Latest KFF Health News Stories
Intellectual Property Watch reports on a panel event at the World Intellectual Property Organization held by the intergovernmental South Centre and non-governmental Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) on November 14, 10 years after the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Doha Declaration on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health. The panel “review[ed] the extent to which the intellectual property and licensing flexibilities recognized in the declaration have helped developing and least developed countries gain access to essential medicines,” and addressed the question, “Is the 10 years of Doha an anniversary to celebrate?” the news service writes.
Viewpoints: Finding Savings In Medicare; The Avastin Saga; Changes In Health Care Business
A selections of editorials and opinions about health policy from around the country.
Calif. High Risk Pool May Overflow; Seniors And Long-Term Care Costs
In California, the PCIP exceeds expected costs and small businesses are struggling. Minnesota insurers are worried about long-term care policies and a Michigan pay-to-play probe is opened.
State Roundup: Provider Groups Merging – Or Not
A selection of health policy stories from California, Illinois, Georgia, Connecticut, Minnesota, Michigan and Massachusetts.
Supreme Court Names Lawyers To Participate In Health Law Case
The high court named two lawyers to argue specific elements of the health law case – both of which are related to the individual mandate. Meanwhile, Republicans step up questions on Justice Elena Kagan’s level of involvement regarding the health law in her prior position when she was the Obama administration’s solicitor general. In addition, Democrats continue to push on Justice Clarence Thomas’ possible conflicts of interest.
U.N. Appeals For $5.5M To Fight Cholera In DRC
The U.N. and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to fight an outbreak of cholera that has infected more than 17,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) need an additional $5.5 million to help their efforts, Elisabeth Byrs, a spokesperson for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Friday, the U.N. News Centre reports (11/18). “The U.N. says donations received will go toward improving water and sanitation and providing medical assistance for victims,” the VOA “Breaking News” blog writes (11/19). “This $5.5 million is really urgently needed because the rainy season is set to begin,” Byrs said, Agence France-Presse notes (11/19).
Super Committee Members Trade Barbs As Deadline Approaches
On the Sunday morning news shows, Republicans and Democrats swamp blame for the lack of a deal.
GOP, Democrats Seeking SCOTUS Recusals On Health Law
News outlets are following up developments in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to take on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
Super Committee Stuck: Dems Spurn Latest GOP Deficit Deal
Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., said “it’s pretty doubtful” there will be a last-minute compromise.
FDA Revokes Approval Of Avastin For Breast Cancer
Federal agency says the drug did not help patients extend their lives or control the tumor and causes serious side effects.
First Edition: November 21, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Deficit Panel Deal Still Elusive
With just days remaining to overcome the impasse, deficit panel members appear to be making no progress toward an agreement to reach the 10-year savings target. Still, meetings and discussions continued regarding possible tax increases and cuts in the growth of programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Republican Senators Press To Repeal Health Law’s Insurance Fee
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., are battling to undo this annual fee, which is expected to raise $8 billion in 2014 and $14.3 billion by 2018. Also, some Senate Democrats are warning that a provision in the health law could undermine farmers’ ability to obtain health insurance and some consumer advocates are warning that a tax rule needs to be re-written.
U.S., U.N. Food Agencies Downgrade Three Somalia Famine Zones To Emergency Status
U.S. and U.N. food agencies on Friday said three famine zones in Somalia had been downgraded to emergency status, as aid had reduced death rates, but “three other areas — including the refugee communities of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu — remain in the famine zone,” the Associated Press/CBSNews reports. The agencies “warn[ed] that a quarter million Somalis face imminent starvation, and that military battles are preventing food deliveries,” according to the AP (11/18). The U.N. Food Security Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) said in a statement, “Overall, food security outcomes remain the worst in the world, and the worst in Somalia since the 1991/92 famine,” Agence France-Presse notes (11/18).
Three ‘Critical Issues’ For Global Fund To Consider To Ensure ‘Further Success’
While the recent report from a High-Level Independent Review Panel of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, “and the corresponding decisions of the Board, mark an important step towards the necessary improvements the Global Fund must make to fulfill its vital mandate in the coming decade and beyond,” “the report does not provide direction or solutions on certain critical issues that will define the further success and impact of the Global Fund,” Richard Feachem, founding executive director of the Global Fund, writes in a Lancet commentary.
Cuts To U.S. Global Health Spending Would Mean ‘Stark Future’ For Millions
Disregarding advances “that have the potential to significantly reduce the death toll from HIV/AIDS, malaria, malnutrition, and other insidious killers, … both the House and the Senate are pushing significant cuts to the 2012 Obama request for global health funding,” Matthew Spitzer, president of the U.S. section of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres, writes in an opinion piece on the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog. “This debate is about much more than economy; it is about the vulnerable, about people sick, even dying, right now in the poorest corners of the earth,” and if proposed cuts to global health spending are enacted, “millions of patients and families who rely on U.S.-funded health programs [will] face a stark future,” he writes.
“In recent years, initiatives such as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria have helped rein in some of the biggest scourges,” Paul Farmer, co-founder of Partners in Health and chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece. “Scaling up PEPFAR, alongside other health initiatives, would bring a high return,” because “as we deepen the response to specific diseases such as AIDS or TB, we can broaden access to primary health services,” which “lays the groundwork for addressing health problems of all kinds,” he continues.
New Class Of Malaria Drugs Could Be Used As Both Prevention, Treatment, Study Shows
“A group of researchers led by Novartis AG have discovered novel malaria compounds that may prove to be more efficient than currently available treatments and could be used as a prophylactic,” the Wall Street Journal reports (Mijuk, 11/17). The class of drugs, called imidazolopiperazines, attacked malaria parasites in both the blood and liver when tested in mice, according to a study published Thursday in Science, Bloomberg notes. “Researchers are hunting for new treatments against malaria amid signs the disease is becoming resistant to drugs derived from artemisinin, the basis of the most-effective medicines, jeopardizing global efforts to curb the malady,” according to the news agency (Bennett, 11/17). Researchers said early phase human trials could start at the beginning of 2012, but it would be years before any related drug would come to market, the Wall Street Journal notes (11/17).
