Latest KFF Health News Stories
Analysis Examines Potential Global Health Impact Of Obama Administration’s FY13 Budget Request
A new analysis from amfAR (.doc), The Foundation for AIDS Research, “estimates potential human impacts of funding changes [in global health programs] proposed in the President’s fiscal year 2013 budget request when compared to current operating budget levels (fiscal year 2012).” President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request includes a decrease in funding for PEPFAR and an increase in funding for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, according to the analysis, which concludes, “Taken together, proposed changes in funding for the Global Fund and PEPFAR could lead to significant reductions in lifesaving AIDS treatment delivery, services to orphans and other vulnerable children, prevention of vertical HIV transmission (from mother-to-child) services, and HIV testing services that could otherwise have been delivered with flat funding for PEPFAR” (April 2012).
DOJ Reaffirms Court’s Power To Review Health Law Case But Urges Caution
In response to a demand from a federal appeals court judge, Attorney General Eric Holder says the Supreme Court has the power to review whether the health law is constitutional, but he also urged the court to show “deference.”
Research Roundup: Effects Of Health Exchanges; Improving Provider Performance
This week’s studies come from the Urban Institute, Health Affairs, The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the Obama administration’s response to a federal court about the Supreme Court’s power.
Questions Emerge After Obama Spars With The Supreme Court
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama made comments that “implicitly” warned the court against overturning the health law. Since then, defenders and critics have weighed in on his words and strategy.
Attorney General: DOJ Will Respond To Federal Judge On Judicial Review
In what has become a charged exchange, a federal judge in Texas demanded the Obama administration explain its views on the court’s authority to overturn acts of Congress. Attorney General Eric Holder said yesterday the Justice Department would respond “appropriately.”
Administration Budget Plan For Veterans’ Health Care Riles Advocates
The budget proposal cuts defense spending in part by increasing health care cost-sharing for retired service members. Also in the news, USA Today reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs is short on psychiatrists as demand for mental health care continues to increase.
“The United States is suspending at least $13 million of its roughly $140 million in annual aid to Mali following last month’s coup in the West African nation, the State Department said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports, noting the “suspension affects U.S. assistance for Mali’s ministry of health, public school construction and the government’s efforts to boost agricultural production.” According to the news agency, “U.S. law bars aid ‘to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree.'” State Department spokesperson Mark Toner said, “These are worthwhile programs that are now suspended because that aid goes directly to the government of Mali,” Reuters notes (4/5). France and the European Union also immediately suspended all but essential humanitarian aid to the country, according to the Associated Press/USA Today.
AP: Prescription Painkiller Sales Have ‘Exploded,’ Leading Experts To Fear ‘Addiction Epidemic’
Drug Enforcement Administration figures indicate a marked uptick in the distribution of oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan.
State Roundup: New Vt. Law Overhauls Mental Health System
A selection of state health policy stories from Virginia, Vermont, Iowa, California, Georgia and Colorado.
Race Pits Obamacare Against Romneycare
News outlets analyze how health policy positions taken by GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama are playing out on the campaign trail.
Some commentators find fault with the president as well as with a federal judge who took the administration to task.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health policy from around the country.
U.S. Spending On Prescription Drugs, Doctor Visits Levels Off
A study by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics found that senior citizens in particular are filling fewer prescriptions as out-of-pocket costs increase.
Medicaid News: Ore. Competitors Work Together; Calif. ‘Duals’ Project Launches
A selection of Medicaid news from California, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and Colorado.
Presidential Campaign Focus Turns To Budget, Medicare Issues
President Barack Obama and GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney are using their differences on Medicare issues and entitlement spending — in the context of the nation’s fiscal challenges — as key campaign themes.
Contraception, Abortion, Fetal Care Issues Flare Up In State Legislatures
Women’s health issues continue to roil politics in Texas, Mississippi and Nebraska.
Study: MLR Rule Would Have Translated Into $2B In Rebates To Consumers
If the health law’s requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care had gone into effect in 2010, instead of a year later, private plans would have had to refund as much as $2 billion to consumers, either in rebates or reduced premiums, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, which supports the law.
Longer Looks: Berwick Calls For Leaders To Rise Above ‘Political Catechism’
This week’s selections come from Rolling Stone, the Economist, the Atlantic, The New Yorker and Outside.
“Nations have crafted a draft treaty to fight a booming trade in illicit tobacco products that’s costing governments as much as $50 billion a year in lost tax revenue, officials said Wednesday,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. “But there are notable holdouts to the negotiations — the United States, Indonesia and more than a dozen other nations — where the treaty would have no effect,” the news agency writes (4/4). According to the WHO, tobacco-related diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, and other illnesses, kill almost six million people annually, Reuters notes. “Formally a protocol to the 2005 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), the world’s first public health pact, the new agreement was reached after nearly five years of negotiations, including a fifth and final round this past week,” the news agency writes (Nebehay, 4/4).
