Latest KFF Health News Stories
Angolan Health Officials On High Alert After Polio Case Confirmed
Health officials in the northern Angolan province of Uige are on high alert “after a 14-month-old boy tested positive for polio, which has made a resurgence in the country, UNICEF said Thursday,” Agence France-Presse reports (11/3). “After eliminating new polio cases for three years in succession following its 27-year civil war, Angola saw a strain of the crippling virus reappear in 2005,” the news service adds.
State Roundup: Puerto Rico Settles Disability Battle With Feds
News outlets examine a variety of state health policy issues.
Governors Raise Concerns About Insurance Exchanges
In a letter to HHS, governors say they need more support in establishing marketplaces.
A selection of editorials and opinions about health policy from around the country.
Health Insurers Predict They Will Pass On Health Law’s New Tax To Consumers
A report financed by insurance trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans predicts that premiums will increase by about 2 percent in 2014, and 3 to 4 percent by 2023.
MedPAC Offers Recommendations For Changes To Dual Eligibles Program
Modern Healthcare reports that the advisory panel voted unanimously for these changes designed to improve and expand a program for these high-cost beneficiaries.
Stakeholders Anxiously Await High Court Health Law Review
Insurers are on the lookout for what they view as the worse-case scenario. Meanwhile, some state attorneys general are watching developments surrounding this case to see if it might fuel other such state challenges to federal laws.
Romney Details His Deficit-Reduction Plans
Media outlets also report on how the abortion issue might impact GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, fact checks and news from Iowa about Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum also are in the headlines.
Medicare Beneficiaries File Class Action Suit Over Hospital ‘Observation Status’
The lawsuit challenges Medicare’s use of this practice, which classifies certain hospital patients as not having been formally admitted for billing purposes, even though they might have been in the hospital for days. The impact is that these patients are responsible for higher hospital costs and are also denied Medicare coverage for some types of follow-up care.
First Edition: November 4, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the super committee’s apparent impasse, and details on Mitt Romney’s plan to cut the deficit.
Global Fund Releases Additional Audits As Part Of Internal Investigation
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Tuesday posted the results of several internal audits, showing “that 12 more probes had turned up an additional $20 million of mismanagement, alleged fraud and misspending,” the Associated Press/CBSNews.com reports.
100 Lawmakers Urge Deficit Panel To Consider ‘All Options’
A letter from this bipartisan group of House members to the super committee asked that the panel strive for a larger, $4 trillion deal. Meanwhile, Politico offers four possible scenarios that could play out for health interests.
Parsing The Health Law’s Winners And Losers, And Its Chances For Survival
The AP reports on some of the measure’s unexpected beneficiaries and The Christian Science Monitor details how it could be dismantled. Also, California Healthline follows the money that is lobbying to preserve the measure.
PlusNews reports on the results of the Zambia-South Africa TB and AIDS Reduction (ZAMSTAR) study released on Monday at the International Lung Health Conference in Lille, France, which show that “[h]ome-based tuberculosis (TB) education and testing reduced community TB prevalence by about 20 percent.” Noting that “the trial cost US$27 million [and] the interventions it piloted cost about $0.80 per patient,” the news service writes that while “the cost-effectiveness of household outreach has not yet been calculated, … [t]his will be of particular interest not only to national policymakers but also donors, who continue to tighten purse strings amid a global economic downturn” (11/1).
Investment In USAID Has Saved Millions Of Lives, Is Critical For U.S. Security
In this Politico opinion piece, Brian Atwood and colleagues, all former USAID administrators in previous Democratic or Republican administrations and current advisers to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, write, “Over [the last] half-century, USAID has had an extraordinary record of accomplishment. Using less than one percent of the U.S. budget annually, the American people have demonstrated their deepest values through USAID programs, saving tens of millions of lives worldwide with immunization programs, oral rehydration therapy, treatment for HIV/AIDS and work on other diseases.” They add, “Because of the efforts of the American people, more than one billion people now have safe drinking water, smallpox has been eradicated and tens of millions have been saved through USAID’s famine relief efforts.”
Financial Investment, Progress In HIV/AIDS Treatment Must Be Protected By International Patent Law
In this Hill opinion piece, John Castellani, CEO and president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, writes, “Over the past three decades, more than 30 treatments have been approved to treat HIV/AIDS,” but he adds, “While this is remarkable progress, it’s not enough.” He continues, “In order for scientific progress in these areas to continue, the substantial financial investments in medicines created in America’s biopharmaceutical labs — medicines that take years and billions of dollars to develop — must be protected by international patent laws.”
Calif. Hospital Association Sues Over Medi-Cal Provider Cuts
The state recently received federal approval for a 10 percent cut in reimbursements for services from physicians, laboratories, pharmacies and nursing and long-term-care facilities.
Stimulus Funds Will Help Build Health IT Systems, But Not Sustain Them
iWatch News reports on how this finding is raising concern among state officials about how they will keep paying for these systems when the federal money is gone. Meanwhile, KHN – in partnership with NPR and Oregon Public Radio – takes a look at how electronic medical records can be used.
NEJM: Cancer Drug Shortage Relates to Economics
A perspective in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine outlines this connection. Meanwhile, a House Democrat ramps up his investigation into the “gray market” and how it is contributing to the shortage.
