Latest KFF Health News Stories
Errors Can Turn Affordable Care Benefits To Customer Torment
Pairing federal payments with private insurance brings benefits to many but creates dueling bureaucracies for some customers caught between them.
Health Law Brings No Drop In Insurance Enrollment At Work, Study Finds
A survey by benefits consultant Mercer finds that most large employers already met the law’s requirement to provide coverage to those who work 30 hours or more.
Most Americans Unaware Obamacare Subsidies Are At Risk
When informed about the challenge before the high court, about two-thirds said that lawmakers should restore subsidies if the justices strike them down.
Most N.Y. Marketplace Plans Lack Any Coverage For Out-Of-Network Care
Except for a few insurers in Albany and the western part of the state, all the policies sold in the individual market are HMOs that will not pay anything toward routine expenses from doctors or hospitals not in their networks.
Rural Hospitals, One Of The Cornerstones Of Small Town Life, Face Increasing Pressure
For people in Mount Vernon, Texas, the loss of their hospital means longer trips for treatment and uncertainty when a medical crisis hits.
HHS: Health Law Has Helped Insure 16.4 Million
The percentage of people without health insurance has dropped about a third since 2012, to 13.2 percent, according to federal officials.
Inviting Patients To Help Decide Their Own Treatment
At UC San Francisco and other hospitals and clinics around the nation, “shared decision making” programs encourage doctors and patients to work together in making tough choices about care.
Health Coverage In Limbo For Many Small-Business Employees
About a half-million Washingtonians get health insurance through associations or trusts. But the future of such plans is under review by state regulators, and so far many of the plans have been rejected.
Missouri Gov. Endorses Work Requirement As Part Of Medicaid Expansion Plan
Despite the Democrat’s embrace of a work requirement for the first time, the plan got a hostile reaction from some GOP lawmakers.
In Florida, 93 Percent Of Enrollees Get Financial Help For Obamacare
Florida and Mississippi had the highest percentage of enrollees receiving a tax credit to help them pay premiums.
Republican Lawmakers Sink Montana Governor’s Medicaid Expansion Plan
A House committee gives the bill a “do not pass” recommendation, which effectively kills Democrats’ efforts to get it on the House floor. A Republican counter-proposal that includes premiums and co-payments for Medicaid enrollees may come out of the state Senate.
Pa. Medicaid Expansion Switch To Be Done By September
The switch from the previous governor’s privatized Medicaid expansion alternative to Gov. Tom Wolf’s traditional plan will take several months because of IT issues.
Hundreds Of Hospitals Struggle To Improve Patient Satisfaction
Pleasing patients has become more important to hospitals as Medicare takes consumers views into account when setting payments. Most hospitals are getting better, but others have not improved since the government started publishing ratings six years ago.
The Boss May Be Able To Force You To Buy Company Insurance
Employment experts say firms can require workers to take the coverage that is offered.
Obamacare, Private Medicare Plans Must Keep Updated Doctor Directories In 2016
New federal rules requiring current information apply to insurers selling plans on healthcare.gov and the private policies that are an alternative to Medicare.
Slightly More Latinos and African Americans Sign Up On California Exchange
About 37 percent of subsidized Covered California enrollees are Latino, up six points compared with last year, and about 4 percent are African American, up one point.
Surprises And Standing: Breaking Down Today’s Supreme Court Arguments
Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments Wednesday in a case challenging some of the health law’s insurance subsidies, but not before considering whether the plaintiffs had standing in the case. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Julie Rovner discuss surprises from the hearing.
Health Law Arguments Offer Few Clues About Supreme Court Decision
After hearing arguments Wednesday from both sides of a case challenging the health law’s subsidies to help people buy health coverage on federal exchanges, Supreme Court justices offered little insight into how they will rule.
Justices Raise Questions About Federal-State Balance, Plaintiffs’ Standing
Oral arguments in King v. Burwell, the challenge to the health law’s insurance subsidies, were completed this morning.
No Medicaid Expansion? No Problem For Many Safety-Net Hospital Profits
In some of the largest states that did not expand Medicaid, many safety-net hospitals turned in strong performances in 2014, according to financial documents.
