Latest KFF Health News Stories
Texas Democrats Oppose State’s MLR Waiver Request
The state’s Democratic House members urge HHS to reject the Perry administration request to give Texas insurers more time to meet medical loss ratio standards in the health law.
House Committee Members Investigate $433M HHS Contract To Purchase Smallpox Drug
“Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are looking into a $433 million contract awarded by the Health and Human Services Department to purchase a yet-to-be-approved smallpox drug” known as ST-426, CQ HealthBeat reports. “The lawmakers raised questions about several issues, including the cost of the contract”; “asked for evidence supporting the assumption that the [FDA] will approve the ST-426, which was one of the requirements of the contract”; and “requested documents describing the actual threat of smallpox, the cost of the contract, and the decision to award it” by January 11, the news service notes (Ethridge, 12/21).
Experts’ Debate Over How Trade Affects Food Security Focusing Attention On Doha Talks, IRIN Reports
IRIN reports how “[a]n exchange between two leading world officials on how trade affects food insecurity in countries has helped focus attention on the stalled Doha trade talks.” A debate between Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Human Rights Council special rapporteur on the right to food, and Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), “has reopened issues around the Doha talks which have been going on, in stop-start mode, for the last 10 years,” IRIN writes.
Promoting Gay Rights Essential For Health Of Africans
Across Africa, “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people suffer brutal attacks, yet cannot report them to the police for fear of additional violence, humiliation, rape or imprisonment at the hands of the authorities. We are expelled from school and denied health care because of our perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” Frank Mugisha, 2011 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureate and executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. He adds, “When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this month that the United States would use diplomacy to encourage respect for gay rights around the world, my heart leapt.”
Viewpoints: Picking The ‘Right Fights’; Sebelius’s ‘Special Place’ In History
A selection of editorials and opinions about health care policy from around the country.
GOP Pauses ‘Doc Fix’ Fight, Averts 27 Percent Medicare Pay Cut
The House GOP leadership’s agreement to a Senate proposal averts a 27 percent paycut to doctors scheduled to take effect in January. The deal delays the cut until March 1, and lawmakers hope to hammer out an agreement on a longer-term fix to the payment formula before then.
IRIN Analysis Examines ‘Subtleties’ Of Early Warning Messages In Food Security Situations
In this analysis, “IRIN discussed with aid agencies and Sahel food security analysts the subtleties of getting early warning messages right in such situations.” According to the news service, “Food security in the Sahel this year is part of a ‘persistent and predictable reservoir of chronic acute food insecurity,’ [experts] say, ‘in a predictable portion of the region’s population,’ and requires long-term structural aid not short-term fixes.” In addition, “much of the malnutrition in the region is caused by other factors: poor water quality, low-quality health care, poor sanitation and poor feeding practices,” IRIN writes. The article includes quotes from numerous food security experts (12/23).
Jenna Bush Hager Reports On Family Trip To Africa To Visit Health Programs On NBC’s Today Show
In this video clip from NBC’s Today show, contributing correspondent Jenna Bush Hager reports on a recent family trip to Africa to visit PEPFAR-funded programs and to announce a new initiative by the George W. Bush Institute to fight cervical cancer. In the video, the Bushes travel to Tanzania, where they visit a PEPFAR-funded program called Jipende!, which trains hairstylists as health educators in 70 salons throughout the country, and to Zambia, where they visit the Ocean Road Cancer Institute and discuss a new initiative for cervical cancer testing, treatment and vaccination (12/22).
U.S. To Provide $113M In Additional Aid To Horn Of Africa
President Obama on Thursday announced “an additional $113 million in emergency relief assistance for the Horn of Africa … [to] support urgently needed food, health, shelter, water and assistance needs,” according to a White House statement. The additional aid adds to the approximately $870 million already provided to assist the region with emergency relief, according to the statement, which noted the administration is making long-term investments in food security through the Feed the Future initiative.
Science Names HIV Treatment As Prevention Trial As ‘2011 Breakthrough Of The Year’
“The journal Science has chosen the HPTN 052 clinical trial, an international HIV prevention trial sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID),” which found that early treatment with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) reduced the risk of transmission among sero-discordant partners by 96 percent, as the “2011 Breakthrough of the Year,” an NIH press release states (12/22). “Given resource constraints and logistical hurdles, treatment as prevention isn’t going to sweep the world anytime soon,” Science writes, adding, “But HPTN 052 has made imaginations race about the what-ifs like never before, spotlighting the scientifically probable rather than the possible” (Cohen, 12/23).
House GOP Leaders Accept Short-Term Payroll Tax Cut Extension
In an abrupt about-face, House Republican leaders agreed Thursday to a Senate proposal to extend the payroll tax cut and avert a scheduled payment cut to Medicare doctors for two months to allow lawmakers time to hammer out a longer-term agreement after the holidays.
This week’s reports are from The Journal of General Internal Medicine, The Center For Studying Health System Change and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The National Bureau Of Economic Research and Inquiry.
First Edition: December 23, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a variety of stories about a tax plan agreement reached on Capitol Hill that will keep Medicare’s doctor reimbursements from falling for two months.
Deal May Be Near For House Agreement On Senate Bill
News outlets report that House Republicans will be meeting by conference call to discuss a deal to extend payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits, and to stop Medicare reimbursement cuts, for two months.
