Latest KFF Health News Stories
The Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria has delayed the closing date for applications for its next round of funding, reduced the estimated amount of money that will be available in that round, and potentially delayed the disbursement of the funds until 2013, PlusNews reports. “The delay in Round 11 funding was announced at the Fund’s latest board meeting on 26 September, the second such delay, which has pushed the application deadline back to at least 1 March 2012,” the news service notes.
In a speech to be delivered at the NIH, “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to call Tuesday for a new push by the U.S. and other countries to harness recent science to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” the Wall Street Journal reports. She is expected to call for preventive tools “to be widely implemented in countries where the pandemic continues to rage, and to ask donors to step up aid to intensify the response, according to people briefed on the speech,” the newspaper writes.
Medical Malpractice Efforts Stall; Analysis In Texas Reveals Rural Doctor Gap
Politico reports that President Obama’s initiative to institute medical malpractice reforms has stalled, falling prey to politics and tight money. In Texas, tort reform analysis reveals a widening doctor gap between cities and rural areas.
Romney Takes Health Care Message To Iowa
Republican presidential hopeful promises to roll back federal health law in Dubuque speech.
Despite Gap, Super Committee Republicans Warm To New Revenue, But Not Taxes
Super committee Republicans are warming to the idea of finding new Medicare premium revenues to help bridge the still-wide gap between themselves and Democrats over deficit reduction proposals, but they aren’t budging on their opposition to tax increases.
On Election Day, Watching Key Ballot Issues in Ohio, Mississippi
Ohio has ballot measures regarding the federal health law’s individual mandate and collective-bargaining rights for public employees. Mississippians will vote on a ‘personhood’ amendment that aims to restrict access to abortions.
Parents of Children On Medicaid, CHIP Give Programs Good Grades
CQ HealthBeat reports that 66 percent of parents of children on CHIP or Medicaid were “very satisfied” with the programs.
Cutting U.S. Global Health Funding Would Slow Progress, Hurt Development In Other Countries
A Minnesota Daily editorial writes that a proposed nine percent cut in U.S. global health program funding “would drastically slow … progress and hurt development and advancement in other countries,” adding that “investing in the development of poor countries is good for everyone involved. When there are more highly educated, healthy countries, there is more prosperity for all.”
New Poverty Calculations Show How Health Costs Hurt Seniors
The Census Bureau’s analysis finds childhood poverty declining because of the CHIP health care program and supplemental nutrition efforts. But older Americans fare worse because of out-of-pocket health costs.
Judge Blocks FDA Rule On New Cigarette Pack Warning Images
Federal Judge Richard Leon says the regulation ordering cigarette makers to put graphic images on the packages may “unconstitutionally compel speech.”
Heeding Gates’s Suggestions To Fill Global Development Finance Hole Without Spending More Money
In his Foreign Policy column, “The Optimist,” Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and a Schwartz fellow at the New America Foundation, responds to a speech to G20 leaders last week by Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in which he “suggested that a financial transactions tax, alongside additional taxes on tobacco and carbon, could be used to help rich countries meet a global target of committing 0.7 percent of GDP to development aid.” Kenny writes, “The outlook is particularly grim in the United States, where traditional aid is on the congressional chopping block,” but “[t]he good news is that the United States (and, for that matter, everyone else) could be doing a lot more for development without spending more money — and in some cases even saving it.”
Viewpoints: Today’s ‘Personhood’ Vote in Miss.; Reactions To Romney’s Health Care Plan
A selection of editorials and opinions about health policy from around the country.
A selection of stories from Michigan, Maryland, California, Kansas, Minnesota, Georgia and Florida.
Survey Finds Nursing Homes Plan Layoffs Because Of Medicare Cuts
The move follows a decision by Medicare in July to reduce reimbursements to nursing homes by 11 percent.
Indian Researchers Receive Grant To Develop ‘E-Nose’ For Quick TB Diagnosis
“Researchers are developing an electronic nose that would sniff out tuberculosis (TB) like a Breathalyzer detects alcohol, putting an end to current time-consuming tests and possibly saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year,” the Globe and Mail reports (D’Aliesio, 11/7). A team of Indian researchers is planning to have a prototype in hospitals by October 2013, after receiving a $950,000 grant on Monday from Grand Challenges Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, according to the Guardian (Tran, 11/7).
Hospitals Face Penalties If They Don’t Please Patients
In the coming months, Medicare will start taking patient satisfaction into account when reimbursing hospitals.
Cancer Specialists Struggling To Find Better Screening Tests
With new concern about whether consumers should be tested for some cancers — especially those that are slow growing — researchers are working to find more specific tests and advice that can be helpful.
South Korea Authorizes WHO To Distribute Medical Aid For Malnourished North Korean Children
“South Korea on Tuesday authorized the World Health Organization [WHO] to resume distribution of Seoul-funded medical aid to North Korea, amid growing calls for humanitarian assistance for malnourished North Korean children,” the New York Times reports (Sang-Hun, 11/8). “Seoul has authorized the WHO to release $6.94 million to equip hospitals in the North, said the official of the unification ministry, which handles cross-border ties,” Agence France-Presse writes. “Seoul decided to unblock its WHO funding ‘by taking into account its stance of maintaining its humanitarian aid for infants, children and other vulnerable people in the North, and the WHO’s request,’ [a South Korean] ministry official said on condition of anonymity,” AFP notes (11/8).
New York Times Reports On Cuba’s Role In Haiti’s Fight Against Cholera
One year after cholera was detected in Haiti, the New York Times reports on how, “[a]s the epidemic continues, the Cuban medical mission that played an important role in detecting it presses on in Haiti, winning accolades from donors and diplomats for staying on the front lines and undertaking a broader effort to remake this country’s shattered health care system.” The newspaper recaps a brief history of Cuban medical missions in Haiti since 1998 and writes, “There is no doubt that the Cuban mission has been vital here.”
