Aug 04 Are health care costs skyrocketing, or not? It depends on who you ask By Jay Hancock, Kaiser Health News Analysts who fear health spending is accelerating got plenty of evidence in Wall Street's second-quarter results to support their thesis. But so did folks who hope spending is still under control. Now everybody's trying to sort out the mixed message. Continue reading
Aug 04 Some doctors unhappy with lower-paying marketplace health care plans By Jeff Cohen, WNPR "I cannot accept a plan [in which] potentially commercial-type reimbursement rates were now going to be reimbursed at Medicare rates,” Gerard says. “You have to maintain a certain mix in private practice between the low reimbursers and the high reimbursers… Continue reading
Jul 28 Marketplace shoppers discover new health plans have many limitations By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News Nationally, regulators and insurance agents are inundated with complaints, while state lawmakers are considering rules to ensure consumers’ access to doctors. For 2015 plans which will be on sale beginning in November, the federal Department of Health and Human Services… Continue reading
Jul 15 How will your healthcare change after the recent rulings on contraceptives? By Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News All FDA-approved methods of birth control are considered preventive care, and the health law requires nearly all health plans sold on the individual and group markets to cover preventive care without any out-of-pocket cost to consumers. The Supreme Court decision… Continue reading
Jul 07 Senate Democrats sidestep ‘Obamacare’ on the campaign trail By Charles Babington, Associated Press For Republicans, the Senate race is all about tying Democrats to Obama — especially to a health care law that remains unpopular with many Americans. And for Democrats, the election is about just about anything else, especially if they can… Continue reading
Jul 04 More than half of privately insured women get free birth control By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press Recent data from the IMS Institute document a sharp change during 2013. The share of privately insured women who got their birth control pills without a copayment jumped to 56 percent, from 14 percent in 2012. The law's requirement that… Continue reading
Jun 30 Hobby Lobby decision won’t change many state laws that require contraception coverage By Julie Rovner, KFF Health News More than half the states have “contraceptive equity” laws on the books that require most employers whose health insurance covers prescription drugs to also cover FDA-approved contraceptives as part of that package. Unlike the ACA, those laws do not require… Continue reading
Jun 30 How Democrats are trying to turn the Hobby Lobby loss into a political win By Domenico Montanaro There is no question that Monday’s Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision is a blow to the Obama administration and the Affordable Care Act. But while conservatives celebrate the narrow 5-4 decision striking down the law’s contraception mandate for “closely held”… Continue reading
Jun 30 Many hospitals struggle to understand their own cost data By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News “To think that health care is this ‘ginormous’ business that doesn’t understand costs is mind-blowing,” said Vivian Lee, senior vice president for health sciences at the University of Utah, an academic medical center with four hospitals and 1,330 physicians. In… Continue reading
Jun 16 Many new patients overwhelmed by health care jargon By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News Health officials have spent much of the past year promoting the Affordable Care Act and enrolling people in coverage. Now they need to help consumers understand the basics of health insurance and how to use their policies, health care providers… Continue reading