Latest KFF Health News Stories
Obama To Meet Tuesday With Insurance Executives
The President will also discuss the health law’s new benefits, cost savings.
Transcript: Health On The Hill
The Senate has passed a six-month payment increase for Medicare physicians but it is unclear if the House will pass that measure.
Health On The Hill – June 21, 2010
The Senate has passed a six-month payment increase for Medicare physicians but it is unclear if the House will pass that measure.
After a five-day legislative saga, Senate Democrats were unable to pass a tax extender bill that included provisions to prevent a 21 percent reduction in physicians’ Medicare payments and to extend enhanced federal Medicaid funding. But after a compromise with the GOP, the Senate passed just a Medicare pay fix.
Feds To States: Set Up Health Insurance Pools For High-Risk Patients By July 1
The federal government is giving states until June 25 to say how they intend to run high-risk pools to insure people who have been denied coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition and have been uninsured for at least six months.
Market-Based Reform Initiatives Are Key To Health Law Success
Consumer-directed health plans have been useful in controlling the rise of health costs over the last several years, but the survival of these plans is threatened by the new health overhaul law.
Health On The Hill – June 15, 2010
The Senate is debating ways to reverse a 21 percent cut in Medicare physician payments that began on June 1. The legislation would also include additional Medicaid money for states.
Cheers, Jeers For New Federal Rules On Changes In Health Benefits
A new Obama administration regulation lays out how employers and insurers can revise their health plans
Both Parties Try To Score Points Off Health Care Law
The overall health care plan remains unpopular, and Republicans are campaigning on a promise to repeal the law and replace it with something less costly. But when it comes to repeal – well, Democrats think that could help them, too.
Medicare Advantage: You Get What You Pay For
In the long run, there’s no getting around the fact that Advantage plans will shrink in generosity and availability. Anything else would defy a fundamental law of economics that also happens to be a fundamental law of politics: you get what you pay for. And that might not be a bad thing.
Administration officials tout the Medicare drug rebate as an early and tangible benefit of health reform while Senate Democrats continue trying to advance a legislative package that includes the Medicare physician payment fix and, potentially, an extension of enhanced Medicaid funding for states.
What’s Next? Reporting On Health Reform Between Now and 2014
Now that health reform is law, reporters covering this topic are shifting from political angles to the issues and questions surrounding how the law is implemented. This briefing for reporters discussed story ideas and approaches for reporting on health reform going forward.
Controversy erupted this week after the director of the Congressional Budget Office said the new health overhaul law won’t significantly reduce government speding on health care and a New York Times story critiqued Dartmouth research on health spending.
What The New Health Law Means For You
The law will extend health insurance to 32 million currently uninsured Americans by 2019, and will also have an impact on how nearly every American buys insurance and what insurance must cover.
Transcript: Health On The Hill – June 1, 2010
Bowing to pressure from Democratic fiscal conservatives, House Democratic leaders scaled back health-related provisions in tax extenders legislation the House passed before beginning its Memorial Day recess.
Health On The Hill – June 1, 2010
Bowing to pressure from Democratic fiscal conservatives, House Democratic leaders scaled back health-related provisions in tax extenders legislation the House passed before beginning its Memorial Day recess.
Insurance Industry Faces Tough Scrutiny From Federal Watchdogs
A foursome of longtime industry watchdogs are helping steer the federal government’s effort to overhaul the private insurance market. Karen Pollitz, Steve Larsen, Jay Angoff and Richard Popper have top spots in the newly minted Office of Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight.
Week In Review: Doctor Payment Fight; State Budgets And Medicaid; Medicare Brochure Protests
Challenges from conservative Democrats forced party leaders this week to cut some major spending programs, such as extending COBRA benefits for workers being laid off and providing extra money to state Medicaid programs.
Full Text Of HHS’ Controversial Brochure, “Medicare and the New Health Care Law”
The federal government sent a brochure to more than 40 million Medicare beneficiaries, “Medicare and the New Health Care Law – What It Means for You,” which is generating political controversy.
Sebelius To Employers: Cover Young Adults Now
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said federal officials are urging self-insured employers to keep young adults up to age 26 on their parents’ health plans before the deadline under the new health overhaul law. Self-insured employers, who pay the medical bills of millions of Americans, in many cases could wait until January to comply with the law.
