Latest KFF Health News Stories
Detailing Health Insurance Coverage Forms – A Health Law Requirement
The Associated Press reports on how consumers can navigate insurance choices while waiting for the more user-friendly summaries called for by the law.
Longer Looks: Romney’s Evolution On Abortion; The Birth Of The HIV Epidemic
This week’s selection of intriguing weekend reading includes articles from Slate, the Los Angeles Times, American Medical News, Salon, Columbia Journalism Review, The Washington Post, BBC and Medscape.
Poll: Democrats Hold Political Advantage on Contraception, Medicare Debates
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s February poll, opinions tracked party affiliation more closely than gender. Meanwhile, the public remains skeptical of the health law.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that set the stage for the Senate’s scheduled vote on a measure sponsored by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., that would allow employers and insurers to opt out of provisions in Obama’s health care law to which they object on religious or moral grounds.
South African Researchers Call For New Framework To Help Prioritize Global Mental Health
“For mental health to gain significant attention, and funding from policymakers globally, it is not enough to convince people that it has a high disease burden but also that there are deliverable and cost-effective interventions — according to South African researchers writing in this week’s PLoS Medicine,” a PLoS press release reports, adding, “Mark Tomlinson and Crick Lund from the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health based at the University of Cape Town argue that global mental health must demonstrate its social and economic impact.” According to the press release, the authors “discuss a framework to help understand why some global health initiatives are more successful in generating funding and political priority than others” (2/28).
Blog Examines Use Of Medicine As Weapon Of War
In this post in IntraHealth International’s “Global Health” blog, Editorial Manager Susanna Smith responds to an editorial published in the Lancet earlier this month that “issued a dire warning to the international medical community” about the use of medicine as a weapon of war in Syria, writing, “It is just the latest in a series of reports from across the Middle East on how medical care and medical professionals and facilities are being used to inflict politically motivated violence.” She adds, “The U.N.’s condemnation of this type of violence in Syria specifically is one step in the right direction, but it is high time the international medical community speaks out against the overt violations of medicine’s covenant with society, violations that are clearly a strategic weapon on the part of these political regimes” (2/27).
“The International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) expressed concern Monday over the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Technical Statement on Hormonal Contraceptives and HIV (.pdf) and its accompanying press release,” the Center for Global Health Policy’s “Science Speaks” blog reports. “WHO released the statement last week — concluding that women living with HIV or at high risk of HIV can safely continue to use hormonal contraceptives to prevent pregnancy,” the blog writes. According to the blog, “The ICW is pushing for more research on the subject and increased communication to explain the risks involved to potential users of hormonal contraceptives” and “‘urgently’ demanded that the WHO correct the note for media the WHO released along with the technical statement, calling it inconsistent with the findings of the technical review panel” (Mazzotta, 2/28).
Drawing Lessons From Emerging Economies On Increasing Access To Medicines For NTDs
“At present, the prevailing strategy for improving access to medicines for [neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)] is drug donation programs, which, despite providing some of the highest economic returns of public health programs … have uncertain sustainability,” Francesca Holt of St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge and colleagues write in this PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases opinion piece. “Countries in demographic and economic transition are uniquely poised to be leaders in a shift towards a more sustainable, affordable means of providing access to medicines for NTDs,” they add, citing China, India, and Brazil as examples (2/28).
Ugandan Official Expresses Concern Over Rise In TB, Emergence Of Drug-Resistant Strains
In an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Francis Adatu, head of the national leprosy and tuberculosis (TB) program in Uganda, warned that TB “remains a major public health problem” and that multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) has emerged in the country, the news service writes. “‘According to our prevalence survey we found MDR-TB in 1.3 percent among new cases and 12.3 percent among people who have been exposed to drugs or treated over and over again,’ Adatu said,” Xinhua writes, noting that Adatu said treatment for MDR-TB was much more expensive than for drug-susceptible TB.
UnitedHealth Acquisitions Draw Scrutiny
UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of a Calif. physician group and two Florida health plans are making news, and Maine’s top court sides with regulators’ authority to reject one Anthem’s rate increases there.
Va. Lawmakers Approve Scaled-Back Abortion Ultrasound Bill
Lawmakers in Virginia have passed a scaled-back version of a contentious ultrasound proposal that would force women to get a “non-invasive” ultrasound before having an abortion. Battles over abortion and contraception are also raging elsewhere.
Snowe – The Lone GOP Health Law Vote – Opts To Not Seek Re-Election
Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, cited the polarized climate of Congress and Washington as a key reason she will leave the Senate. Her departure renews Democrats’ hope of winning this GOP seat.
Texas Doctor Charged In $375 Million Medicare Scam
Federal authorities charged the Dallas-area physician and five owners of home health-care agencies with a scheme that included registering homeless people for home health care services they never received.
Romney Wins Michigan, Arizona; Rivals Press Health Policy Barbs
In exit polls, some GOP voters said they were concerned about Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s health care policies. Rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich offered parallels between the federal health law and the measure Romney signed while governor of Massachusetts.
Kodak Seeks To End Health Coverage For Medicare-Eligible Retirees
The Associated Press reports on this develoments, which comes as part of the company’s effort to reorganize under bankruptcy protection.
Sebelius Testifies Before House Ways And Means Committee
The Health and Human Services secretary said the administration was vetting candidates for the the Independent Payment Advisory Board and defended President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget.
Senate Vote On Contraception Policy Set For Thursday
With the political stakes high, lawmakers are expected to vote Thursday on a Republican measure to let employers opt out of covering any health treatment they find morally objectionable.
Dept. Of Justice Lawyers Strategize On How To Win Key SCOTUS Votes
Media outlets report on this and other health law implementation developments, including news about health exchanges and the measure’s pre-existing condition insurance plan.
States Should Consider Highest-Cost Patients When Developing Essential Benefits Package
That recommendation comes from a report issued Tuesday by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, which concluded that those under age 65 have very different health spending habits than Medicare beneficiaries. Meanwhile, experts offer advice to states regarding development of essential benefits packages.
State Roundup: N.J. Localities’ Coverage Costs; Pa. Cuts Raise Ire
A selection of health policy stories from Massachusetts, New Jersey, Texas, Minnesota, California, Wisconsin and Oregon.
