Latest KFF Health News Stories
Obama, Romney Camps Tussling Over Women’s Vote
Democrats are pointing to the health law (including its contraceptive coverage) while Republicans are playing up their solutions to fix the economy.
Arizona Gets OK To Expand Health Coverage To Kids
Nearly 22,000 poor kids in Arizona will gain health insurance coverage under a Medicaid deal the state has reached with the Obama administration, federal officials said Friday. The agreement lets Arizona use a combination of county dollars, money from the University of Arizona Health System and a small amount of state money gained from Indian gaming operations to draw down […]
Obama Ties Women’s Economic Future To Health Law
President Barack Obama brought together Friday two of his biggest campaign issues, health care and the economy, in an appeal to women voters, who have favored the president over GOP rivals in recent polls. During remarks at a White House forum on women and the economy, Obama described how provisions of the 2010 health law […]
Berwick Calls For Leaders To Rise Above ‘Political Catechism’
Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. Rolling Stone: Don Berwick On The Fate Of ‘Obamacare’ Between July 2010 and December 2011, Dr. Donald Berwick was head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that runs the government’s health insurance programs. In a sane world, he would […]
Today’s Headlines – April 6, 2012
Good morning, and happy Friday. Hope you have a great weekend, but first, here are your morning headlines: The New York Times: Administration Concedes Courts’ Review Power The Obama administration stipulated the incontestable to a disgruntled federal court on Thursday, formally declaring that “the power of the courts to review the constitutionality of legislation is […]
Health Care Hiring Boom Projected To Continue, Regardless Of Law
Health-care employment will continue to grow much faster than employment generally, with the number of jobs in home care and other ambulatory settings projected to jump more than 40 percent by 2020, a new study suggests. New figures from the Labor Department highlight an expected hiring shift away from hospitals, as the system puts greater emphasis on preventive […]
State Roundup: Health Costs Cloud Budget Forecasts; Minn. To Use HMO Refund On Personal Care
A selection of state health policy stories from across the country.
Recognizing U.S. Contributions To Zambia’s Fight Against Malaria
In this Washington Post opinion piece, columnist Michael Gerson examines anti-malaria efforts in Zambia, writing, “Zambia has been the main test case for anti-malaria efforts during the last several years — a focus of funding by the U.S. government, the [Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation] and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.” He continues, “Now the Anglican Church, international aid groups and philanthropists … are attempting to fill remaining gaps in bednet coverage in remote border areas.”
No One Funding Model Is Sufficient To Ensure Availability Of Lifesaving Drugs
“Trade deals are threatening generic drugs — we need new ways to incentivize affordable drug development,” Daniele Dionisio, head of the research project Geopolitics, Public Health and Access to Medicines (GESPAM) and a member of the European Parliament Working Group on Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty-Related Diseases, writes in this SciDev.Net opinion piece. “Just under three billion people live on less than $2 per day, in resource-limited countries where key medicines protected by patents are unaffordable,” he writes, adding, “Free-trade deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, and governments adopting intellectual property (IP) policies that favor the brand pharmaceutical sector are also threatening the trade of legitimate generic medicines.”
Obama And Romney Campaigns Assail The Other’s Budget Plans
Each casts the other’s plans for entitlement programs, such as Medicare, as dangerous.
Delegates At 126th IPU Assembly In Uganda Focus On Child, Maternal Health
“Over 600 parliamentarians from more than 100 countries” met in Kampala, Uganda, this week for the 126th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, where participants discussed child and maternal health and nutrition, UNICEF reports in a news article. Speaking at the opening session, UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said, “The damage [malnutrition] causes to a child’s development is irreversible. … I can’t think of any greater inequity than condemning children, while in the womb, to a loss of their ability, of their right, to live fully
Advice For Getting Coverage For An ER Visit; Accessing Lab Results
In health care marketplace news, outlets examine coverage for emergency room visits and patients’ efforts to get direct lab reports. Also, a new study finds that the health care workforce is continuing to grow.
Md. Passes Health Exchange Legislation; Ore., Mass. Prepare Their Own Reforms
Maryland is moving aggressively to implement health reform as it passes legislation creating health insurance exchanges. In other news, Oregon and Massachusetts officials make plans to overhaul their state-based health care systems, and Washington state’s attorney general is talking positively about the law’s Medicaid expansion after previously criticizing it.
Study Shows Artemisinin-Resistant Malaria Parasite Spreading Along Thai-Myanmar Border
A strain of malaria that is resistant to artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) is spreading along the Thai-Myanmar border and has the potential to spread to Africa if efforts to effectively treat and prevent the disease are not undertaken, according to a study published in the Lancet on Friday, Reuters reports (Lyn, 4/5). Since 2008, patients treated with ACT have been slower to clear the parasite than previously, “[a]nd this precursor to resistance seems to be spreading, despite efforts to carefully use artemisinin (by giving it in combination with other drugs) to avoid the emergence of resistance,” Scientific American writes.
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones used authority, granted under a year-old state law, to call out the rates as unreasonable. In Arizona, Maricopa County raised premiums on hundreds of county workers who either failed a saliva testing for nicotine or refused to take it.
Advisory Panel Urges New Fee On Medigap Plans, Cap On Out-Of-Pocket Costs
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission made recommendations to Congress for changes to the program. It’s not clear if Congress will accept the proposals.
IPS Examines Promotion Of Women’s Rights, Health Through Development Aid
Inter Press Service examines how “[m]any NGOs, U.N. agencies and parliamentarians continue to call on governments around the world to do more for women’s reproductive rights” through development assistance. The article highlights remarks made by Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at a conference on development aid held in Paris this week, where she said development aid that benefits women can help “a society to grow and develop” and eventually allow nations to become less dependent on aid.
FEWS Network Warns Of ‘Significantly Below Average’ Rainfall During Horn Of Africa Growing Season
“Rain may be ‘significantly’ below average in the Horn of Africa’s main growing season, potentially threatening a region still recovering from famine in 2011, the Famine Early Warning Systems [FEWS] network reported” in a statement (.pdf) on its website on Tuesday, Bloomberg writes. “Rain from March through May in the region, which includes Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, is expected to begin late and amount to only 60 percent to 85 percent of average, the U.S.-funded provider of food-security warnings” said in the statement, according to Bloomberg (Ruitenberg, 4/4). “The report warned of ‘significant impacts on crop production, pasture regeneration, and the replenishment of water resources’ in a region that in 2011 suffered one of its worst drought-related food crises in decades,” IRIN reports (4/5).
Gingrich’s Health Care Consulting Firm Declares Bankruptcy
GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s health care consulting company filed for bankruptcy Thursday. The Center for Health Transformation charged up to $200,000 annually to drugmakers, insurers and hospitals for Gingrich’s advice and may have suffered after he stepped down to seek the GOP nomination for president, reports say.
The Mississippi bill, which would require doctors working at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges to a local hospital, passed the House last month and is expected to be signed by the governor. Meanwhile, 32 Republican lawmakers in Arizona received knitted uteruses as part of a national protest against government regulation of women’s health.