Latest KFF Health News Stories
VA Chief Outlines Computer System To Cut Disability Backlog
Eric Shinseki says the new system will begin operation next year and will help clear hundreds of thousands of cases, The Des Moine Register reports.
State Roundup: Texas Disability Fight; Rights Of Fetus Asserted In Neb.
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
13 Indicted For Medicare Fraud In Puerto Rico; Federal Officials Use Hotline To Find Medicaid Fraud
Officials in Puerto Rico filed over a dozen indictments for health care fraud. Meanwhile, an innovative tool is being used by federal authorities seeking 170 alleged to have fled the country to avoid charges of Medicaid fraud.
Mississippi Challenge To Health Law Will Move Forward
Elsewhere, the Washington state attorney general gets approval from his state’s supreme court for joining with other AGs to challenge the health law.
Health Care Politics: Perry’s Stem Cell Controversy, Biden Medicare Fact Check
News outlets covered Gov. Perry’s controversial stem cell advocacy and his health care stance as well as Vice President Biden’s assertions on Medicare.
“As the Walter Reed Army Medical Center decamps from its D.C. campus this month and merges with the Bethesda Naval Hospital five miles away,” NPR reports on the legacy of “the center’s Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, housed for the past decade on its own campus in Maryland, just outside Washington, [as] one of the world’s premier research centers for infectious diseases.” The piece, which is part of the news agency’s series on the closure of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, notes, “No other place has done as much to prevent and treat malaria. And certainly, no one has done it so cheaply.”
Options For ‘Super Committee’ Could Include IPAB, Tricare, Nothing At All
Several news outlets examine how the committee, tasked with cutting the federal deficit, might operate.
Feds Hold Off On Decision About Yanking Medicare Funding To Parkland
The 672-bed public hospital in Dallas had submitted a plan of action for fixing problems identified by federal regulators.
In Research World, Walter Reed Fights Malaria While New Facility Seeks To Prevent Medical Errors
Two news outlets profile Washington-area research facilities.
New Study Finds 9/11 Firefighters Have Higher Risks Of Cancer
Research published in the Lancet suggests that the firefighters who were at the World Trade Center are 19 percent more likely to get cancer than those who were not there.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Reuben Brigety, “[t]he top U.S. official for refugee issues, … says that despite intensive efforts, relief agencies have made little progress in reducing child mortality rates at refugee camps along Somalia’s border with Ethiopia,” VOA News reports. Brigety, “comment[ing] as he returned from Dollo Ado, a sprawling camp complex in Ethiopia that houses 120,000 refugees from famine-stricken southern Somalia … tells VOA that humanitarian agencies have made impressive progress in establishing health facilities and registering the backlog of refugees arriving daily from Somalia’s famine zone. But he said children are still dying at an alarming rate of malnutrition and other complications, such as measles,” the news agency writes.
WHO African Region Member States Have Challenges To Meet MDGs, WHO/AFRO Director Says
Speaking at the 61st session of the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) in Yamoussoukro, Cote d’Ivoire, on Thursday, African Regional Director of WHO Luis Sambo said “that 46 Africa member countries still had remarkable challenges to scale before meeting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” Nigeria’s The Nation reports.
New Rules Require Insurers To Justify Rate Increases Over 10%
Federal rules mandate that companies explain the hikes and submit them to regulators. Also, HHS announced that association health plans must meet the same rate scrutiny as other types of insurance.
Viewpoints: What Price For A Life?; Texas Tort Reform; Health Law And Job Creation
A selection of some opinions and editorials from around the country.
“Finland’s national health institute said on Thursday its latest research on previously found links between children’s narcolepsy and GlaxoSmithKline’s [GSK] Pandemrix vaccine against [H1N1] swine flu also involved a genetic risk factor,” Reuters reports. In Finland, where 98 narcolepsy cases have been reported following the flu vaccinations, researchers found vaccinated children ages four to 19 “had a 12.7 times higher risk of experiencing narcolepsy than those who were not,” the news agency notes (9/1).
Refugee Self-Settlement May Provide ‘Lasting’ Solution To Humanitarian Crises
In this New York Times’ “Opinionator” blog post, journalist and author Tina Rosenberg examines the contrasts between refugee situations in rural camps — such as Dadaab in Kenya, where tens of thousands have sought relief from drought and famine in Somalia — and more urban areas, such as cities in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, where approximately 1.6 million Iraqi refugees are living. “At Dadaab, [refugees] receive food, medical care, basic shelter — the emergency relief they need,” but “[t]he camp lacks the money to provide even subsistence rations” and “the refugees give up their rights to move freely and to work,” she writes. In urban areas, refugees “get help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, with an ATM card that allows them to withdraw money every month. … They buy their own food and rent their own apartments. They use the local schools and health clinics,” Rosenberg says.
