Latest KFF Health News Stories
Provider Groups Weigh In With Supreme Court On Calif. Medicaid Case
In other Medicaid news, Texas switches its Medicaid recipients to cards instead of using monthly proof-of-coverage letters to save cash while some advocates worry that children’s health could be at risk.
Maternal Mortality Rate Quadruples in South Africa, According To Human Rights Watch Report
“South Africa’s maternal mortality rate has quadrupled while most African countries have cut that crucial health indicator
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the impact of Standard & Poor’s downgrade on the challenge ahead for ‘super committee’ when it tries to take on entitlement spending.
Turning From Debt Debate, Some GOP House Members Renew Health Law Attack
The Hill reports on town hall meetings held by members of Congress at home during the August break where the health overhaul is a key topic again.
S & P Downgrade Puts Pressure On ‘Super Committee’ To Fix Entitlements
News outlets connected Friday’s Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the country’s credit rating to AA+, instead of AAA, to the partisan debt deal.
Lancet Reports On Global Fund Donors That Have Held Back Contributions
Several donors to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria “continue to hold back their contributions for this year
Delays In Procuring Food Aid, Funding Hampering Relief Efforts In Somalia, Aid Agencies Say
“Famine relief efforts in Somalia are being hampered as much by delays in procuring food aid and raising funds as by difficulties in accessing Islamist-controlled areas, according to humanitarian organizations working there,” the Guardian reports. Staff from several aid agencies working within al-Shabab-controlled areas “say the major problem in responding to the crisis is the time it is taking to buy food abroad and to transport it to the worst-hit areas,” the newspaper writes (Rice, 8/4).
U.S. Should Demand Human Rights-Based Approach To HIV Prevention Programs In Uganda
“Uganda has sometimes been considered a success story in fighting HIV and has been a darling of international donors,” including the U.S., which “has poured over $1 billion into the country for AIDS programs. But throughout Uganda there are people
Foreign Aid Being ‘Held Up’ By Congress
In a Foreign Policy opinion piece, FP staff writer Josh Rogin lists foreign aid as one of “the top eight foreign-policy items currently held up by the do-nothing 112th Congress.” According to Rogin, “Everyone agrees that the foreign aid system is broken. Over-outsourcing, poor monitoring, and a lack of cohesion and accountability have plagued the U.S. aid system for decades. However, nobody in Congress agrees on exactly how to fix it.
Global Fund Donations Needed To Support Scaling Up AIDS Treatment
With the new knowledge that providing antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to people living with HIV “contribut[es] to a sharp slowdown in the spread of the virus,” “scaling up treatment now may prove to be the least expensive option if we want to bring this deadly pandemic, which still infects 1.8 million people every year, under control,” Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria writes in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog.”
Sebelius, Berwick Tout Drop In Medicare Rx Costs
News outlets heavily covered the announcement from HHS that Part D beneficiaries will pay less next year.
Pentagon Officials Urge Lawmakers To Find Savings In Medicare
As the yet-to-be-named members of the debt deal’s ‘super committee’ set to work, Pentagon officials say deep cuts in defense spending will place the nation’s security at risk. Meanwhile, one of the defense budget’s fastest growing line items is health care costs.
“Every year, hospitals in America throw away thousands of tons of usable medical supplies and equipment
USDA Scientists Develop New Food Aid Product
Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) “have developed a fully cooked food-aid product called Instant Corn Soy Blend [ICSB] that supplements meals, particularly for young children,” a USDA news story reports (Bliss, 8/4).
USAID GeoCenter To Use Satellite Imagery, On-The-Ground Reports To Inform Aid Disbursement
USAID officials are in the early stages of planning a Geospatial Intelligence Center, or GeoCenter, that will combine information from “satellite imagery and on-the-ground surveys and reports to cut down on field-based work and give the agency a better sense of where development dollars can do the most good,” Nextgov reports.
A selection of opinions and editorials, mostly from California.
Mass. Hospitals Get Medicare Funding Lift, Lots Of Criticism
The state’s hospitals will get $275 million more a year in Medicare payments because of a special provision inserted in the health law. Critical reactions are coming from both inside and outside of Massachusetts.
