Latest KFF Health News Stories
Funders Should Follow Lead Of U.S. In Creating Policies For Scientific Research Oversight
“[T]he controversy over the research into the genetic modification of the H5N1 flu virus, finally approved for publication, should offer a reminder of the importance of debate” over dual-use technology, a Nature editorial states. “[D]ual-use basic research is a special case because its implications, for good and bad, are often viewed with the greatest clarity by only a small minority of people,” and often only “[t]he scientists involved (and they are increasingly specialists in very small fields) … can fully understand the risks posed by a line of research,” according to the editorial. “There are disadvantages to leaving it up to outsiders to initiate debate about risks, benefits and ethics,” the editorials states, noting three disadvantages, including the risk of misconceptions and a lack of knowledge about how to handle some research.
Congressional Panel Grills Minn. Official Over Possible Medicaid Overpayments
The state’s commissioner for human services was called on to answer questions about why Minnesota got a $30 million payment from a managed care company.
Smarter Purchasing Of Bednets Could Save $630M Over 5 Years, Report Suggests
“A new report from the Results for Development Institute,” released to coincide with World Malaria Day on Wednesday, “suggests there are ways to save and reinvest badly needed funds, by getting better value for money out of the bednets distributed in endemic areas,” Guardian Health Editor Sarah Boseley reports in her “Global Health Blog.” “Over the next five years, say author Kanika Bahl and colleagues, smarter purchasing strategies could save … $630 million,” the blog writes, adding, “It could be used to buy 150 million more bednets, protecting 300 million people from the mosquitoes that spread the disease.”
Nature Outlook Examines Fight Against Malaria In Uganda
Nature Outlook examines the fight against malaria in Uganda. “Uganda’s tragic failure to abate malaria has numerous political, geographic, economic and social factors — and illustrates the reality that it takes more than scientific breakthroughs and cheap drugs to solve this persistent menace,” according to the article. Nature describes how a primarily rural population, “[f]unding bottlenecks, inefficient procurement processes, transportation problems,” drug stock-outs, and a lack of health care workers affects access to care and treatment for malaria, as well as how aid from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the President’s Malaria Initiative, and other donors is supporting programs to build sustainable solutions to fighting the disease (Newmen, 4/25).
Mass. Cost Control Legislation Advances
The measure, more than a year old, was initially put forth by Gov. Deval Patrick, but a panel’s chair predicted “a significant redraft” before it reaches the Senate floor.
As Hundreds Protest, Kansas Gov. Agrees To Delay In Changes To Disability Services
Gov. Sam Brownback’s plan would have moved thousands of developmentally disabled state residents into a managed-care health plan.
Report: 5% Of Americans Have A Serious Mental Illness
According to figures from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Sevices Administration, an estimated 11 million people have some type of mental illness.
Judge Rejects Trade Groups’ Effort To Stall Express Scripts-Medco Deal
Modern Healthcare reports that a U.S. district court judge denied an effort by some trade groups to stop the Express Scripts acquisition of Medco until a review of their pending lawsuit is reviewed.
California Senate Scales Back Bill To Broaden Abortion Access
In its current form, the bill would allow 41 Californians who are not physicians to perform a certain first-trimester abortion procedure.
State News: Calif. ‘Green Houses’; Minn. Looks At ‘Accretive Secret Sauce’
A selection of state policy news from California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
Wellpoint’s Profit Shrinks But Still Exceeds Wall Street’s Target
The insurer’s gains were undermined by membership declines and high costs in some markets. However, the company still raised its outlook. But another insurer, Aetna, reported lower-than-expected quarterly profits.
Doctor Pay: Specialists Earn More, But Few Overall Think They Are Rich
A survey conducted by Medscape provides insights into physicians’ earnings, and how they view them.
Interests And Advocates Wait Anxiously For Supreme Court’s Health Law Decision
The Associated Press reports that people with HIV/AIDS have a lot at stake regarding the health law’s future — specifically, its Medicaid expansion and ban on pre-existing condition exclusions. In a second story, though, AP reports on why the small business group, the NFIB, hopes to see the law overturned. Meanwhile, MarketWatch reports that some wealthy Americans would save big money if the high court rejects the overhaul.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
The Shrinking Ranks Of Blue Dogs: What Tuesday’s Primaries Say About Democrats And The Health Law
Also in the news, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich announced Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign.
Longer Looks: Why We Still Have Faith In Physicians
Every week, Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that House Republicans are eyeing the health law’s prevention trust fund as a means to pay the cost of extending the current student loan interest rate for another year. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has scheduled a Friday vote on this proposal.
Capsules: Few Doctors Consider Themselves Rich, Survey Says
KHN’s Sarah Barr reports on the annual Medscape survey, which offers insights into what physicians earn, how they view that number, and what they think about coming changes to the health care system.
Ahead Of World Malaria Day, WHO Heralds Gains Against Disease, Calls For Greater Treatment Coverage
“The World Health Organization heralded major gains Tuesday in the fight against malaria, one of the developing world’s biggest killers, but warned universal access to treatment remains elusive,” Agence France-Presse reports, noting, “The assessment came on the eve of World Malaria Day,” observed Wednesday and “designed to shine the light on the mosquito-borne parasite that killed 655,000 people in 2010, including 560,000 children under five” (4/24). “A massive acceleration in the global distribution of mosquito nets, the expansion of programs to spray the insides of buildings with insecticides, and an increase in access to prompt antimalarial treatment has brought down malaria mortality rates by more than a quarter worldwide, and by one-third in Africa since 2000,” but “simply maintaining current rates of progress will not be enough to meet global targets for malaria control,” the agency writes in a news release (4/24).
Draft Farm Bill Includes ‘Promising’ Fixes To U.S. Food Aid System
In this post in the Center for Global Development’s (CGD) “Rethinking U.S. Foreign Assistance Blog,” Connie Veillette, director of CGD’s rethinking U.S. foreign assistance initiative, comments on a draft farm bill released by Congress last week, which she writes “includes some promising fixes to the notoriously inefficient U.S. food aid system.” She continues, “Kudos are definitely in order for a draft bill that advances ideas around improving food aid effectiveness,” including “the reauthorization of local and regional purchase (LRP) to buy food closer to emergencies.” Veillette writes, “I would prefer the nature of the food emergency to determine whether U.S. commodities or LRP is used rather than some formula that makes more sense for Washington politics than for global hunger,” and concludes, “I commend the [Senate Agriculture] Committee for taking a serious look at improving food aid efficiencies and hope that this marks the start of a productive process of policy reform” (4/24).
