This email contains the latest from Kaiser Health News about insurance, coverage and health care costs. To view all KHN resources on these topics, visit the Insurance or Health Costs news pages.

Covered California Health Plan Rates To Jump 13.2 Percent In 2017
By Chad Terhune and Pauline Bartolone
A double-digit increase, which follows two years of moderate rate hikes, is likely to resonate across the country in the debate over Obamacare.

What Do Covered California’s Big Rate Hikes Mean For You?
By Emily Bazar
We answer some key questions to help consumers make sense of the news about large premium increases in the state’s Obamacare exchange.

Seven Remaining Obamacare Co-Ops Prepare Survival Strategies
By Phil Galewitz
Two-thirds of the federally funded co-ops created by the health law to sell health insurance to individuals and small employers have folded and those that remain are diversifying to stay alive.

Inaccurate Provider Lists A Major Barrier To Care, Study Finds
By Emily Bazar
Research published in Health Affairs shows that new patients were able to get an appointment with a primary care doctor less than 30 percent of the time.

If You Want To Spend A Bundle On Your Bundle Of Joy, Go To Northern California
By Jenny Gold
A new study shows that Sacramento and San Francisco are the two most expensive places to give birth among the nation’s 30 largest metropolitan areas. One possible reason: consolidation of hospitals and doctors.

Young Adults Can Face Challenges To Health Enrollment
By Michelle Andrews
Even as the administration focuses on getting more young adults into marketplace coverage, many enrollment specialists say that this group has some difficulty transitioning from family plans or Medicaid.

Catastrophic Insurance Could Help With Long-Term Care Expenses: Studies
By Michelle Andrews
Urban Institute researchers examine how such a plan could work and whether it would be better to make payments when people first need care or after they have used up much of their own money instead.

Colon Cancer Screening: Five Things To Know
By Julie Appleby
The U.S Preventive Services Task Force recently expanded the list of approved colorectal cancer screening tests. Here’s a primer on these various tests and how they might be covered now and in the future by health insurance.

Boeing Contracts Directly With California Health System For Employee Benefits
By Chad Terhune
Aerospace giant’s Southern California employees will have access to MemorialCare’s network of hospitals and clinics, in addition to UC Irvine Health and other providers.

Customers’ Pot Smoking May Not Be A Deal Breaker For Life Insurers
By Michelle Andrews
A survey of officials at life insurance companies finds that many factor in marijuana use when considering coverage, but they are often concerned about the frequency of use.

Sounds Like A Good Idea? Selling Insurance Across State Lines
By Julie Rovner and Francis Ying
Republicans have long touted a proposal to allow insurers to sell across state lines as a way to help keep coverage costs down. But there are some significant obstacles to making such a system work, as this video points out.

Free Clinics Expanding Mission To Help Insured Patients With High Expenses
By Michelle Andrews
Although many people thought the federal health law would nip the need for free clinics, they are still booming.

Rise In Oncologists Working For Hospitals Spurs Higher Chemo Costs: Study
By Michelle Andrews
Researchers found that the facility fees hospitals and their clinics routinely add to the bill helps drive the price increases.

California Insurance Marketplace Imposes New Quality, Cost Conditions On Plans
By Ana B. Ibarra and David Gorn
In a sweeping overhaul of its contracts, the state’s insurance exchange will require health plans to hold doctors and hospitals accountable for quality and cost.

Prices And Health Care Quality: Many Consumers Don’t See A Link
By Michelle Andrews
A study in the journal Health Affairs found a majority of people don’t associate price and quality in health care services.

By Not Discussing Cost Issues, Doctors, Patients May Miss Chances To Lower Out-Of-Pocket Expenses
By Shefali Luthra
A study published in Health Affairs examines how physician-patient interactions often present missed opportunities to control patients’ health care spending.

Mortgages For Expensive Health Care? Some Experts Think It Can Work.
By Michelle Andrews
An MIT economist and Harvard oncologist propose offering loans to patients to cover the cost of expensive, curative drugs, financed by private sector investment in loan securities.