For the patient, it was a quick and inexpensive virtual appointment. Why it cost 10 times what she expected became a mystery.
Category: Insurance
In New Year, All Immigrants in California May Qualify for Medicaid Regardless of Legal Status
In the new year, California’s Medicaid program will open to otherwise eligible immigrants ages 26 to 49 without legal residency. They will join children, young adults, and adults over 50 enrolled in Medi-Cal through previous expansions to residents lacking authorization. The change is expected to add over 700,000 first-time enrollees.
Dodging the Medicare Enrollment Deadline Can Be Costly
As open enrollment ends, many people are tuning out. They could wind up with a surprise next year: higher costs and less access to health care providers.
Biden Wants States to Ensure Obamacare Plans Cover Enough Doctors and Hospitals
The regulatory proposal was announced Nov. 15 and is likely one of the last major ACA policy efforts of the president’s first term.
Readers Slam Hospital Monopolies and Blame the Feds for Understaffed Nursing Homes
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
California’s Ambitious Medicaid Experiment Gets Tripped Up in Implementation
The health care insurers, nonprofit organizations, and other groups responsible for implementing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plan to infuse Medicaid with social services say their ability to serve vulnerable, low-income Californians is hamstrung.
KFF Health News’ ‘What the Health?’: Trump Puts Obamacare Repeal Back on Agenda
Although Republicans have never united behind a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, 2024 GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said this week he wants to put the issue back on the national agenda. That delights Democrats, who have won at least two elections partly by defending the now-popular health law. Meanwhile, the Texas Supreme Court takes up a case brought by women who say their pregnancy complications further endangered their health due to the vagueness of Texas’ near-total ban on abortions. Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Victoria Knight of Axios News join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Rachana Pradhan, who reported and wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature.
An Arm and a Leg: To Get Health Insurance, This Couple Made a Movie
On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” hear how a couple wrote and directed a short film, starring one of them — just to maintain health insurance through the actors union.
Uncle Sam Wants You … to Help Stop Insurers’ Bogus Medicare Advantage Sales Tactics
The Biden administration wants to crack down on deceptive or misleading Medicare Advantage and drug plan sales tactics. It’s counting on beneficiaries to help catch offenders.
Medicare Advantage Increasingly Popular With Seniors — But Not Hospitals and Doctors
Some hospitals and physician groups are rejecting Medicare Advantage plans over payment rates and coverage restrictions, causing turmoil for patients.
