Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Law’s Individual Mandate, Essential Benefits Draw Headlines
A new study concludes that dropping the individual mandate would result in overall lower health spending but increases in health insurance premium costs. Meanwhile, CQ HealthBeat reports on the drama that surrounds the Obama administration’s essential benefits proposal.
Oregon, Georgia Following Very Different Health Exchange Paths
In Georgia, the state GOP leaders and the governor have agreed not to push an exchange bill. Meanwhile, in Oregon, consumer groups have offered a list of priorities to the organization responsible for developing its exchange.
MedPAC: Raise, And Also Lower, Medicare Reimbursements To Hospitals
Subscription news services covered MedPAC’s mixed recommendation.
Chamber President Calls For Entitlement Reform
Tom Donohue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, says Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security costs must be tamed.
Governors’ Agendas Include Medicaid But Not Much On State Insurance Exchanges
Meanwhile, a Colorado legislator is seeking to force the governor to ask for a waiver to change the Medicaid program there.
HHS Says Trustmark’s Planned Insurance Rate Hikes Are ‘Unreasonable’
The insurance company, whose proposed increases would have taken place in five states, has a very different view of the situation.
5 Percent Of Americans Account For Half Of Nation’s Health Care Spending
A new report from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has found that five percent of Americans are responsible for half the nation’s health care spending. In the meantime, half the population spends practically nothing on health care in a year.
S.C. GOP Primary Puts Spotlight On Romney Abortion Stance
Nine days before the South Carolina primary, Mitt Romney has ‘picked up his pro-life rhetoric’ as Newt Gingrich goes on the attack.
CVS Agrees To Pay $5M To Settle Medicare Drug False Advertising Claims
CVS Caremark has agreed to pay $5 million to settle claims of false advertising on the prices of certain drugs offered in Medicare drug plans, the FTC announced Thursday. The money will be used to reimburse beneficiaries who paid more than expected for the drugs.
FDA Under Scrutiny For Appointment Of 3 Scientists With Ties To Industry
Fiscal Times looks at concerns about conflicts of interest on FDA advisory committees. Also, ProPublica examines a bill that would make results from NIH-financed studies harder to get.
State News: Iowa Mental Health Tussle; Calif. Orders Anthem To Pay Docs, Hospitals
A selection of health care stories from California and Iowa.
Some State Lawmakers Take Stand Opposing Health Law Legal Challenge
Media outlets from Connecticut, Texas and Iowa report on how a Supreme Court brief, which was filed by the Progressive States Network and signed by hundreds of state officials, is shaking up some state-level policy discussions.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
Research Roundup: Raising Medicare’s Eligibility Age
This week’s studies come from the Congressional Budget Office, the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Journal of the American College of Radiology, the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Archives of Ophthalmology.
Women’s Health, Rights Especially Vulnerable During An Election Year
In this Huffington Post opinion piece, Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity, writes, “In 2012, there is a presidency at stake — so what does that mean for women’s health and rights in the coming year? How will political posturing and the race for votes affect what really matters?”
Despite One Year Without Polio Cases, Threat of Disease Still Looms In India
T. Jacob John, a former professor of clinical virology an the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, who has served on several Global and National Committees on Immunization and Polio Eradication, writes in this opinion piece in India’s Hindu, “While one year has passed without polio caused by natural poliovirus, we can claim complete eradication only after we ensure the absence of wild and vaccine polioviruses in the population.” He provides a brief history of polio eradication efforts, globally and in India, and continues, “For certification of eradication, two more years should pass without any case of wild virus polio. … We must continue working as if we still have poliovirus lurking somewhere, only to show up when least expected” (1/8).
Journalists Discuss Challenges Of Reporting On Global Health Issues
The Global Post’s “Global Pulse” blog reports on a December seminar held by GlobalPost, the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, and the Kaiser Family Foundation, at which “journalists discussed the challenges in telling compelling global health stories in the digital age.” Participants discussed marketing their products, securing funding, finding an audience, forming partnerships, and covering expenses. The news service includes quotes from several people who spoke at the seminar, including photographers Kristen Ashburn and John Stanmeyer; Penny Duckham, director of the Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellowship Program; Nathalie Applewhite, managing director of the Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting; and Charlie Sennott, executive editor at GlobalPost (Kriel, 1/12).
Work Of WHO Essential Medicines Department At Risk Due To Funding Shortage, Oxfam Warns
“The work of the essential medicines department of the World Health Organization (WHO) is under threat because of a serious shortage of funds, says a worrying and important letter published in the Lancet [on Thursday],” Guardian Health Editor Sarah Boseley reports in her “Global Health Blog.” “According to the letter from Mohga Kamal-Yanni of Oxfam, the work of updating … the essential medicines list, which tells every health ministry in every corner of the world, however tiny their budget, which drugs they should be getting for their people … [and] for children, is now being paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,” the blog writes.
HHS Secretary Sebelius Helps India Mark One Year Since Last Recorded Polio Case
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “administered polio vaccination drops to children in New Delhi on Friday as India marked one year since its last case of the crippling disease,” the Associated Press reports (1/13). The Hill’s “Healthwatch” reports that “[o]fficials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] say U.S. funding and experience were key to beating back the disease,” but “[t]he news comes as federal funding for global health programs now faces sharp cuts from Tea Party lawmakers and others worried about the deficit” (Pecquet, 1/12). “
Al Jazeera Examines Candidate Malaria Vaccine, Other Ongoing Efforts To Thwart The Disease
Al Jazeera reports on the candidate malaria vaccine known as RTS,S, which “has been heralded as one of the Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2011 by Time and Science magazines, Doctors Without Borders and the Lancet.” The news service recaps the history of the vaccine’s development, outlines a number of existing prevention strategies and details ongoing efforts in the global fight against malaria (Dalal, 1/11).
