Latest KFF Health News Stories
Amid Health Law Expansion, Some States Trim Medicaid Rolls
Maine, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont are tightening eligibility requirements to shift some residents receiving Medicaid benefits into the online insurance marketplaces created by the health law.
Obamacare Presents Complex Choices For People With Disabilities
Some categories of essential benefits under the health law, like maternity care and preventive care, are straightforward. But “habilitative services” — including treatments like physical and speech therapy — are much more subjective.
In States That Don’t Expand Medicaid, Some Of The Uninsured May Still Get Help
Some could get help buying private coverage by projecting their future incomes to exceed the federal poverty level.
Connecticut Department of Social Services’ Dawn Lambert discusses the state’s efforts to address residents’ long-term care needs while minimizing the strain on the state’s Medicaid budget.
How The Other Washington May Hold The Key To The Medicare Cost Crisis
Washington state saves money by ending insurance coverage for medical procedures that are unsafe, unproven or cost too much. Why can’t Medicare do the same?
Obamacare Canvassers Seek Out Florida’s Uninsured
Enroll America volunteers use census data and telephone surveys to identify people without coverage but finding them can still be challenging.
Letters to the Editor is a periodic KHN feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection.
Medicaid Coverage Limits Access To Medications For Painkiller Addicts
Patients face severe limitations on the amount and duration of medicines they take to fight addiction to pain pills.
Texas Health Care Providers Bracing for Medicaid Enrollment
The Lone Star State is not expanding its Medicaid program, but enrollment is still expected to surge as families seek coverage to comply with the individual insurance mandate.
Kentucky’s Rush Into Medicaid Managed Care: A Cautionary Tale For Other States
Doctors, hospitals, patients and their advocates complained about disruptions in care and payments after Kentucky moved more than half a million people on Medicaid into private plans.
How Oregon Is Getting ‘Frequent Flyers’ Out Of Hospital ERs
The state is trying to reduce health care costs by encouraging those who constantly turn up at the ER to get their health care from regular doctors instead.
Current Medicaid Patients Will Miss Out on Better Preventive Care In 2014
Some of the nation’s unhealthiest people aren’t likely to receive those benefits, because the requirements in the law pertain only to private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid expansion programs.
How Baby Erik Got Health Insurance
It took his parents 86 phone calls and six months to get their newborn enrolled in a Pennsylvania program for children.
Advocates Urge More Government Oversight Of Medicaid Managed Care
The health law’s expansion of Medicaid is putting a spotlight on how regulators monitor the performance of privately-run plans.
FAQ: What Workers And Employers Need To Know About The Postponed Employer Mandate
Companies with at least 50 workers now have until 2015 to provide coverage. Here’s what that change means – and doesn’t mean – for employees and employers.
Facing A Tight Deadline, Long-Term Care Panel Holds First Meeting
The commission, set up by Congress to offer recommendations on paying for services to help seniors and disabled people, has only a few months left to do its work.
Political Fight Jeopardizes Mississippi’s Entire Medicaid Program
Democrats and Republicans in Mississippi are locked in a fight over the health law’s Medicaid expansion that could threaten reauthorization of the state’s Medicaid program — and care for 700,000 residents.
Texas’ Struggling Rio Grande Valley Presses for Medicaid Expansion
Health providers and patients in Brownsville make do with one of the nation’s highest uninsured rates. With billions in federal funding on the line, Texas counties along the border with Mexico plead their case to Gov. Rick Perry.
Feds Make It Easier For States To Enroll Poor Under Health Law
States will have the option to use data from food stamps, other programs, to enroll adults in Medicaid. Officials say the changes are geared to states that are expanding the program next year, but they may also be adopted by others.
Oregon’s Medicaid Lottery: A Participant’s View
Amid the cacophony of expert views about the implications of a landmark study, a Medicaid beneficiary weighs in on the values and shortcomings of public health assistance.
