Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare Costs Will Increase With Weight Of Baby Boomers
A new AP-LifeGoesStrong.com poll finds that baby boomers are losing the weight game, and that it will spell trouble for the health care system.
Ramped-Up Anti-Fraud Efforts Trigger Significant Jump In Prosecutions
USA Today reports that the number of prosecutions so far this year marks a 24 percent increase over the total for all of fiscal year 2010.
Dems, Union Activists Flex Medicare Muscle At Town Hall Meetings
The Washington Post’s The Fix reports that, according to a Pew poll, nearly eight in 10 Americans have been paying attention this August to the rowdy issues and answers at these events.
First Edition: August 30, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report about a new federal and state program that will apply scrutiny to any health-premium increase of more than 10 percent.
GOP Presidential Hopeful Rick Perry On Health Issues
In analyzing Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s health record, medical malpractice reform is one of the issues he appears to be most passionate about.
For NAIC, Some Signals Suggest Broker Bill Is Losing Traction
The Hill reports that a spokeswoman for the chairman of the NAIC’s Professional Health Insurance Advisors Task Force said no major action on the issue was planned for the group’s conference. In other news, MSNBC reports that, as insurance prices rise, options appear to diminish, creating questions about how much relief the health law will provide. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel explores health reform’s winners and losers.
State Roundup: Calif. Ruling May Extend Mental Health Coverage
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
Kassebaum Reflects On HIPAA’s Impact
A Modern Healthcare reporter talked with former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., about HIPAA, which was signed into law Aug. 21, 1996.
Medicaid News: Texas Dental Costs; Ill. Providers Hesitant On Managed Care
Across the states, Medicaid spending and costs are being examined.
‘Super Committee’ Members Have Demonstrated Streaks Of Independence
The AP reports that this circumstance may help the deficit panelists craft a compromise.
CMS: Insurers Need To Create Plans For Dual Eligibles
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule last week that detailed how Medicare Advantage insurers must develop individualized plans to coordinate care for some in this expensive, special needs population.
Vitamin A Supplements Could Save The Lives Of 600,000 Children A Year, Researchers Say
“Giving vitamin A supplements to children under the age of five in developing countries could save 600,000 lives a year, researchers claim” in a paper published Thursday in the British Medical Journal, BBC News reports. “UK and Pakistani experts assessed 43 studies involving 200,000 children, and found deaths were cut by 24 percent if children were given the vitamin … And they say taking it would also cut rates of measles and diarrhea,” the news agency writes.
Viewpoints: Spotlight On Insurance Industry; Local Health Costs Rising; Obesity Debate
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
Disappearance Of Mosquitoes From Some Parts Of Africa Puzzles Researchers
“Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are disappearing in some parts of Africa, … indicat[ing] controls such as anti-mosquito bed nets are having a significant impact on the incidence of malaria in some sub-Saharan countries,” researchers report in a paper published in Malaria Journal, according to BBC News. But the team of Danish and Tanzanian “researchers say mosquitoes are also disappearing from areas with few controls,” and “[t]hey are uncertain if mosquitoes are being eradicated or whether they will return with renewed vigor,” the news agency writes (McGrath, 8/26).
Smarter Health Care Spending Key, According To Harvard Study
Economists take on health care spending issues in presentations before the Fed’s August meeting in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Few Treatment Options For Growing Population Of Drug Users In Afghanistan
The New York Times examines the “growing drug addiction problem” in Afghanistan, where, in 2010, about 900,000 people, or seven percent of the adult population, were using drugs, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. The newspaper notes “a recent report by the Ministry of Public Health in partnership with Johns Hopkins University … found HIV present in about seven percent of drug users, double the figure just three years ago, said Dr. Fahim Paigham, who until recently directed the Ministry of Public Health’s AIDS control program.”
Money Alone Cannot Fix Russia’s ‘Demographic Crisis’
Russia “is in a demographic crisis, shedding 2.2 million people (or 1.6 percent of the population) since 2002, and the government is trying to encourage more women to bring Russian citizens into the world,” journalist Natalia Antonova writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece, in which she describes her experience with the Russian medical system after “unexpectedly” becoming pregnant shortly after receiving her visa to work in Moscow.
Iranian HIV Physician Released From Tehran Prison
“Iranian HIV doctor Arash Alaei has been released from jail in Tehran after spending more than three years behind bars for allegedly conspiring against the regime, his U.S.-based brother said Monday,” Agence France-Presse reports (Sheridan, 8/29).
FAO Warns Mutant Form Of H5N1 Bird Flu Poses Threat To Asia
“The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Monday warned about a new mutant strain of the deadly bird flu H5N1 virus in China and Vietnam, saying there could be a ‘major resurgence’ of the disease,” Agence France-Presse reports. In a statement, FAO “said it was concerned about ‘the appearance in China and Vietnam of a variant virus able to sidestep the defenses provided by existing vaccines,’ adding that the new strain was known as H5N1 – 2.3.2.1,” the news agency notes. The organization said the virus, which can be spread by wild bird migration, “poses a direct threat to Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia as well as endangering the Korean peninsula and Japan” (8/29).
