All Coverage
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Health On The Hill: Congress Returning, Seeking Consensus On ‘Super Committee’
With the summer recess ending, Jackie Judd talks to KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey about the staffing and makeup of the deficit panel and what to expect in the coming months. The “super committee” may take a closer look reining Medicare costs in through reforming Medigap plans and provider payments to cut the deficit.
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Texas Nursing Homes Brace for Higher Costs, Sicker Patients
Nursing homes were spared the draconian cuts proposed by lawmakers at the beginning of the 2011 legislative session. Still, despite growing caseloads and rising medical costs, they move forward with less state and federal support.
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Changes To Medigap Plans Meet Resistance
Health law proposed revisions to help save Medicare money but group of insurance experts studying the issue is raising concerns.
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Q&A: Can I Request An Autopsy For A Loved One?
Michelle Andrews, KHN’s “Insuring Your Health” columnist, answers a question from a reader on what she can do after a doctor refused to authorize an autopsy for her mother-in-law.
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Seeking To Save Money, Calif. Ending Adult Day Health Care Program
The state has said its decision to eliminate adult day health care services as a Medi-Cal benefit — essentially shuttering ADHC centers and moving beneficiaries into managed care — is a cost-saving move. But there are questions about how much money it actually will save.
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Insurers See Growing Risks As Well As Revenues In Medicaid Managed Care
At least 20 states are expanding their Medicaid managed-care programs in an effort to contain health spending and prepare for a huge expansion of the program beginning in 2014.
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Massachusetts Unions Shape Compromise For State’s Municipal Health Insurance Law
A coaltion of Massachusetts public employee unions recognized that municipal health care costs were a problem and engaged with other stakeholders in the effort to develop a solution. In the end, nobody got they wanted and that’s what a genuine compromise looks like.
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Different Takes: Mass. Cities And Towns, Public Employees Find Hard-Fought Compromise On Municipal Health Care Costs
These local jurisdictions, in the face of serious budget constraints, have repeatedly pushed for legal relief that would enable them to decrease the burden of public employees’ and retirees’ health benefit costs. Meanwhile, public employee unions have battled to protect what they believe their members have earned through their collective bargaining rights. In this state-policy drama, key players managed to come to a compromise that neither side loves, but both view as a solution.
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Reasonable Reform Trumps In Massachusetts
Earlier this summer, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed a new law reforming the way that cities and towns design health insurance plans for their employees. As local governments across the country continue to confront the harsh political and fiscal issues of spiraling employee and retiree health costs, the story of how this law came to be is worth examining.
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