Kaiser Health News

Requirements for consumer health-insurance summaries unveiled

The Obama administration has unveiled final regulations detailing the new summaries that the 2010 federal health law requires health insurance plans to give to consumers to help them make informed coverage choices. » read more

Posted on Fri, February 10, 2012

Many states aren't ready for looming health law changes

The 2010 health law's biggest changes don't take effect until 2014, when states and insurers must be ready to begin signing up an estimated 32 million people in Medicaid and private insurance. But a successful rollout in two years hinges on crucial decisions that states must make — and take quick action on — this year. » read more

Posted on Wed, February 1, 2012

States will get socked with new Medicaid tax under health law

Under the health care overhaul, the federal government will start taxing itself and the states beginning in 2014. And that's giving state Medicaid directors heartburn. » read more

Posted on Wed, February 1, 2012

In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system pares religious ties

Catholic Healthcare West, one of the nation’s largest hospital systems, is ending its governing board’s affiliation with the Catholic Church and changing its name, two steps intended to help the system expand throughout the states in which it operates _ California, Arizona and Nevada _ and beyond. » read more

Posted on Mon, January 23, 2012

Despite new mandate, it's not easy to change medical practices

More than two years ago, studies found that injecting medical cement into compression fractures of the spine produced no better pain relief than "sham" injections. Yet doctors continue to perform the $5,000-plus procedure and most insurers, including Medicare, still cover it. » read more

Posted on Mon, January 16, 2012

Company accused of ripping off Medicare hospice benefits

national hospice company improperly cycled patients through nursing homes and hospices with a goal of making as much profit as possible from Medicare, according to a whistleblower lawsuit announced this week. » read more

Posted on Thu, January 5, 2012

2.5 million young adults have added health coverage, U.S. says

An estimated 2.5 million young adults have gained health insurance coverage since the 2010 health care law took effect, according to a new government survey — a finding the Obama administration is embracing as it continues efforts to communicate the health's law's benefits, even as the public's opinion about the law remains mixed. » read more

Posted on Wed, December 14, 2011

ABOUT THIS SECTION

Kaiser and McClatchy

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nonprofit news organization committed to in-depth coverage of health care policy and politics. Kaiser Health News is funded by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-profit private operating foundation based in Menlo Park, Calif., which is dedicated to producing and communicating the best possible analysis and information on health issues.


KHN’s editors decide what stories its staff will cover, and McClatchy editors independently decide which of those stories will appear on the McClatchyDC Web site. KHN stories also may be distributed to other news organizations.


KHN's editors include Laurie McGinley, the executive editor for news, who spent 27 years at the Wall Street Journal; Peggy Girshman, executive editor for online, who was a former managing editor of National Public Radio and former executive editor at Congressional Quarterly, and John Fairhall, senior editor, who was a reporter and editor at the Baltimore Sun for 27 years.


Read more about KHN, its staff and its advisory board here.


The Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit private foundation that focuses on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. It was founded in 1948 by industrialist Henry John Kaiser, whose businesses included Kaiser Aluminum and Kaiser Steel and who created Kaiser Permanente to provide health care for his workers and their families.


After Henry Kaiser died in 1967, his conglomerate broke up, and the Foundation, which had been a beneficiary of the shares, sold its stock, divesting itself completely by 1985. Neither KHN nor the Foundation has any association with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries. Family members who remained active with the foundation do not hold seats on the board of either Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.


Read more about the Kaiser Family Foundation here.


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