Latest KFF Health News Stories
High Court Ruling Could Have ‘Unintended Consequences’ For Medicare Payments
The Associated Press reports that a high court decision to strike down the health law could be disruptive to Medicare’s payment systems.
Reuters Profiles GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley
Reuters profiles GAVI Alliance CEO Seth Berkley, recounting his childhood and early career, providing a brief history of GAVI since its inception in 2000, and discussing Berkley’s goals and vision for the alliance. “Berkley’s specialism is vaccinology and he is in Africa again, working to introduce routine childhood immunizations which protect most people in the rich world,” the news service writes, adding, “His interim goal with GAVI is to save another four million lives by 2015, and his big mission is for the global health community to get vaccines against every preventable disease to every child who needs protecting” (Kelland, 5/2).
Women’s Health, Health Law Issues Heating Up Campaigns
News outlets examine how women’s health issues and the health law are affecting the presidential race as well as specific campaigns for Senate, congressional and state races.
State Roundup: Pittsburgh Insurer, Hospital Extend Contract Despite Ongoing Fight
News outlets report on a variety of health policy issues in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania.
State Governments Wrestle With Medicaid Expenses, Lawsuits
Officials reckon with health care costs in the context of budget dilemmas in Illinois, Kentucky, Connecticut, Alabama and Wisconsin.
In Global Study, U.S. Ranks Very Low In Preventing Premature Births
A World Health Organization/United Nations/March of Dimes report ranks countries on their premature birth rates.
TRICARE Fees, CBO Numbers Draw Scrutiny
Politico reports that the House Armed Services Committee is preparing to take on defense spending issues — including TRICARE fee increases. The Fiscal Times reports that questions about Congressional Budget Office analyses are coming from both sides of the political spectrum.
Study Confirms U.S. Health Spending Far Outpaces Other Industrialized Nations
According to The Commonwealth Fund, the U.S. spends more than 12 other industrialized countries, but the care here is not necessarily better.
Can Doctors In Small Practices Catch A Break On Meaningful Use Requirements?
MedPage Today reports that a House subcommittee chair is asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to except doctors in small practices from certain requriements.
A selection of editorials and opinons on health policy from around the country.
Accretive Health Says Minnesota Attorney General Misled Public, Acted In Bad Faith
The Chicago-based company says last week’s report by the Minnesota Attorney General did harm, and that the company will seek legal remedies.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report exploring how the Medicare payment system could suffer unintended consequences if the Supreme Court overturns the health law.
Report: U.S. Has Comparatively High Rate Of Babies Born Early
The United States has a higher rate of babies born too early
Questions Raised Over U.K. DfID Funding And Sterilization In India
A Wall Street Journal editorial addresses reports published on April 14 in the Guardian alleging that the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) funded a program in India that “has ‘forcibly sterilized Indian women and men’ — a practice India supposedly left behind in the 1970s,” the editorial states. “DfID issued a statement objecting to the Guardian’s report, saying that its funding was not meant to be going to ‘sterilization’ centers, only to helping ‘women access a mix of reversible methods of family planning,’ such as contraceptive pills, and to ‘improve the quality of services,'” the editorial writes, adding, “DfID says it has also offered technical support to help Indian authorities crack down on forced sterilization.” According to the Wall Street Journal, “A DfID official, who declined to be named, clarified to us that the national Indian program funded by British taxpayers does include voluntary sterilization, but that sterilization specifically is ‘not part of what we fund,'” and “[h]e added that DfID will end its support for the national Indian program next year and will focus family-planning aid only on state governments in India’s poorest regions” (5/1).
Costly Heart Procedures Thrive In Some Places, Michigan Study Finds
Why do some doctors keep doing expensive medical procedures after it becomes apparent there are cheaper and equally safe ways to treat patients? A new study takes a crack at this question and it has some interesting findings.
Administration Gives Community Health Centers A $728M Boost
The administration noted that patient rolls have swelled at the centers as more Americans lost their jobs and health insurance. The White House said 20 million Americans – up from 17 million four years ago – now receive care at the federally funded facilities.
Congress Wrangling Over CHIP, Mandatory Medicare Cuts
On Capitol Hill, Republicans are charging that the health law is encouraging businesses to drop coverage and politicians prepare for the next fight on some of the law’s provisions.
A second federal judge in Texas issued an injunction allowing Texas to exclude Planned Parenthood from Texas’ Women’s Health Program — for now — a day after another judge in Texas had ruled the state couldn’t bar the group from the health program.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
Global Fund Completes Reorganization Of Workforce, Tightens Focus To 20 ‘High-Impact Countries’
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria “is cutting its workforce and tightening its focus on 20 countries hardest hit by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,” Reuters reports. Gabriel Jaramillo, who took over as general manager of the fund in February, “said in a statement that the fund had completed a reorganization that would rebalance its workforce with 39 percent more people managing grants and 38 percent fewer in support roles,” the news service notes.
