Health On The Hill: GOP Governors Seek To Modify Medicaid Programs
Republican governors are asking Washington for more flexibility regarding how they run their Medicaid programs, saying that Washington puts too many restraints on states.
All Coverage
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Ariz. Medicaid Cuts Spur Debate Over Impact On Providers
Doctors and hospitals raise concerns that reducing eligibility may spur ER crowding and premium increases, but experience in Missouri shows less dire consequences.
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Opinion Column
A Message To Health Law Critics: It’s Not About A Lack Of Flexibility
What truly undermines the arguments offered by conservative critics is their lack of workable alternative ideas that would achieve the health insurance coverage expansion goals set by the health law.
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Miss. Gov. Barbour: ‘We Shouldn’t Have To Kowtow’ To Feds On Medicaid Rules
Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., renewed GOP calls for block grants to states to pay for Medicaid costs.
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Obama Rejects Governors’ Plan to Overhaul Medicaid
The recession-fueled state budget crisis has turned Medicaid into the next battleground in the ongoing war over President Obama’s signature health care reform law.
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Insurance Trade-Off: Reducing Premiums By Eliminating Expensive Doctors, Hospitals
Some insurers are offering consumers a hefty break if they pay more out-of-pocket when they use certain high-cost providers in their network or are cutting the providers from the coverage.
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Helping Patients Understand Their Medical Treatment
Consumers are increasingly expected to manage their complex regimens but that is especially challenging for those who don’t have the ability to comprehend health information.
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Obama To Governors: Opt Out of Health Law If You Can Do Better
President Obama offered governors a smaller concession to health spending flexibility than they expected by endorsing a bipartisan proposal to allow states to opt out of most of last year’s health law’s requirements.
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Opinion Column
Govs vs. Feds: Who Will Play The ‘Power Card’ In The Medicaid Struggle?
Medicaid is the rope in the current tug of war between the states and the federal government over health reform. So far, the feds think they are winning. But don’t discount the governors.
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Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers: ‘We All Ran On Repealing” Health Law
Supported by the tea party, Renee Ellmers pulled an upset victory over the Democratic incumbent in North Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District last fall. As a nurse married to a physician, Ellmers says her own experience has convinced her that health care “is a personal responsibility” and the only way to bring down high health insurance costs is for government to step aside and let the private market work better. Rep. Ellmers was interviewed in her office on Capitol Hill by Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy.
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A New Nurse In The House: The KHN Interview With Rep. Renee Ellmers
N.C. Republican, with 20 years of health care experience, says Democrats’ health law is “overstepping, unconstitutional and extremely costly.”
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Governors’ Wish List For Medicaid
A sampling of Medicaid changes some state chief executives would advance if they were given more flexibility from the federal government. This issue is likely to be a hot topic this weekend as the governors convene in Washington, D.C. for their winter meeting.
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Wisconsin Union Battle Masks Medicaid Tensions
Democrats say Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to tackle a two-year $3.6 billion deficit by making speedy changes in health care programs needs wider scrutiny.
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HHS To Governors: You Have Flexibility On Health Reform Implementation
Federal officials are trying to soothe deficit-saddled governors headed for their winter meeting in Washington D.C.
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Regulators Penalize Some Maryland Hospitals For Complication Rates
A Maryland program to curb hospital infection rates is showing signs of success, but nine hospitals still fell short last year and were penalized a total of $2.1 million.
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When Care Is Split Between Medicare And Medicaid: KHN Interview With Melanie Bella
Melanie Bella heads the new federal office that seeks to help people whose coverage is often fragmented because they qualify for both programs and to save the government money by streamlining that coverage.
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Many Americans Incorrectly Believe Health Law Has Been Repealed
Nearly a year after passage of the health care overhaul law, barely half of Americans know the law remains intact, a Kaiser Family Foundation poll shows.
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Opinion Column
Medical Liability Reform Should Be Real And Effective
As Congress wrestles with medical liability reform, more than 40 years of experience with California’s cap on non-economic damages offers evidence that this approach is an effective way to achieve the goal of reducing health care costs while preserving sufficient deterrence in the legal system.
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Opinion Column
After The Deluge: Health Reform Without An Individual Mandate
As challenges to the health law’s individual mandate wind their way through the courts, it is important to focus on the real question: what happens to the health law if this provision is ultimately struck down?
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Judges Reviewing Health Law Say Penalty Is Not A Tax
Congress took great pains to ensure that the penalty imposed on people who don’t get health insurance was not called a tax in the health law. This could make it tough for the Justice Department to argue that it is a tax.
