Latest KFF Health News Stories
Open Insurance Season May Bring Sticker Shock
Workers are likely to see increases in premiums, deductibles and co-payments, as well as changes in dependent coverage and wellness options.
Health On The Hill – October 11, 2010
The Department of Health and Human Services has granted approximately 30 waivers to employers, insurers and unions that will allow them to offer limited benefit, or “mini-med,” health insurance plans.
Health Care Interests Push To Make ACOs Pay Off For Them
From medical device makers to pharmacists to labor unions, a host of organizations want to ensure that accountable care organizations expand their business and influence.
Are ‘Mini-Med’ Plan Waivers A Good Idea?
Mark Rukavina of The Access Project and Neil Trautwein of the National Retail Federation discuss the Obama administration’s relaxation of the health law’s requirements for insurance plans for some employers.
Health Care: Run On It or Against It?
Republicans think they have a winning issue in health care reform, calling for its repeal and slamming the new law as big government gone haywire-even before most of its provisions have taken effect. A new poll suggests it’s not so clear-cut, and some Democrats seem to agree.
Health Reform Facing Early Legal Tests
A number of interest groups, state officials and ordinary citizens are seeking to have the health care law struck down in federal court, and action is heating up this week.
Reminding Ourselves What Has Gone Right With The Health Law
It will take years to make the law’s most important changes. But by the time they are in place, if all goes well, most Americans truly will be better off. The early stages are encouraging.
Feds Reassure Hospitals, Doctors On Cooperation Through ACOs
The agencies that oversee doctors and hospitals promised they will give unified guidance on how medical providers can form “accountable care organizations” without violating antitrust regulations. ACOs are a key part of the new health law.
Health Care Reform: Prove it Works and CMS Will Pay
When it comes to Medicare, where it is everybody’s money and overpriced technologies are a significant factor undermining the senior citizen health care program’s long-term financial viability, paying for products that don’t deliver better is out.
New Laws Expand Mental Health Coverage
Insurance coverage of mental illness and addiction problems often is skimpier than for physical illness. But that is changing with the mental health parity law that took effect earlier this year and the new health overhaul.
Nurses’ Push For Bigger Role Gets Powerful Ally
An Institute of Medicine report says nurses should take on a larger role in providing health care and calls for removal of government restrictions, which doctors have repeatedly opposed.
Health Care Providers, Insurers: Accountable Care Organizations Bring Legal Worries
The Obama administration has touted ACOs as a key way that the new health law will help providers work more closely together to lower health costs and improve patient care. But doctors and hospitals are worried about inadvertently violating antitrust and anti-fraud laws. Insurers fear the new doctor-hospital entities could boost health care prices. Industry and government officials are meeting Tuesday to deal with the concerns.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – October 4, 2010
As the November elections near, more Democrats appear to be campaigning on the health care law, touting a package of consumer protections that went into effect for plan years starting after Sept. 23.
Health On The Hill – October 4, 2010
As the November elections near, more Democrats appear to be campaigning on the health care law, touting a package of consumer protections that went into effect for plan years starting after Sept. 23.
Medical Loss Ratio Rule Should Encourage Health Care Fraud Fighting
While the federal government is investing heavily in anti-fraud efforts, private insurers should be given incentives to do the same.
Health Insurance Prices, Restrictions Now On Federal Consumer Website
Healthcare.gov, the website created by the new health law to be a one-stop consumer resource, today unveiled detailed cost and benefits information about health plans available in the individual insurance market.
The NAIC’s Effort To Find Balance In Its Medical Loss Ratio Regulation
The development of this draft rule is not a contest with winners and losers, but an effort to create a framework to press insurers to spend less money on bureaucracy and more on health care in a way that benefits consumers and keeps insurance markets viable.
Wall Street Comes To Washington, And, Gasp, Health Care Consensus Ensues
Financial and health policy analysts who gathered for the 15th annual Wall Street Comes to Washington Conference reached a surprising meeting of the minds on the new health care law.
New ‘Innovation’ Chief Comes From ‘Model’ Health Care System
Dr. Richard Gilfillan, the new acting director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, has quite a juggling act to perform.
Civil War? Maine, Florida Medical Associations Battling Over AMA Role In Health Reform
The Florida Medical Association’s controversial decision to express a lack of confidence in the American Medical Association is drawing criticism from its northern counterpart in Maine, which is urging support of AMA leaders.
