Latest KFF Health News Stories
States’ Efforts To Change Health System Take On New Significance
With the federal health law’s fate being considered by the Supreme Court, states are reviewing plans and changes they have made to implement the national overhaul.
Post-Supreme Court, Political Debate On Health Law Heats Up
Just a few days after the Supreme Court’s marathon consideration of the health law, news coverage centered around political ramifications.
Today’s Headlines – March 30, 2012
Good morning and an especially happy Friday to you! The health law’s week at the Supreme Court is over, but we still have some headlines for you to catch up on all the analysis: The Washington Post: The Supreme Court Will Decide On The Health-Care Law Soon. It Will Tell You Later. If the usual […]
House OKs Ryan Budget — With Medicare Changes; Entitlement Program Cuts
The budget blueprint, advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., is unlikely to gain passage in the Senate but will be a key marker in the upcoming election season.
Justices Hold First Vote Today On Health Law’s Fate
If past practice holds, the Supreme Court will meet privately today to cast a preliminary vote. No one else will be present, and drafts of opinions are likely to be written and rewritten many times in the next few months before the actual decision is issued, likely sometime in June.
Perspectives: All This Fuss About The Word ‘Tax’; Civic Lessons From The Supreme Court
Commentators offer further thoughts about the Supreme Court’s review of the health law.
High Court’s Health Law Consideration Has Political Repercussions
The pending ruling could be a stamp of “repudiation or endorsement” during the upcoming election season. But, if the court overturns the health law, will the GOP be prepared to turn the decision into political victory and could that outcome have a “silver lining” for the Obama administration?
The Republican National Committee uses audio from Supreme Court oral arguments to craft a campaign ad criticizing President Barack Obama and the health law. Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has had a health law strategy of its own in place.
Autism Rate Soars To 1 in 88 Children
The number of children with autism in America has climbed 23 percent in the last two years, but the increase could be partially attributable to better diagnoses, officials say.
Economics Lessons For The Court: Broccoli Isn’t The Same As Health Care
Several opinion writers offer insurance primers for the justices.
Viewpoints: Ryan’s Budget Called ‘Cruel’ Or ‘Sophisticated’
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
Ariz. Hospitals Drop Medicaid Cuts Lawsuit; Fla. Gov. Signs Controversial Medicaid Bill
Both states have news happening in their Medicaid programs.
Insurers, Employers React To Idea Of A Health Law Without An Individual Mandate
Insurers’ “worst nightmare” is that the Supreme Court would overturn the health law’s insurance requirement but leave the rest of the overhaul intact. Employers are being advised to continue working toward meeting the law’s deadlines.
Course Of State Implementation Efforts Unchanged By High Court’s Review
Politico reports that state plans appear unchanged by this week’s events. Those that were moving ahead at full speed will likely continue to do so. Those who were taking a go-slow approach have no need to change strategies now. But for Massachusetts, the justices’ questions regarding the individual mandate have triggered concerns that the challenges to the federal law could spur similar efforts at the state level.
State Roundup: Texas, Minn. Scrutinize Psychiatric Care
A selection of health policy news from Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Texas and Kansas.
Contemplating The Options: What Will Become Of The Health Law?
With the Supreme Court arguments complete, media outlets consider the various scenarios that could play out, and the complications that could arise. To quote the Tom Petty song: “The waiting is the hardest part.”
U.S. Suspends Resumed Food Aid To North Korea
“The United States has suspended planned food aid to North Korea as Pyongyang vows to push ahead with a plan to launch a long-range missile in defiance of international warnings, U.S. military officials said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports (Eckert, 3/29). “Under a deal reached last month, North Korea agreed to a partial nuclear freeze and a moratorium on missile testing in return for U.S. food aid,” but “Pyongyang then announced it would use a long-range rocket to launch a satellite,” VOA’s “Breaking News” blog writes (3/28). Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense Peter Lavoy on Wednesday “told lawmakers North Korea had violated [the] moratorium agreement and could not be trusted to deliver the aid properly,” BBC News writes (3/28). The aid package, containing 240,000 tons of food and nutritional products, “was expected to target the most needy in North Korea — including malnourished young children and pregnant women,” VOA News notes (Ide, 3/28).
Study Examines TB Services In Prisons In Countries Receiving Global Fund Grants
According to a study recently published in a special supplement of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, half of countries receiving grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria provide tuberculosis (TB) services in prisons; “even when TB services were provided to prisoners, they were limited in scope; and “[f]ew of the programs receiving a grant from the Global Fund offered services dedicated to the treatment and prevention of multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB),” an aidsmap news story reports. TB is a leading cause of death among incarcerated individuals worldwide, aidsmap notes. The study authors concluded, “There is an urgent need to better understand the financing needs and cost-effective service delivery models for tuberculosis care in prisons,” according to the story (Carter, 3/30).
U.S. Releases Policy Requiring Dual-Use Biological Research Reviews Amid Bird Flu Debate
“The U.S. government [on Thursday] released a new policy [.pdf] that will require federal agencies to systematically review the potential risks associated with federally funded studies involving 15 ‘high consequence’ pathogens and toxins, including the H5N1 avian influenza virus,” Science Insider reports. “The reviews are designed to reduce the risks associated with ‘dual use research of concern’ (DURC) that could be used for good or evil,” the news service writes (Malakoff, 3/29).
Development Spending In Health Sector Can Lead To Improvements In Other Basic Services
Global health expert Jim Yong Kim, the U.S. nominee to the World Bank presidency, “is attracting criticism from those worried about the ‘healthization’ of the development field,” Amanda Glassman, director of global health policy and a research fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD), writes in this post in the center’s “Global Health Policy” blog. Glassman describes the differences between development aid aimed at improving health versus other basic services such as water, sanitation, roads, justice, education, electricity, and lays out several points supporting her position that spending in the health sector leads to improvements in other economic arenas. “‘[H]ealthization’ can’t fairly be characterized as just charity and expansive spending, a marginal field of endeavor not related to the core business,” she writes, adding, “Instead, better health and nutrition are major players in the development story, and the field has lots to offer the broader enterprise” (3/28).