finishing work on a major spending bill that includes many changes to health policy. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more.
Loophole Averted After Surprise-Bill Brouhaha In Texas
The Texas Medical Board bowed out of the rule-making process for a new law protecting consumers from surprise medical bills. Advocates hailed the new rules written by the state insurance regulators.
Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Portion Of Obamacare
The court, based in New Orleans, agreed with a federal judge in Texas that the individual mandate section of the Affordable Care Act could not stand after Congress eliminated the tax penalty for not having coverage. But the case now heads back to the lower court to see how much of the law can remain.
Corte federal de apelaciones derrumba crítica parte del Obamacare
Todavía queda por delante un largo proceso judicial que tiene que determinar las partes de la ley que pueden seguir adelante sin un mandato individual.
Listen: The Cost Of PrEP, The HIV Prevention Pill
KHN correspondent Shefali Luthra was among the guests on the podcast “Today, Explained” to talk about PrEP.
Kaiser Permanente: atención de salud mental aún recibe críticas, a pesar de arreglos
Entrevistas con docenas de terapeutas, pacientes y expertos pintan un cuadro de mejoras superficiales, pero que no se traducen en una atención más efectiva y accesible.
Despite Quick Fixes, Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Care Still Lags
Interviews with dozens of Kaiser Permanente therapists, patients and industry experts reveal superficial changes that look good on paper but do not translate into more effective and accessible care.
Surprising Swings In Momentum For Legislation On Surprise Medical Bills
A legislative compromise on how to curb unexpected out-of-network medical bills has made recent progress. But many insiders expect work to continue into 2020.
Analysis: In Medical Billing, Fraudulent Charges Weirdly Pass As Legal
After my husband had a bike accident, we were subjected to medical bills that no one would accept if they had been delivered by a contractor, or a lawyer or an auto mechanic. Such charges are sanctioned by insurers, which generally pay because they have no way to know whether you received a particular item or service — and it’s not worth their time to investigate the millions of medical interactions they write checks for each day.
What Would Happen If The ACA Went Away?
The Affordable Care Act has been on the books for nearly a decade. Parts of it have become ingrained in our health system ― and in our everyday life. But this could change, depending on a long-awaited 5th Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding the law’s constitutionality.
