Latest KFF Health News Stories
Government Of Sweden Announces Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy For HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health
The government of Sweden on Monday announced “a regional strategy for regional efforts to combat HIV/AIDS and address sexual and reproductive health” in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a press release from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. “The strategy also contains guidelines detailing how Sweden will contribute to improving sexual and reproductive health and efforts to improve human rights for homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people” in the region, the press release states. The Swedish government is allocating SEK 700 million ($104 million) for 2012 to 2013 toward the strategy, according to the press release (4/2).
After armed groups in the north of Mali “ransacked government offices, hospitals, hotels, private property as well as the offices and warehouses of aid groups” over the weekend, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) “suspended some activities in the northern and central regions of Mali,” according to a WFP spokesperson, AlertNet reports. “Tuareg-led rebels seeking to carve out an independent state in the north of Mali, and local Islamists, seized the garrison town of Gao, the ancient trading post of Timbuktu and the town of Kidal over the weekend,” the news service writes.
U.N. Reports Increase In Cholera Cases In Haiti As Rains Begin
In a monthly bulletin (.pdf) on the humanitarian response in Haiti, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that an increase of new cholera cases has been recorded in the western and northern parts of the country and “that Haitian health officials recorded 77 new cases a day for the whole country in early March, when the rains began,” the Associated Press/USA Today reports. “The new cholera cases come after a steady decline since June of last year when aid workers saw peaks of more than 1,000 cases on certain days,” the news agency writes.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that President Barak Obama went on attack against GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and the Republican budget blueprint; that a federal court judge asked for clarifications regarding Obama’s comment on judicial activism and the high court’s consideration of the health law; as well as reports that doctors are stepping into the effort to curb unnecessary medical treatments.
Physicians Wade Into Efforts To Curb Unnecessary Treatments
Nine groups list 45 practices they say are overused and may harm patients.
Hospitals Urge Peers To Ditch Fast Food, Turn Down The Lights
Eleven of the nation’s largest hospital systems –including Kaiser Permanente, HCA Healthcare and Boston-based Partners HealthCare — today called on their industry to be better environmental stewards. The Healthier Hospitals Initiative challenges hospitals to reduce energy use and waste, purchase environmentally friendlier products and serve healthier foods. The effort is as much about reducing health risks and environmental […]
Video: Obama Blasts GOP Medicare, Medicaid Plans
President Barack Obama today attacked the Republican 2013 budget as a “Trojan horse” and “thinly veiled social Darwinism” — and defended the constitutionality of the health law. Watch excerpts from the speech.
Feds Reject Hawaii’s 10-Day Medicaid Hospital Limit
Updated at 4:15 p.m. The Obama administration has rejected Hawaii’s proposal to limit most adult Medicaid recipients to 10 days of hospital coverage per year, which would have been the strictest in the nation. Instead, Hawaii has been approved to implement a 30-day hospital coverage limit starting July 1, state and federal health officials say. […]
Obama Attacks GOP Budget On Medicare Changes, Entitlement Spending Cuts
In what has been described as a searing speech, President Barack Obama charged that the GOP budget would end Medicare “as we know it,” and included GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in his criticisms. KHN is following the news coverage of the speech.
Revamping Medicare: A Guide To The Proposals, Politics And Timeline
Competing ideas and election-year politics will thwart major legislation in 2012, but look for budgetary action at year’s end.
Today’s Headlines – April 3, 2012
Good morning! Here’s what the health policy news looks like this morning: The Associated Press/Washington Post: Obama Calls House GOP Budget Plan A Trojan Horse For ‘Radical’ Change Obama, in a speech to newspaper executives, is sharply criticizing a $3.5 trillion budget proposal pushed by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., which passed on a near-party-line vote […]
Obama Confident The Health Law Will Be Upheld
In his first public comments about the law since last week’s Supreme Court oral arguments, President Barack Obama not only defended the measure and maintained confidence that it would not be overturned, but he also offered warnings against judicial activism.
Health Law Action At The High Court Takes A Political Toll
Findings from a new poll indicate that the public felt less favorable about both the health law and the Supreme Court after last week’s oral arguments.
FTC Blocks Ohio Hospital Merger; Kan. Mental Hospital’s ‘Poor Working Conditions’
A summary of hospital news from Kansas, California, Wisconsin and Ohio.
Norway Study Raises New U.S. Mammogram Overdiagnosis Questions
An analysis showing significant mammogram overdiagnosis in Norway has raised new questions about mammograms in the U.S., where some say the overdiagnosis problem could be more rampant because of how early most women begin getting them.
FTC Approval Of Express Scripts-Medco Merger Triggers New Battlegrounds
Drug stores and community pharmacists have pledged to fight on in the courts, but some consumer advocates see a silver lining in the merger.
Health Care Issues Among Women Voters Fueling Obama Lead On Romney
A new poll finds that President Obama leads GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney among women in 12 swing states — a finding fueled mostly by health care, the top issue for women, according to the poll.
Measuring Health County-By-County
Wondering how your county measures up on health? The 2012 County Health Rankings are out this week from the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The rankings assess the health of nearly every county in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and they allow you to compare […]
The New York Times reports on how these diffences in opinion on regulatory policies have played out.
Blues Insurers Win Antitrust Case In Mich., See Profits Increase 20% In Minn.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Michigan won a hospital pricing antitrust case. In Minnesota, nonprofit insurer UCare readies to return $8 million to the state, while Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota’s profit rose 20 percent in 2011.