Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Law’s Medicaid Expansion, Employer Coverage Requirements Drawing Expert Analysis
At a meeting this week, some state Medicaid directors expressed concern that their programs will not be able to handle the scheduled 2014 surge in enrollment because of challenges like outdated technology and the uncertainty of what will happen with the Supreme Court and November elections. Meanwhile, a committee of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners will offer recommendations on how to close a potential loophole in the law’s employer coverage requirements.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the latest health policy developments on Capitol Hill and news on the health insurance marketplace.
Medical Device Tax Repeal Gains Ground
But the measure’s supporters have not yet identified how they would make up for the lost revenue.
Report: Health Care Costs Expected To Increase 7.5 Percent In 2013
This projection is more than three times that of the expected rates for inflation and economic growth, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Still, it’s the fourth year in which the cost increase is less than 8 percent.
WHO Hopes To Host Second Meeting On Issues Related To ‘Dual-Use’ Research
“The World Health Organization (WHO) hopes to hold a meeting late this fall to discuss ‘dual-use’ research issues raised in the controversy over publication of two studies involving lab-modified H5N1 viruses with increased transmissibility, a WHO official said,” CIDRAP News reports. “The WHO hosted a closed meeting of disease experts and government officials Feb 16 and 17 to discuss the two H5N1 studies,” CIDRAP notes, adding that “the WHO [on Wednesday] released a brief statement about its activities related to the H5N1 research controversy since the February meeting in Geneva.” Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general for health security and environment, said, “We hope to hold a second meeting to discuss the broader concerns related to potential dual [use] research in the late fall, if resources are available,” the news service notes.
“In a newly released clinical study, conducted in India” and published in the Lancet on Thursday, “hundreds of seriously ill infants who received zinc — an essential micronutrient for the immune system and human growth — as well as antibiotics, responded better and more quickly to treatment than those who did not,” IRIN reports, adding, “This finding is the first proof that zinc supplements may boost infant survival from infections.” According to the news service, “More than 300 infants no older than 120 days (four months), hospitalized in New Delhi, the capital, for suspected meningitis (an infection of the brain or spinal cord lining), pneumonia (a lung infection) or sepsis (blood poisoning), were given zinc in addition to antibiotics” and “were found to be 40 percent less likely to experience ‘treatment failure’ — needing a second antibiotic within one week of the first treatment, or intensive care or death within 21 days — than those given a placebo.”
Health Law Jobs, Cost Controls And The Mandate Play In Minds Of State Leaders
Health law issues are reverberating as state officials consider what the law means for them — especially if it stands after a Supreme Court review.
Ill., Providence, R.I., Make Deals To Save Money On Retiree Pensions, Health Care
Officials report accords with public employees restricting pension increases in order to keep the programs solvent. Both deals also involve changes to retiree health care programs.
Medi-Cal Enrollees Have More Trouble Finding Docs Than People With Other Plans
In other Medicaid news: In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber has convinced the federal government that he has a way to make Medicaid treatment better, and Georgia faces risks as it moves all of its Medicaid patients to managed care.
Mass. House Avoids Major Changes In Cost Containment Bill Update
The Massachusetts House has revised its health care cost containment bill, leaving several provisions intact — including one directing the industry to cut spending growth in half by 2016.
Planned Parenthood Targets Romney With New TV Ad
An ad buy in Florida, Iowa, Virginia and D.C. was announced at the same time the organization’s action fund endorsed President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, the Boston Globe reports that the Obama campaign will increase its focus on GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts record.
Poll: A Third Of Women Fear Efforts To Control Reproductive Rights
According to a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than four in 10 women have taken action in response to recent dustups on women’s reproductive health issues.
Feds Announce Effort To Slash Use Of Antipsychotics In Nursing Homes
An estimated 40 percent of nursing home residents with dementia receive the drugs, which are approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
State Roundup: Judge Rejects Calif. Request To End Oversight Of Prison Health Care
A selection of health policy news from California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin and Texas.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., who convened the hearing, questioned whether thousands of Minnesotans who trusted their health records to Minnesota’s Fairview and North Memorial hospitals, suffered privacy breaches. The hearing follows an investigation by Minnesota’s attorney general into the relationship between Accretive Health and Fairview.
Health Savings Account Membership More Than Doubled Since 2008
The number of consumers signed up for high deductible health plans increased 18 percent in 2011, according to an annual census by the health insurance industry’s trade group.
Medicare Official Sees Medicare Advantage Enrollment Continuing To Grow
Jonathan Blum, the deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the director of the Center for Medicare, said he expects enrollment to increase at double-digit rates.
Longer Looks: The Cost Of Dying; Insuring Fertility
This week’s selections include articles from Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, Time, The Economist and Salon.
House Set To Vote On Bill Banning Sex-Selection Abortions
The legislation would make it a federal crime to carry out an abortion based on the gender of the fetus. Anti-abortion advocates say the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., got the vote scheduled “as a concession” for agreeing not to try to attach it to the Violence Against Women Act.
