Latest KFF Health News Stories
GOP Wants States To Lead On Health Coverage
If Republicans are successful in repealing last year’s health law, they want to replace it with legislation that would give states far more discretion about how to cover people, according to a top Senate Republican.
Haley Barbour Draws Fire For Medicaid Changes In Mississippi
Mississippi Gov. Barbour’s ways to control the rising costs of Medicaid are sometimes controversial, but he maintains that states need more freedom to run the program.
Can My Insurer Deny My 22-Year-Old Health Insurance Coverage?
A reader wonders if she can put her 22-year-old self-employed daughter, who currently has insurance on her own, back on the family policy.
The Donald Berwick Predicament
We can’t evaluate the backstage politics, but one thing is certain. Both Democrats and Republicans should be dismayed at the sight of a partisan campaign driving yet another distinguished figure out of American government.
Will Access To Health Insurance For My Sick Wife Be Better After 2014?
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers a question from a reader on if access to good health insurance will be better for his sick wife after 2014.
Will My Son With Pre-existing Conditions Be Able To Buy Health Insurance?
Kaiser Health News consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers a question from a reader on if her son with a pre-existing condition will be able to buy health insurance under the new law.
Wyden-Brown And The Health Law: A Match Made In Heaven Or Limbo?
President Barack Obama’s surprise signal last week to governors that he was willing to give states some extra flexibility in implementing the law is particularly noteworthy because it offers a useful window into the health law’ s evolving politics and the future bargaining that will likely take place.
Kaiser Health News staff writer Mary Agnes Carey talks with KFF’s Jackie Judd about last week’s order by a federal judge in which he stayed his earlier decision striking down the health law, but also ordered the Obama administration to file an appeal. Also, the Senate considers how it will fund the federal government.
Health On The Hill: Judge Orders Fed Appeal In Health Law Challenge
A Florida District Court judge issued a stay of his earlier ruling on the health law that found the law unconstitutional, but he ordered the Obama Administration to file an appeal within seven business days. Meanwhile, two different funding approaches to keep the government operating beyond March 18
So This Is Freedom? They Must Be Joking.
Despite the rhetoric about compromise, what President Barack Obama actually did when he announced that states would have some flexibility in implementing the health law was give states the option of replacing his law with a single-payer health system three years earlier than it otherwise could have happened.
The GOP’s Health Policy Cynics
Although cynics may claim conservative credentials, their view of government is really nothing more than a quarrel about its cost. It brings to mind Oscar Wilde’s immortal phrase, “The cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Calorie Labeling For Restaurants Recommendations Coming Soon
The health law directs the FDA this month to issue proposed rules for restaurants and other food vendors to begin providing calorie-count information.
Ignoring Political Risk, Ryan Renews Push For Medicare Vouchers
Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says he will include “aggressive” changes to Medicare in his upcoming budget proposal.
How Much Will Federal Health Law Cost States? Depends Whom You Ask
A raft of studies have come out recently purporting to say how much the health overhaul will cost states. And they reach dramatically different conclusions on the subject.
Health On The Hill: GOP Governors Seek To Modify Medicaid Programs
Republican governors are asking Washington for more flexibility regarding how they run their Medicaid programs, saying that Washington puts too many restraints on states.
A Message To Health Law Critics: It’s Not About A Lack Of Flexibility
What truly undermines the arguments offered by conservative critics is their lack of workable alternative ideas that would achieve the health insurance coverage expansion goals set by the health law.
Miss. Gov. Barbour: ‘We Shouldn’t Have To Kowtow’ To Feds On Medicaid Rules
Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., renewed GOP calls for block grants to states to pay for Medicaid costs.
Obama Rejects Governors’ Plan to Overhaul Medicaid
The recession-fueled state budget crisis has turned Medicaid into the next battleground in the ongoing war over President Obama’s signature health care reform law.
Insurance Trade-Off: Reducing Premiums By Eliminating Expensive Doctors, Hospitals
Some insurers are offering consumers a hefty break if they pay more out-of-pocket when they use certain high-cost providers in their network or are cutting the providers from the coverage.
Govs vs. Feds: Who Will Play The ‘Power Card’ In The Medicaid Struggle?
Medicaid is the rope in the current tug of war between the states and the federal government over health reform. So far, the feds think they are winning. But don’t discount the governors.
