Medicare

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Why Some CEOs Figure ‘Medicare For All’ Is Good For Business

KFF Health News Original

While national business groups fight the single-payer concept, the founder and CEO of a large Pennsylvania picture frame manufacturer tries to convince other employers that it’s the only way to control costs and fix the U.S. health system.

Social Security Error Jeopardizes Medicare Coverage For 250,000 Seniors

KFF Health News Original

The problem affects private drug policies and Medicare Advantage plans that provide both medical and drug coverage and substitute for traditional government-run Medicare. It could leave plan members without coverage.

Analysis: Why Alexa’s Bedside Manner Is Bad For Health Care

KFF Health News Original

Amazon’s personal assistant is gaining medical skills to provide coaching or transmit and monitor patient data. Besides the loss of the human touch, virtual medicine pursued in the name of business efficiency or profit bodes ill.

Mired In Medical Debt? Federal Plan Would Update Overdue-Bill Collection Methods

KFF Health News Original

More than half of Americans contacted about an overdue bill said it related to medical debt. A federal agency has proposed new guidance for what debt collectors are allowed to do when pursuing many types of overdue consumer bills, including medical debt. But some consumer advocates have panned the effort.

‘John Doe’ Patients Sometimes Force Hospital Staff To Play Detective

KFF Health News Original

A large public hospital in Los Angeles gets over 1,000 unidentified patients a year. Most are quickly identified, but some require considerable gumshoe work — a task that can be complicated by medical privacy laws.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ ‘Conscience’ Rules, Rx Prices and Still More Medicare

KFF Health News Original

Joanne Kenen of Politico, Jen Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the latest news about the Trump administration’s effort to allow health care practitioners and organizations to refuse to provide care or refer patients for services that violate their conscience or religion. Also this week, the administration orders TV ads for prescription drugs to include list prices. And Tennessee wants free rein from the federal government to run its Medicaid program. Plus, Rovner interviews Joan Biskupic, author of a new book on Chief Justice John Roberts, about the behind-the-scenes negotiations that led to the 2012 ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

Short-Staffed Nursing Homes See Drop In Medicare Ratings

KFF Health News Original

In its latest update to the Nursing Home Compare website, the government gave 1,638 homes its lowest star rating for staffing — one star on its five-star scale. Most were downgraded because payroll records reported no registered-nurse hours at all for at least four days.

Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Bye-Bye, ACA, And Hello ‘Medicare-For-All’?

KFF Health News Original

Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Erin Mershon of Stat News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss the latest in news about the Trump administration’s effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act, a historic hearing on “Medicare-for-all” and the Kansas Supreme Court’s ruling that the state constitution protects a woman’s right to abortion. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Carmen Heredia Rodriguez about the latest “Bill of the Month” feature.