Medicare

Latest KFF Health News Stories

Refusing To Work For Medicaid May Not Translate To Subsidies For ACA Plan

KFF Health News Original

In states that are instituting work requirements for Medicaid coverage, refusing to get a job will not likely make you eligible for subsidies to buy a marketplace plan.

KHN On NPR: The Uniquely American Problem Of High Prescription Drug Costs

KFF Health News Original

Kaiser Health News Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal discusses drug costs with Scott Simon, the host of NPR’s Weekend Edition. Listen to the broadcast and read a transcript of that conversation.

Bipartisan Senate Budget Deal Boosts Health Programs

KFF Health News Original

The agreement would add $2 billion to the National Institutes of Health and fund community health centers around the country. But it does not include provisions to help stabilize the federal health law’s marketplaces.

Stalled Health Programs Await A Green Light On The Hill

KFF Health News Original

With another piece of must-pass legislation set to move through Congress, there’s a push to attach provisions to keep afloat a number of health-related programs for which funding or specific federal direction has expired.

Si hay pólipos, muchos pacientes pueden no calificar para colonoscopías gratis

KFF Health News Original

La situación puede cambiar si durante este exámen preventivo se detecta un pólipo y el médico decide extraerlo. Que establecen la ley de salud y el Medicare al respecto.

After Polyps Are Detected, Patients May No Longer Qualify For Free Colonoscopies

KFF Health News Original

While the federal health law made insurers cover the full cost of screening colonoscopies, consumers with a history of polyps who need more frequent tests may have to pick up some costs.

Home Care Agencies Often Wrongly Deny Medicare Help To The Chronically Ill

KFF Health News Original

Agencies sometimes turn away Medicare beneficiaries with chronic health problems by incorrectly claiming Medicare won’t pay for their services, say patient advocates.

Trump Administration Relaxes Financial Penalties Against Nursing Homes

KFF Health News Original

Medicare is discouraging regional offices from levying fines for “one-time mistakes” or from using daily fines that seek to put pressure on nursing homes to make changes.

Infection Lapses Rampant In Nursing Homes But Punishment Is Rare

KFF Health News Original

A Kaiser Health News analysis of federal inspection records shows that nursing home inspectors labeled mistakes in infection control as serious for only 161 of the 12,056 homes they have cited since 2014.

751 Hospitals Hit With Safety Penalties For 2018: Data Table

KFF Health News Original

The federal government has cut payments to hospitals with high rates of patient injuries this year. Those hospitals will lose 1 percent of Medicare payments over the federal fiscal year, which runs from October through September. Maryland hospitals are exempted from penalties because that state has a separate payment arrangement with Medicare. Below are the […]

Experts Tell Congress How To Cut Drug Prices. We Give You Some Odds.

KFF Health News Original

Some of the nation’s most influential scientists recommend eight steps to lower drug prices. KHN takes the political temperature and tells you the chances of Congress acting on them.

Podcast: ‘What The Health?’ Is Health Care Spending Still The Hungry, Hungry Hippo?

KFF Health News Original

In this episode of “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of the Wall Street Journal, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Margot Sanger Katz of The New York Times discuss new health spending numbers from the federal government, as well as how the year-end legislating in Congress is being complicated by health issues.