Insurance

Latest KFF Health News Stories

States Act To Safeguard Young Cancer Patients’ Chances To Have Children

KFF Health News Original

Fighting cancer often involves toxic therapies that can cause infertility. In the past couple of years, five states have moved to require that plans pay for services such as egg removal and storage.

Medicare For All? CMS Chief Warns Program Has Enough Problems Already

KFF Health News Original

Seema Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tells private insurance officials that a push by some Democrats to expand Medicare would only increase troubles the program already faces.

Medicare Advantage Riding High As New Insurers Flock To Sell To Seniors

KFF Health News Original

The private health plans that are an alternative to government-run Medicare continue to grow despite the Affordable Care Act’s cuts of billions of dollars in funding.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Falling Premiums And Rising Political Tensions

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News discuss the Trump administration’s announcement that average premium prices are falling on the Obamacare marketplaces, the effort by Senate Democrats to reverse rules on short-term health insurance and the focus on protections for people with preexisting conditions in the run-up to midterm elections.

Fact Check: Who’s Right On Protections For Preexisting Conditions? It’s Complicated

KFF Health News Original

Consumers favor ACA’s safeguards on the promise that patients who have health problems can get insurance. In the heat of the midterm campaigns, politicians in both parties agree, but their arguments don’t always add up.

No More Secrets: Congress Bans Pharmacist ‘Gag Orders’ On Drug Prices

KFF Health News Original

Congress approved two bills last month that prohibit provisions keeping pharmacists from telling patients when they can save money by paying the cash price instead of the price negotiated by their insurance plan.

Spurred By Convenience, Millennials Often Spurn The ‘Family Doctor’ Model

KFF Health News Original

These young adults are looking for medical care that is convenient, fast and offers cost transparency. They frequently seek treatment at retail clinics, urgent care centers or other options.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Some Things Old, Some Things New

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner discuss final action on bills in Congress to address the opioid epidemic and fund federal health agencies. They also look at new efforts by the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on teen nicotine use.

High-Deductible Health Plans Fall From Grace In Employer-Based Coverage

KFF Health News Original

Once viewed as a promising cost-control tool, such insurance faces new competition on benefits menus from more traditional insurance. But, according to new research, none of those choices is getting less expensive.

Immigrants’ Health Premiums Far Exceed What Plans Pay For Their Care

KFF Health News Original

Immigrants accounted for nearly 13 percent of premiums paid to private plans but only about 9 percent of insurers’ expenditures, according to a new study in Health Affairs. The cost of care for the group of native-born customers, however, exceeded their premiums.

Inmigrantes pagan mucho más en seguros de salud de lo que gastan en atención

KFF Health News Original

Un estudio publicado halló que los inmigrantes con seguro de salud privados y sus empleadores contribuyeron con casi $25 mil millones más en primas en 2014 de lo que gastaron en atención médica.

‘Contraception Deserts’ Likely To Widen Under New Trump Administration Policy

KFF Health News Original

Federal family planning funds, known as Title X, will soon fund for-profit women’s clinics that bar condoms, hormonal birth control and IUDs and offer only “natural family planning.”

Taken For A Ride: After ATV Crash, Doctor Gets $56,603 Bill For Air Ambulance Trip

KFF Health News Original

After an accident in an all-terrain vehicle crushed a doctor’s left arm, he was whisked by air ambulance to the closest trauma center for specialized care. Soon he was fighting over the $56,603 bill.