Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare Part D Ups Patient Compliance, Reduces Hospital Costs
The findings, which were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested that for seniors, access to affordable prescription drugs would reduce their need for emergency and short-term nursing care.
India Plans To Establish Central Foreign Aid Agency To Fight Corruption, Cut Costs
India plans to establish a central foreign aid agency, “believed to be modeled on” USAID, “to prevent funds from being misused and delays in aid delivery,” the Guardian reports. “The agency will reportedly be called the Indian Agency for Partnership in Development, overseeing $11.3bn (Rs 50,000 crore) over the next five to seven years,” the newspaper writes.
U.N. Warns 3.5M Kenyans Will Need Food Aid By September
The U.N. on Tuesday said approximately 3.5 million Kenyans will need food aid by September due to drought, “while European officials warned such crises would flare up again unless more money was directed at prevention efforts,” Reuters reports (Obulutsa/Migiro, 7/26). VOA News examined how “food security experts are looking for lessons from severe droughts of the past, when worst case scenarios were avoided” (Colombant, 7/26).
World Bank Urges China To Address NCDs Or Face Economic Consequences
In a report (.pdf) released on Tuesday, the World Bank urged China to step up its efforts to fight non-communicable diseases (NCDs), “the main cause of death in the country, warning of rising health expenditure and an economic slowdown if rapid action is not taken,” Reuters reports.
U.S. Should Address Sex-Selective Abortions
The contentious nature of abortion in American politics is “distracting U.S. policymakers from what should be the real conversation in a country that leads the world in human reproductive technology: whether to allow parents to use a growing range of methods to select for characteristics like sex (or diseases that come on late in life and, perhaps one day, IQ) in their children. Because sex selection is not just a developing world problem
Des Moines Hospital Faces Review; $9 Million Hospital Bill In Tampa
In state hospital news, federal regulators have ordered Iowa officials to study the Mercy Medical Center, and Florida officials say a Tampa hospital has filed a $9.2 million claim against the estate of a former patient. In other news, officials begin the process of closing Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
New Report Is Setback For 9/11 Responders And Cancer Costs
The report concluded that medical research does not prove that those working at the World Trade Center disaster site have an increased risk of developing certain forms of cancer.
State Roundup: Cuomo’s N.Y. Home Health Reform Spurs Complaints
News outlets report on a variety of state health issues.
Two Large Insurers Profit By Americans’ Postponement Of Care
Meanwhile, HCA Holdings reported lower-than-expected earnings because of the consumer trend in which people are foregoing surgery because of the economy.
As They Age, Some Women Face Retirement Nightmare
The Fiscal Times reports that the number of adult children who provide personal care or financial assistance has more than tripled, with many people living longer with chronic conditions than in the past.
Moody’s: States Face Medicaid Budget Issues, Cuts Will Affect Hospitals
Modern Healthcare reports that hospital reimbursements – because of the end of the enhanced federal matching rate that became law as part of the 2009 stimulus package – will be pinched. In addition, congressional action and the federal debt debate is also causing concern at the state level.
Consumers Would Pay More For Insurance That Caters To Their Needs
The Hill reports that findings from this survey, which was conducted by Accenture, offered insights into how much consumers value customer service in regard to health insurance.
Bill Introduced To Increase Medigap MLR
The AARP endorsed the measure, introduced in both the House and Senate, which in 2014 would require Medigap insurers to spend 85 percent of every premium dollar in the group market (80 percent in the individual market) on medical care.
CIA’s Use Of Vaccine Program To Hunt Bin Laden Hurt U.S. Health Diplomacy
“The incoming C.I.A. director, David Petraeus, ought to impose clear restrictions and prohibitions on medically oriented spy tactics so that the integrity and humanitarian purpose of U.S. health aid are affirmed and that current and future health aid operations will not be misused,” Jack Chow, a former U.S. global AIDS ambassador and assistant director-general of the WHO, writes in a New York Times opinion piece responding to reports that the U.S. used a vaccination campaign in Pakistan to help locate Osama bin Laden. Chow also recommends that Congress “investigate the Pakistan operation and determine whether agency leaders weighed broader policy sensitivities or the ethical implications of using a medical based tactic to gain intelligence.”
Brooklyn Drugstores Accused Of Medicare Part D Fraud
The Wall Street Journal reports that the stores demonstrated a very high volume of claims.
Pharmaceutical Companies’ Profit Protection Hurts Global AIDS Fight
In her latest piece on the New York Times’ “Opinionator” blog, author and journalist Tina Rosenberg argues that the terms of Gilead’s recent agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool is “confirmation of a dangerous new trend: middle-income countries as a target market for drug makers.” “The new strategy is to treat people in Egypt, Paraguay, Turkmenistan or China
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the latest developments related to efforts to raise the debt ceiling, as well as reports about health policy news from the states.
As Debt-Ceiling Disputes Continue, Entitlements Haunt Discussion
President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner each delivered prime time addresses last night, capping an extraordinary day of partisan debt-ceiling dueling.
