Latest KFF Health News Stories
Study Says Mass. Health Reform Not A Budget Hardship
A study from the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation says that the commonwealth’s health law has amounted to only a small increase in spending on health care. In the meantime, some struggling municipalities in Massachusetts have opted out of a new law that reduces local government’s share of health care costs for employees.
‘Starvation Protocol’ Guidelines Would Help India’s Hunger Problem
In the final article of a six-part series titled “Starving in India” in the Wall Street Journal’s “India Real Time” blog, series author Ashwin Parulkar of the Centre for Equity Studies writes that the research conducted for the articles shows “that India needs a new legal framework for dealing with chronic hunger and starvation.” He notes that “[t]he draft version of the National Food Security Bill that is being considered by India’s Parliament would guarantee discounted food-grains to 50 percent of the urban population and 75 percent of the rural population.” While “[m]uch of the debate on the measure has been over its cost and scope, … my biggest problem with the bill is the way it deals with starvation,” leaving it up to state governments to identify starving individuals and provide them with two meals a day for six months, Parulkar writes.
Medicaid News: Neb.’s Prenatal Care Flap; Texas’ ‘Ticking Time Bomb’
A selection of Medicaid news from Texas, Nebraska, Missouri and Arizona.
New Deadline For Medicare EHR Bonus Appeals
Medscape reports on a deadline extension for physicians who believe they deserve a Medicare bonus for adopting electronic health records. And, in an interview, Medscape explores how medical technology is changing the practice of medicine.
Politics In Play As April Marks The End Of The Texas Women’s Health Program
Texas’ fight with the federal government over funding for its Texas Women’s Health Program, which will end this month and leave 130,000 low-income women paying for their own birth control or going without it, must include a discussion of politics — even for the judges considering the case, The Associated Press reports.
Consumers Face Difficulties In Getting Health Care Price Lists
News outlets report on how the health care system sometimes adds to consumers’ difficulties.
Viewpoints: The Missing Debate On Women; The True Cost Of Care; Fair Wages For Home Health Aides
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
HHS Report Finds Nursing Homes Not Prepared For Natural Disasters
The authors suggest that the federal government mandate better planning. At the same time, many nursing home officials are arguing that as the economy improves, states should increase their funding of Medicaid.
Health News From The Campaign Trail
News outlets offer a fact check on how some health issues are being characterized in the presidential contest, as well as a report about an attack on the health law in what The Associated Press terms “bizarre videos.”
Feds Ask Court To ‘Force’ J&J Executive To Testify In Lawsuit Alleging Kickbacks And Medicaid Fraud
Reuters reports that the Department of Justice filed papers last week noting that Johnson & Johnson’s Alex Grosky has “relevant knowledge” regarding the marketing of Risperdal.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about what the future might look like when Medicare doctors’ pay will be tied to quality and cost of care, as well as how consumer advocates are anxious about a key aspect of the health law.
Critics Say Proposed Rule Would Make Millions Ineligible For Health Insurance Subsidies
The policy would have the greatest impact on women and children.
Medicare To Tie Doctors’ Pay To Quality, Cost Of Care
A little-noticed provision of the health law calls for increasing reimbursements to doctors who provide quality care at lower cost and reducing payments to physicians who run up costs without better results.
Obama, Romney Advisers Trade Barbs On Priorities
GOP consultant Ed Gillesie says job creation is needed while Democrat David Axelrod says Republican budget cuts will hit safety net programs such as Medicaid.
Contraception, Medicare, Medicaid Hot-Button Topics In Stump Speeches
Political news coverage included a fact check of a Mitt Romney claim and more on the stay-at-home mom controversy.
Nursing Aides Receive New Worker Protections
Think dangerous jobs, and a police officer entering a dark hallway or a firefighter running into a burning building might come to mind. But even more risky? Nursing aides, who have an occupation with the nation’s second highest rate of work-related injuries or illness. Nursing aides and other health care workers can slip or fall or strain […]
Report: Mass. Health Law No ‘Budget Buster’
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation finds that the state spends $91 million more per year, or 1.4 percent of the state budget, for near-universal health insurance coverage. “That’s a very tiny additional cost to taxpayers for huge benefits,” says MTF President Michael Widmer.
Diagnosing Autism In Minutes; Finding New Uses For Old Drugs
Every week, Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. Time: Can Autism Really Be Diagnosed In Minutes? Autism is an extremely complex diagnosis. Parental insight, physician observations and hours of data can factor into determining whether a child actually has the condition or is just a little on the […]
Nursing Aides Receive New Worker Protections
Nursing aides have the nation’s second highest rate of work-related injuries or illness. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration wants to do something to make the job safer.
Politico Pro Examines Reaction To Melinda Gates’s TEDxChange Speech On Family Planning
Politico Pro examines the reaction to a speech delivered by Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, at a TEDxChange conference in Berlin on April 5. “Gates’s speech was primarily focused on explaining why family planning is important in the developing world,” according to the news service. Gates said lack of access to modern contraceptives is “a life and death crisis” because with family planning, the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children could be saved annually, the news service notes. “But multiple global health experts heard her comments as an intentional effort to push back on the politicization of birth control in the United States following the Obama administration’s new contraception coverage policy, which they fear could spill over into global health policy,” the news service writes. However, “Gates Foundation spokesman Chris Williams said Gates was simply reiterating her long-standing support for family planning and that viewing these remarks in light of domestic politics would be ‘using the wrong lens,'” the article notes.