Latest KFF Health News Stories
A Double Dose Of Arguments — Severability, Medicaid Expansion On Today’s Docket
In the final day of Supreme Court health law action, the justices consider whether the entire law must be thrown out if the mandate is overturned. That issue will get 90 minutes, while the challenge to the expansion of Medicaid is on for 60 minutes.
Court Wonders Which Parts Of Law — If Any — Can Stand Without The Mandate
In exploring the severability question, the justices will ponder whether other parts of the health law can go forward if they void the individual mandate, considered the measure’s central element. News outlets examine the “contingency plans” being explored by the law’s supporters in case the mandate falls.
Lack Of Aid Money In Haiti Threatening Health, Human Rights Of Displaced People, U.N. Official Warns
“The United Nations warned on Tuesday that a lack of aid money for Haiti was putting hundreds of thousands of displaced people at risk by forcing humanitarian agencies to cut services in one of the world’s poorest countries,” Reuters reports. Noting Haiti only received half of the $382 million aid request in 2011 and so far has received only 10 percent of this year’s $231 million appeal, Nigel Fisher, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Haiti, said, “(Underfunding) threatens to reverse gains achieved in the fight against cholera through the promotion of sanitary and hygiene practices. … It threatens the very existence of hundreds of thousands of (displaced people) living in camps,” according to the news agency. “Fisher said the humanitarian community was urgently requesting $53.9 million for the April-June period to protect those living in camps and to continue to provide services such as clean water, food and crime prevention and respond to cholera outbreaks, among other things,” Reuters writes (Nichols, 3/27).
“Philippine health authorities diagnosed 274 people with new cases of HIV/AIDS in February this year, the health department said, adding the new figure represented a 72 percent rise compared with 159 cases reported in February 2011,” Gulf News reports. According to the health department, 235 of the cases were attributed to sexual transmission, and more than half of those were among men who have sex with men, the news service notes. The presidential palace requested that Health Secretary Enrique Ona implement an information campaign to spread awareness of how to prevent HIV infection, according to Gulf News (Dacanay, 3/28). Department of Health spokesperson Eric Tayag “told ANC [news service] that this year alone, the agency is spending more than P315 million [$7.3 million] to fund services and distribute medicines to combat the virus,” ANC/ABS-CBNnews.com notes (3/28).
Roberts, Kennedy Emerge As The Court’s Key Swing Votes
News outlets analyze the impact that key justices could have on the court’s consideration of the health law.
State Experiences With Insurance Mandates Offer Cautionary Tales
The Massachusetts state reforms are proceeding with an individual mandate in place, while Washington and New Jersey faced hardships when they attempted to overhaul their health insurance markets without one.
AP Examines Whether Health Law Debate Is Muted If Romney Is GOP Nominee
In other campaign news, James Carville says a loss at the Supreme Court will help Democrats politically.
Outside The Court: Roaring Rallies, Rhetoric And Reviews
On day 2 of the Supreme Court hearings, the crowds outside the court ballooned. Meanwhile, Wall Street and lawmakers seemed to take the proceedings in stride.
State Roundup: Georgia’s Child-Only Insurance Policies; N.Y. Exchange Impasse
A selection of health policy stories from Texas, Missouri, Georgia, California and New York.
Bipartisan Group Of Lawmakers Offers Budget Plan Modeled On Simpson-Bowles
The group of House members has incorporated in a new budget proposal parts of the plan put forward by an Obama-backed deficit reduction commission. The effort is likely to be rejected by the House this week.
Skeptical Justices Ask Tough Questions About The Insurance Mandate
In yesterday’s oral arguments, the grilling aimed at the Obama administration’s lawyer by the court’s conservatives raised the prospect that the law’s centerpiece could be overturned.
High Court’s Medicaid Ruling Could Have Significant Ripple Effects
A ruling against Medicaid could touch a variety of federal statutes and reshape the federal-state legal framework.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
States Offer Mixed Legislative Bag On Abortion, Birth Control
Birth control and abortion legislation are making the rounds at state capitols. An abortion bill in Georgia was stopped Tuesday while Idaho backed away from its own pre-abortion ultrasound bill. Missouri advanced a bill to let some employers opt-out of providing coverage for contraception.
As the court heads into the final day of arguments on the health law, commentators review the arguments on the individual mandate and look forward to those about Medicaid expansion.
“More than 80 retired top military leaders are calling on Congress to support a strong and effective International Affairs Budget and reiterating how critical this funding is to our national security in a letter [.pdf] released by the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s (USGLC) National Security Advisory Council (NSAC),” according to a USGLC press release. “The FY 2013 House Budget Resolution being debated this week represents a 11 percent cut to the International Affairs Budget from current year funding, and Members of Congress should heed the advice of our most respected men and women in uniform on why this funding is so important to our national security,” the press release states (Parker, 3/27).
Recognizing The Importance Of Working Together To Make An Impact On Global Issues
In this post in the Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood” blog, Robin Smalley, co-founder and international director of mothers2mothers, discusses how partnerships and access to a supportive network of individuals has helped mothers2mothers expand their efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS. She notes that an invitation in 2008 to the Skoll World Forum (SWF) on social entrepreneurship, held in Oxford, provided the organization “entree to a new family, one made up of extraordinary individuals running organizations impacting issues ranging from global health to social justice to the environment.” The conference, underway this week, “is a world dedicated to possibilities, where everyone unites to brainstorm ways we can make our planet a little bit better,” she writes.
CDC Director Provides Update On AIDS Epidemic In Anticipation Of AIDS 2012 Conference
In anticipation of the AIDS 2012 conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., from July 22-27, CDC Director Thomas Frieden spoke at the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, where he provided an update on the epidemic in the U.S. and abroad, VOA News reports. Frieden provided statistics on HIV infection and death rates; recounted “trying to treat hundreds of patients in the early days of the epidemic,” before treatment was available; and said that “around the world, … HIV/AIDS remains the biggest infectious disease challenge more than 30 years into the epidemic,” the news service writes.
UNAIDS, NEPAD Sign MoU To Collaborate In Efforts To Fight HIV
UNAIDS and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency on Tuesday “signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) calling for strategic collaboration to advance sustainable responses to HIV, health and development across the African continent,” according to a UNAIDS press release. “Under the terms of the agreement, UNAIDS and the NEPAD Agency will work with partners to: support the development of common African positions for the AIDS response, with an emphasis on sustainable financing; address constraints in access to HIV medicines; facilitate policies and partnerships to eliminate new HIV infections in children and improve the health of mothers; enhance country ownership and accountability; and encourage South-South cooperation,” the press release states (3/27).
Malaria Funding Has Helped Prevent Nearly 1M Child Deaths Over Past Decade, Study Finds
The results of a study (.pdf) published in Malaria Journal “suggest that funding for malaria prevention in Africa over the past decade has had a substantial impact on decreasing child deaths due to malaria,” according to the study’s abstract. Between 2001 and 2011, malaria prevention intervention scale-up helped prevent an estimated 842,800 malaria-related child deaths, an 8.2 percent decrease over the period had malaria intervention remained unchanged since 2000. The researchers note that 99 percent of the decline can be attributed to the use of insecticide-treated bednets. “Rapidly achieving and then maintaining universal coverage of these interventions should be an urgent priority for malaria control programs in the future,” the study concludes (Eisele et al., 3/28).
