Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare, Deficits And The Politics Of 2012
Reuters offers an analysis based on a recent poll and finds that people, shaken by the difficult economy, worry about the impact of efforts to address the nation’s deficit. This concept could lead to Democrats finding traction for their positions on Medicare.
Medicaid News: Kansas Insurer Says ‘No’ To Medicaid
Medicaid coverage is making news in Kansas, Connecticut and Colorado.
State Developments: Florida Hospitals Dodge Budget Bullet
A selection of state health policy news from around the U.S.
Business Group Urges Flu Shot Requirements For Hospital Workers
The National Business Group On Health is advocating this position as a way to reduce flu risk for health care workers and patients.
As Administration Explains Birth Control Rule, GOP Leaders Join In Criticism
House Speaker John Boehner, R- Ohio, called the decision on birth control coverage unconstitutional, while a senior White House official acknowledged during a conference call with reporters that there has been “a fair amount of interest and some confusion” about the policy.
Have Some For-Profit Hospices Learned To Work The Medicare System?
Bloomberg reports that hundreds of hospices across the U.S. exploit quirks in the Medicare payment system that yield higher reimbursements.
Hospitals Pay More For Devices, According To Government Study
The Wall Street Journal reports on a new study that details how hospitals pay higher tabs than others for big-ticket medical devices.
HHS Offers Progress Report On Shrinking Medicare’s Doughnut Hole
A provision in the health law was intended to help fill a gap in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage. On Thursday, administration officials said 3.6 million beneficiaries saved $2.1 billion on prescription drugs in 2011.
A selection of editorials and opinions about health care policy from around the country.
Research Roundup: Safety-Net Hospitals Stack Up Well Against Others
This week’s studies come from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Government Accountability Office, The Kaiser Family Foundation, the Journal of Health Services Research and the Institute of Medicine.
WHO Finds Very High Levels Of Drug-Resistant TB In Russia, Moldova
“[T]he highest levels ever of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have been found in Russia and Moldova,” the WHO reports in research published in the February edition of the WHO Bulletin, but “the agency didn’t have data from most of Africa and India, where tuberculosis rates are much higher,” the Associated Press/USA Today’s “Your Life” reports. According to the AP, the “experts reported that about 29 percent of new TB patients in parts of Russia were drug-resistant” and that “65 percent of previously treated patients in Moldova had resistance problems.” The news service notes, “Normally, less than five percent of TB cases are drug-resistant” (2/2).
DRC Facing Decline In Donor Funding, HIV Treatment Shortage
“The lives of thousands of HIV-positive people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are at risk as the country faces declining donor funding and a severe shortage of HIV treatment, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF),” PlusNews reports. “‘The problem is quite old in the DRC; the country has always been minimized by donors who have not seen it as a priority, mainly because HIV prevalence is relatively low at between three and four percent,’ Thierry Dethier, advocacy manager for MSF Belgium in the DRC, told IRIN/PlusNews,” and he added, “But look at the indicators: more than one million people are living with HIV, 350,000 of whom qualify for [antiretrovirals (ARVs)] but only 44,000 — or 15 percent — are on ARVs,” the news service writes.
Officials Meet To Discuss L’Aquila Agreement On Global Food Security
More than “50 food security officials from 30 countries, and international and regional organizations” are meeting at the State Department in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the L’Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security, which was endorsed at the 2009 G8 Summit and “mark[ed] a turning point for international efforts to achieve sustainable global food security,” according to a State Department media note. Participants “will discuss coordination efforts between partner and donor governments; investments in research to improve food security; tracking progress toward meeting the L’Aquila commitments; and using Managing for Development Results to enhance the impact of investments in food security,” the media note states (2/2).
African Scientists’ Search For Female-Controlled Microbicide Gel To Prevent HIV Continues
AllAfrica.com examines efforts by African researchers to develop a female-controlled HIV prevention method, writing, “[S]cientists searching for a gel or vaccine that can prevent HIV infection ride a rollercoaster of hope and disappointment.” The article profiles efforts by researchers from the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) to find a microbicide gel to protect women from HIV infection.
Al Jazeera Speaks With Experts About New NTD Initiative
Following the announcement on Monday that 13 pharmaceutical companies, several large non-profit organizations, governments, and U.N. agencies are joining forces to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), Al Jazeera’s “Inside Story” interviewed several experts in the field, asking, “Why have these diseases been neglected for so long? And how effective will the new plans be to counter these diseases and, in turn, alleviate poverty? Is the target date of 2020 set by the initiative realistic to wipe out some of the world’s deadliest conditions? And what is in it for them?” according to the show’s summary. Host James Bays discusses these and other issues with guests Tido Von Schoen-Angerer, director of the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) Access Campaign; Lorenzo Savioli, director of the Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at the WHO; and Mario Ottiglio, associate director of Global Health Policy and Public Affairs at the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (2/1).
Kenyan AIDS Official Says Country Has Sufficient Funding To Support Programs Through 2016
Kenya has sufficient funds to support HIV/AIDS treatment programs through 2016, the head of the National AIDS Control Council (NACC) said in a statement on Wednesday after activists protested on Monday in support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the Star reports. The Global Fund had to cancel Round 11 grants because “the cash at hand was not in the bank by the time we wanted to disburse,” according to the Fund’s Deputy Executive Director Debrework Zewdie, a move that sparked fears there would not be sufficient funding to pay for existing treatment programs, the Star notes (Muchangi, 2/2). In his statement, NACC head Alloys Orago said, “Though the available fund cushions beneficiaries from immediate effects of donor withdrawal up to 2016, such a move calls for home grown and innovative ways of locally financing the disease,” according to the Daily Nation (2/2).
U.N. Says Famine Has Ended In Somalia But Emergency Conditions Remain For Millions
“Famine conditions have ended in war-torn Somalia six months after they were declared, but the situation remains dire with a third of the population needing emergency aid, the U.N. said on Friday,” Agence France-Presse reports (Vincenot, 2/3). “‘Long-awaited rains, coupled with substantial agricultural inputs and the humanitarian response deployed in the last six months, are the main reasons for this improvement,’ the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Director-General Jos
First Edition: February 3, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including news about Medicare’s ‘doughnut hole,’ the political climate on Capitol Hill and the Komen-Planned Parenthood flap.
With Clock Ticking, Negotiators Seek Ways To Pay For ‘Doc Fix’
Lawmakers have different ideas about financing the payroll tax break extension and the Medicare physician payment fix. One proposal getting a lot of attention is using war savings.
House Votes To Repeal CLASS Act – A Part Of The 2010 Health Law
The GOP-led push to repeal this long-term care insurance program, which the Obama administration already made clear it would not implement, drew some Democratic votes. During floor speeches, Republican lawmakers cast it as a barrier to achieving a real reform.
