Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Medicare And Deal-Making On The Debt – Voters Fear Result
According to a National Journal poll, voters worry that an agreement will result in cuts to Medicare and Social Security that are too deep. Meanwhile, McClatchy reports on how Medicare and the federal deficit are playing a role in this year’s PAC donations. Also, iWatch News fact checks a left-leaning ad on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal.
Somalia’s Famine Is An ‘Act Of Mass Murder’
In his latest Foreign Policy column, Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, argues that famine is a crime. Famines “don’t happen any more in any country where leaders show the slightest interest in the wellbeing of their citizenry. … In order to ensure widespread death by starvation, a governing authority must make a conscious decision: it must actively exercise the power to take food from producers who need it or deny food assistance to victims,” he writes.
Viewpoints: The Effects Of The Debt Debate; Medicare’s Birthday; N.Y. Drug Plan
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
U.N. Says Libyan Capital ‘Urgently’ Needs Humanitarian Aid
U.N. humanitarian agencies on Monday said areas of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, “urgently need humanitarian assistance, including medical treatment for injuries caused by the ongoing conflict in the North African country,” the U.N. News Centre reports.
Russia Aiming To Cut Number Of Smokers By 15% By 2050
Russia is aiming to cut the number of smokers in the country by up to 15 percent by 2050, “huge ambitions considering 40 percent of Russians light up,” VOA News reports.
New HIV Prevention Findings Delay Release Of WHO Guidelines For Discordant Couples
“Upbeat new HIV prevention findings presented last week at an international AIDS conference held in Rome have complicated attempts by the World Health Organization (WHO) to draft much-anticipated guidelines for heterosexual couples in which one partner is infected,” ScienceInsider reports.
Voters Offer Split Reactions On State Abortion Measures
In related news, The Washington Post reports on one doctor’s experiences as a physician who provides late-pregnancy abortions.
Surge Of Generics Will Trigger Drop In Drug Prices
With a number of the world’s best-selling drugs soon to go “off patent,” patients and insurers will see a reduction in prescription drug costs.
State Roundup: Funding Cut At Texas Mental Health Centers
News outlets report on a variety of state health policies.
World Food Program Plans To Begin Airlifts To Somalia This Week
The World Food Program (WFP) has said it plans to begin food airlifts by Thursday “to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago,” the Associated Press reports. The agency plans to send five tons of high-energy bars by air with more food to follow by land, the news agency notes (Straziuso, 7/25).
Report: Seniors Still Struggle With Drug Costs
The Hill reports on the findings from the Medicare Rights Center.
Calif. Governor Vetoes Adult Day Care Bill
The legislation would provide new funding to help about half the seniors and disabled residents who had been covered under an older program that the state is discontinuing.
