Latest KFF Health News Stories
Capsules: A Special Kind Of Health Care Fantasy Fulfilled?
Aetna, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealthcare have agreed to provide their claims data to a new nonprofit research initiative.
Three Reports Evaluate Global Progress To Meet MDGs 4 And 5
Three recent reports — a one-year assessment released by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) of the WHO on Tuesday, an analysis by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington published on Tuesday in the Lancet, and a Save the Children report released on Monday entitled “No Child out of Reach” — examine the progress of the global campaign to save mothers and children under five in developing nations and evaluate whether Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, reducing child mortality by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 and maternal deaths by three-quarters over the same period, can be met.
Pakistan Officials Move To Contain Dengue Epidemic That Has Infected Thousands
“On top of a raging insurgency and devastating seasonal floods, Pakistan is reeling from a particularly acute outbreak of dengue fever that has left local authorities scrambling to contain the epidemic” and has put a strain on the health care system, the Washington Post reports, adding that the disease “has already infected thousands across the country and killed as many as two dozen people.” Local government officials have “reacted frantically to the daily increase of cases with a series of measures including school closures, free treatment for dengue patients and large fumigation drives. But some say the response is inadequate and authorities should have focused more efforts on prevention,” the newspaper writes.
Polio In Pakistan Prompts India To Implement Border Crossing Vaccination Campaign
Officials in Pakistan on Monday “announced targeted, three-day anti-polio campaigns in affected areas, which include Karachi and districts in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas,” the Wall Street Journal’s “India Real Time” blog reports. According to the Global Eradication Initiative, led by the WHO, 84 cases of type 1 polio have been reported in Pakistan so far this year, nearly twice as many cases as the country had recorded by this time last year, according to the blog.
Global Health Experts Discuss Curbing Rise Of NCDs At Washington Post Live Event
The Washington Post reports on an event hosted last week by Washington Post Live, the division of the newspaper that organizes forums and debates, which brought together a number of attendees of the U.N. summit on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) wrapping up today in New York, as well as other key thinkers on global health, to discuss curbing the rise of NCDs. The newspaper includes links to commentary from several attendees at the event, including Julio Frenk, dean of faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health; Nils Daulaire, director of the Office of Global Health Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services ; Ann Keeling, chief executive of the International Diabetes Federation and chair of the NCD Alliance; and Stephen Morrison, senior vice president of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, among others.
Obama Plan Includes $320 Billion In Medicare, Medicaid Cuts Over 10 Years
The squeeze will be felt by future Medicare recipients, in reduced payments to drug companies and hospitals, and with higher costs to states. And, though many parts of the health sector are grumbling about the proposal, some health advocates say the president’s vision is less painful than some of the ideas that have recently been on the table.
Politics, Posturing Swirl Around Obama Plan
President Barak Obama made clear that any cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid had to be accompanied by increased taxes for wealthy people and corporations. Many news outlets are analyzing the impact of the line in the sand he drew on the issues.
World Leaders Should Commit To Closing Health Care Worker Gap
Recent U.N. statistics showing a drop in child mortality are both good and bad, because the number of child deaths continues to drop, but “progress isn’t reaching all families around the world, and it isn’t reaching newborn babies as often as older children,” Joy Lawn, director of Global Evidence and Policy for Save the Children’s Saving Newborn Lives program, writes in a GlobalPost opinion piece. While the knowledge and technology exist to save lives, “too often, there is simply no one equipped to deliver basic lifesaving care to families who need it most. More than anything else, babies and children die for lack of frontline health workers,” she writes.
Test To Properly Diagnose Fever In Children Needed ‘Desperately’
“[F]ar too many children in Kenya and other African countries continue to suffer unnecessarily each year due to the misdiagnosis of fever, which contributes to the deaths of nearly three million children of less than five years of age from malaria and pneumonia,” Willis Akhwale, head of Kenya’s Department of Disease Prevention and Control in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, writes in a Daily Nation opinion piece, saying that health care workers “desperately need a test that can quickly and accurately identify and distinguish between fever-causing diseases.”
World Leaders Unanimously Approve NCD Political Declaration
World leaders attending the first-ever U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) kicked off the summit on Monday by “unanimously approving a ‘political declaration’ meant to stem a rising tide of [NCDs], now the world’s leading killer,” CNN reports (Ariosto, 9/19). The declaration “call[s] for a multi-pronged campaign by governments, industry and civil society to set up by 2013 the plans needed to curb the risk factors behind the four groups of NCDs — cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes,” according to the U.N. News Centre.
A new analysis (.pdf) conducted by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, the Evidence to Policy Initiative at the University of California-San Francisco, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative “warns that if the countries that have produced impressive reductions in malaria cut or stop control activities, malaria will rapidly resurge and a decade of progress will have been in vain,” BMJ News reports.
U.N. Set To Announce Expansion Of ‘Every Woman Every Child’ Program
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday is expected “to announce a significant expansion of the organization’s ambitious global program to tackle infant and maternal mortality and boost access to reproductive health over coming years,” the Financial Times reports. The announcement “will highlight the doubling of commitments from governments, the private sector and non-profit organizations on funding and policy initiatives for the ‘Every Woman Every Child’ program,” the newspaper writes (Raval et al., 9/19). The announcement comes “[a]s the U.N. General Assembly opens a new session” and is “being called on [by the international community] to provide more family planning services to hundreds of millions of women,” according to VOA News (DeCapua, 9/19).
Foreign Affairs Examines History Of Negotiations On NCD Political Declaration
Foreign Affairs on Tuesday published an analysis examining the history of negotiations behind the political declaration approved on Monday by leaders attending the U.N. High-level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
State Roundup: Brownback Blasted For Rejecting Federal Grant
News outlets report on a variety of health policy topics in the states.
Kansas Medicaid ‘Imperiled,’ Says Lt. Governor
Meanwhile, an audit finds La. Medicaid providers received improper payments; Texas pharmacists are lining up against the state’s push to put more people in Medicaid managed care; and payment arrangements for Connecticut’s Medicaid medical homes programs are drawing debate.
New Organ Donation Rules Under Consideration
The Washington Post reports that the changes being discussed are controversial and have triggered concerns.
Big Monthly Premium Hikes Likely Next Year For Medicare Rx Plans
According to a study by Avalere Health, seniors with the most popular plans will experience an increase in costs, even though monthly premiums on average are expected to go down next year.
GOP Presidential Hopeful Rick Perry’s Record On Women’s Health Scrutinized
As the GOP presidential primary campaign continues to heat up, news outlets focus on Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s state policy record: An NPR report today examines his funding for women’s health. Meanwhile, Michele Bachmann offers her take on employer-sponsored health insurance.
