Latest KFF Health News Stories
Minnesota Medicaid HMOs Refund $73M To State, Feds
Four big Minnesota managed-care plans will repay state and federal taxpayers an estimated $73 million as part of a deal the HMOs made with Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration last year.
Today’s Headlines – April 4, 2012
Good morning! Here are your early a.m. headlines to get your day started: The New York Times: Obama, In Talk, Calls House GOP Budget The Work Of Rightist Radicals President Obama opened a full-frontal assault on Tuesday on the federal budget adopted by House Republicans, condemning it as a “Trojan horse” that would greatly deepen […]
President Lashes Out At GOP Budget, Medicare Plan
In a Tuesday speech billed by many as a preview of the Obama reelection campaign’s favorite themes, President Barack Obama blasted the treatment of Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlement programs by the Republicans and warned that their spending blueprint is a form of “Social Darwinism.”
GOP Plans For Health Law Replacement; Obama Softens Court Rhetoric
Republican lawmakers say they are beginning to pull together a health care package that could replace the 2010 law if the Supreme Court overturns it.
A selection of editorials and opinions about health care policy from around the country.
Hearing Date Set For Injunction Request On Express Scripts-Medco Merger
The hearing, which involves an effort by the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the National Community Pharmacists Association and independent pharmaciesto undo the merger deal, will be held on April 10.
Hospital News: Officials Plan New Building In Colo.; Mich. Facility Is Shutting Down
Denver hospital officials plan an expansion, a Michigan hospital says it’s shutting down, and in Massachusetts, Steward Health Care plans to buy a hospital.
WellPoint CEO’s Compensation Slid In 2011
As the health insurer’s earnings decreased in the face of losses to its Medicare Advantage plans, its CEO Angela Braly received less in compensation, The Associated Press reports.
Catholic University Ends Birth Control Coverage
A Catholic University in Ohio ends its health plan coverage of birth control, and Texas is planning to apply for federal block grants to free up money to use on its Women’s Health Program, which is closing.
Health Plan Settles Fla. Lawsuits; Minn. HMOs Return $73M To State, Feds
In Florida, a health plan in Tampa will pay $137.5 million to settle lawsuits over Medicare and Medicaid claims, while Earvin “Magic” Johnson plans to invest in a new HIV plan there. In Minnesota, the federal government and the state will split $73 million nonprofit HMOs are returning while other Minnesota health plans profits jump 21 percent.
State Roundup: Feds Deny Hawaii Medicaid Hospital Limit
A selection of state health policy stories from Hawaii, Arizona, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Oregon and New York.
Physician Groups Identify Unnecessary Procedures
The list of 45 tests and procedures was pulled together by nine medical speciality groups to help reduce spending and improve patients’ health.
Quantifying The Health Law’s Medicaid Expansion
The Fiscal Times estimates that the health law’s Medicaid expansion which will offer government coverage to about 15 million low-wage workers and their families.
Federal Court Judge Takes Umbrage At Obama’s Remarks On Judicial Activism
The judge ordered the Justice Department to explain whether Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. believes federal judges have the authority to strike down federal law.
More Must Be Done To Increase Access To Family Planning Services For Women In Rural Areas
“If family planning services, including information about reproductive health, access to birth control, and health care, were available to all women, the deaths of 100,000 women during childbirth could be prevented every year,” Maeve Shearlaw, policy and advocacy coordinator for the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, writes in this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog. “In other words, access to family planning saves lives,” she writes, adding, “Clearly, more must be done to reach women in rural areas and to increase demand in places where women don’t even know about family planning methods. It is also important to focus on girls and young women, who are more at risk of losing their lives in childbirth — yet simultaneously much less able to reach family planning services” (4/2).
Video: Santorum Still Swinging At Romney About Health Care Record
After his primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, Mitt Romney attacked President Obama on a variety of social and economic issues, briefly mentioning health care. Meanwhile, challenger Rick Santorum went after Romney by reprising his theme that the former Massachusetts governor would be a weak candidate against Obama on health care.
Study Tracking Progress In Maternal, Child Health Highlights Inequities In Intervention Coverage
According to a study published in the Lancet on Saturday, researchers from the University of Pelotas in Brazil tracking progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 — which promote maternal and child health — “discovered that the most equitable intervention was early initiation of breast feeding, and that the attendance of a skilled person at birth proved to be the least equitable intervention,” Medical News Today reports. “The findings furthermore revealed that community-based interventions were more equally distributed in comparison with those delivered in health facilities,” MNT writes, noting that the “most inequitable countries of the evaluated interventions were Chad, Ethiopia, Laos, Nigeria, Niger and Somalia, followed by India, Madagascar and Pakistan, with the most equitable countries being Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan” (Rattue, 4/2).
National Program In Mauritania Working To End FGM, IPS Reports
“A multi-pronged strategy to end female genital mutilation [FGM] in Mauritania is making gradual progress, though campaigners acknowledge much remains to be done in a country where more than two-thirds of girls suffer excision,” Inter Press Service reports. “The national program, supported by several development partners, includes lobbying for the adoption of a law criminalizing excision, raising awareness of a fatwa (a religious notice) forbidding excision, and the setting up of regional offices to monitor the practice,” according to the news service.
TB Survivors Speak At USAID World TB Day Event
The Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog summarizes an event hosted by USAID in late March to commemorate World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The blog includes “brief profiles and pictures of some of the survivors featured in the event ‘Voices of TB.'” Andre Gariseb of Namibia, who was cured of TB in 2009, said at the event, “[TB] is a battle for everybody
Jakarta Globe Examines Maternal Mortality In Indonesia
The Jakarta Globe examines maternal mortality in Indonesia, writing, “Indonesia may be progressing slowly and steadily toward fulfilling its targets under the Millennium Development Goals, but the issue of maternal health continues to present many challenges.” According to the newspaper, “Government statistics show that the maternal mortality rate [has] declined,” but “a report last week by health officials in Bali has highlighted a worrying reversal, with the provincial maternal mortality rate increasing from 58 per 100,000 in 2010 to 84 last year.”