Latest KFF Health News Stories
Research Roundup: Disparities In Heart Failure Improvements
This week’s reports come from the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Government Accountability Office, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund.
JAMA Examines KFF/UNAIDS Analysis On Global HIV/AIDS Funding
A news and perspectives piece in the current issue of JAMA examines a recent funding analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS showing that “[g]overnments that support treatment and services for people with HIV/AIDS in low- and middle-income countries cut their annual contributions in 2010 by 10 percent,” spending $6.9 billion last year compared with $7.6 billion in 2009. The article quotes Bernhard Schwartlander, the UNAIDS director for evidence, strategy, and results; Drew Altman, president and CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation; and Sharonann Lynch, HIV/AIDS policy adviser with the Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Voelker, 10/19).
Learning About Politics In The Midst Of Screening Recommendations
The recent recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that women get less frequent screenings for cervical cancer demonstrated a remarkably different response than other such recommendations.
Health Costs Continue Upward Trend
MarketWatch reports that an index tracking health care costs rose for the fourth time in a row. Meanwhile, McClatchy reports that disability benefits are on a financially unsustainable path. Finally, NPR offers advice for handling health expenses during one’s golden years.
State News: Wis. Insurance Savings; N.Y. Major Hospital Merger Possible
A selection of health care stories from Minnesota, New York, California, Vermont, Texas, Maryland, Iowa and Kansas.
NYT: Wal-Mart Cutting Some Health Benefits
According to this report, Wal-Mart will roll back coverage for part-time workers and raise premiums for some full-time employees.
Medical Homes Save Money, But Many Practices ‘Lack What It Takes’
Nearly half of all medical practices don’t qualify as a patient-centered medical home, according to a study published this week by the journal, Health Services Research.
Viewpoints: The Toll Of Medicare Fraud; Insurer’s Medicare Advantage Switch Can Confuse Seniors
A selection of health care opinions from across the country.
X Prize Foundation Offers $10 Million For Innovative Diagnostic Device
It’s not really Star Trek, but it sounds like it. The X Prize Foundation’s award seeks the creation of a medical device that can diagnose 15 medical conditions within three days – without human intervention.
On Debate Night, Perry ‘Sidesteps’ Question About Texas’ Uninsured Children
The Houston Chronicle reports that GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry said states’ rights were key to addressing Texas’ high number of uninsured Children.
Super Committee: Are All The Old Deficit-Reduction Ideas New Again?
As the panel considers its approach to reach deficit-reduction targets, much of the input it is getting from congressional committees and outside interest groups seems to track with existing ideas rather than innovative approaches.
States React, Act On Health Law Waivers, Implementation Issues
Sen. Ron Wyden draws line in the sand about how health law waivers should be used. Meanwhile, Kansas’ planning board continues its efforts toward the creation of a state-based health exchange while acknowledging that the federal government may end up in charge. Also, in Oregon, a consumer-run health plan is positioning itself to be included in the state’s exchange.
Indiana, Planned Parenthood In Court On Medicaid Funding
Several stories about attempts on the state level to limit insurance coverage of abortions.
Radio VOP reports on water shortages in the high-density suburbs of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, writing that some “have gone for a week without water raising fears of a cholera outbreak and bringing back fresh memories of the 4,000 people across the country killed in a cholera disaster in 2008” (10/21). But Health and Child Welfare Ministry officials in Zimbabwe “say the government has successfully curbed over 1,000 cases of cholera recorded during the first half of this year, while indicating that measures have been put in place to contain another outbreak of the disease,” the Zimbabwean reports.
Committed Action, Continued Funding Needed In Global Campaign Against TB
A Lancet editorial responds to the WHO’s sixteenth annual report on global tuberculosis (TB) control, released on Oct 11, which shows that the incidence of tuberculosis has been falling worldwide since 2002, writing, “Successes in disease control in China and other countries show what sustained political and economic support can achieve. Rather than waiting for the elixir of economic success to arrive in all high-burden countries, committed action by donors, agencies, and governments in the most challenging settings is needed in the global campaign against tuberculosis.”
U.N., U.S. Peace Corps Sign Agreement To Work Together To Tackle Food Insecurity In 76 Countries
“The United Nations and the United States Peace Corps signed an agreement today to cooperate in combating worldwide hunger by increasing food security in the 76 countries where the more than 8,600 U.S. volunteers currently work,” the U.N. News Centre reports. “The agreement, signed by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN World Food Programme (WFP) at their Rome headquarters, builds on years of cooperation with the 50-year-old U.S. organization,” the news service writes.
“Representatives from more than 100 governments around the world, health experts, civil society organizations and other stakeholders are converging in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for three days” at the WHO-convened World Conference on Social Determinants of Health “to discuss how social, economic and environmental conditions could be improved to reduce the health gaps within and between countries,” a WHO press release states (10/19). “The conference is expected to produce a political declaration expressing the commitment of WHO Member States to address the social determinants of health through national action plans and strategies,” European Hospital writes (10/20).
Much Work Remains To Be Done In Fight Against Malaria
Positive results announced this week from a large clinical trial testing the efficacy of the RTS,S malaria vaccine are “encouraging,” but they are also “a reminder of how much work remains to be done,” an Economist editorial reports. The WHO abandoned its first efforts to eradicate the disease 14 years after setting out to do so in 1955, but “a new wave of enthusiasm,” beginning in 1998 with the establishment of the Roll Back Malaria partnership and culminating with Bill Gates’s call for malaria eradication four years ago, “has helped to lower the number of malaria deaths by 20 percent over the past decade,” the editorial states.
