Latest KFF Health News Stories
What’s In A Name: Health Exchanges, Marketplaces … Or Swap Meets
If a Medicare staff recommendation is approved, health insurance exchanges may be up for a rebranding.
House Passes Cuts To Health Care, Other Programs To Protect Pentagon Funding
The Senate is not expected to approve the measure, which is designed to counter the automatic cuts mandated by last summer’s debt-ceiling deal.
Former CMS Chiefs: Medicare SGR Problem Can Be Fixed
The Senate Finance Committee convened a group of former Medicare administrators Thursday — Gail Wilensky, Bruce Vladeck, Thomas Scully and Mark McClellan — to discuss how they viewed the current crisis on physician fees and the Sustainable Growth Rate formula, the “doc fix” problem.
Reassessing McAllen’s Health Bill
Remember McAllen? It’s the Texas border town that during the health care debate became synonymous with wasteful medical spending. Even Barack Obama was talking about it. In part because of McAllen’s bad reputation, based on studies by the Dartmouth Atlas, Congress ended up instructing Medicare to start rewarding hospitals that provide care efficiently — and taking […]
Letters To The Editor: Readers’ Thoughts On Observational Care, Virtual Doctors, And More
Letters to the Editor is a periodic KHN feature.
Today’s Headlines – May 10, 2012
Today’s headlines detail the fight at the Capitol over the budget and what automatic cuts could mean if allowed to take effect next year. NPR: House To Vote On GOP Bill Favoring Guns Over Butter Republicans who control the House want to block some $55 billion worth of automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget next […]
Study: Privately Insured Kids Get More Care In ED
Emergency departments are required to treat everyone who comes through the doors, but that doesn’t mean they treat everyone the same way. Insurance coverage may play a major role in the kind of care a young patient receives, according to a study published in the most recent edition of The Journal of Pediatrics. Children with […]
House Vote Likely Today On GOP Budget Plan
House Republicans want to stave off $55 billion in automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget by paring back key provisions of the health law and cutting Medicaid and other safety net programs, restarting an emotional debate about the nation’s spending priorities.
House Lawmaker Offers Amendment To Block DOJ From Defending Health Law
Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., has offered this amendment to the appropriations bill that provides funding to the Department of Justice and other agencies. It’s part of the GOP’s ongoing effort to target the health law. Also, during a House hearing, Republicans questioned spending levels at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Republican Govs Like Insurance Exchanges But Skewer ‘Obamacare’
Many governors find themselves in an awkward spot since opposing the health care law is GOP orthodoxy. In the meantime, Iowa lawmakers approved a bill requiring licensure of advisers who help people navigate health insurance options.
Medicaid: Bidding Lawsuit In Mo.; Conn. Raises Adult Qualification Bar
States deal with Medicaid issues, including illegal transportation of poor children to Medicaid services in Texas and a lawsuit challenging bidding rules in Missouri. In Connecticut, lawmakers have raised the bar for low-income adults to qualify for the program.
Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, South African Embassy Host Panel On NTD Control
On Tuesday, “the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases [NTDs], in partnership with the Embassy of South Africa, hosted a panel called ‘Integrated Approaches to Health and Development through NTD Control,'” according to the network’s “End the Neglect” blog. “The Global Network’s managing director, Dr. Neeraj Mistry, moderated the panel and hopes the discussion will improve awareness of and support for solutions to NTDs, diseases that have often been ‘hidden in the shadows,'” the blog writes, noting panelists included Peter Hotez, president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute; Jennifer Kates, vice president and director of global health and HIV policy at Kaiser Family Foundation; and Ok Pannenborg, former chief health adviser for the World Bank Group (Garlow, 5/9).
This Mother’s Day, Ensure Babies Everywhere Are Born Free Of HIV
Ahead of Mother’s Day on May 13, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe writes in this post in the Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood” blog, “Together we can go from 390,000 children becoming infected with HIV each year to zero,” and he highlights “three simple things we can all do to ensure babies everywhere can be born free from HIV.”
For solutions to help end avoidable child deaths, “government and development sector leaders should heed the lessons of a massive-yet-innovative program” in Bangladesh, called SHOUHARDO, a Bangla word for “friendship,” “that is not only helping children … reach their fifth birthdays but also ensuring they grow healthier, and in many cases, taller,” Faheem Khan of CARE Bangladesh, who heads the SHOUHARDO program, writes in this Christian Science Monitor opinion piece. The first phase of the program, which is run by CARE, USAID, and the government of Bangladesh, was implemented from 2004 to 2010 and “represented the largest non-emergency USAID food security program in the world,” Khan writes.
Ariz., Iowa Republicans Tweak Abortion, Contraception Bills
GOP legislators have backed down from some of the anti-abortion and anti-contraception coverage measures they wanted.
Nepalese Government Launches ‘Ambitious’ Plan To End Malaria, IRIN Reports
“The Nepalese government has launched an ambitious plan to curb the spread of malaria in high-risk parts of the country, where some 3,000 people were infected last year,” IRIN reports. Through the program, which began on May 1 and “is the first nationwide push to end malaria,” the “health ministry will distribute [anti-malarial] drugs at their local offices, and through their representatives in rural areas,” IRIN writes. The news service notes, “Nepal is still considered one of the most malaria-prone countries in Asia, even though the ministry is using a 1994 study, which showed that 20 million of the country’s 30 million people were at risk.”
Experts Discuss U.S. International Food Aid Programs At Kansas City Conference
Kansas City’s KCUR 89.3 FM reports on the 2012 International Food Aid & Development Conference, where experts gathered this week to discuss food aid programs. The news service writes, “The challenge for governments, aid agencies and recipient countries is to create a collaborative food aid system that accommodates both the needs of the U.S. agriculture industry and growing food insecurity among a mushrooming population,” and quotes a number of experts who spoke at the event.
Drug Manufacturers Draw Attention For Politics And Pain Killers
Politico examines the relationship between industry-group PhRMA and congressional Republicans in the post-health-reform-debate landscape. Meanwhile, in the Senate, some lawmakers are investigating the relationship between drug manufacturers and the medical groups as well as the physicians who advocate using certain narcotic painkillers.
Accretive Lowers Forecast, Promises To Release Its Own Report On Minn. Probe
The billing and collection company has denied allegations by the Minnesota attorney general that it used overly agressive tactics on patients.
State Roundup: Ill. House Wants State Retirees To Pay Part Of Their Health Care
News organizations report on state health care policy issues in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon.