Latest KFF Health News Stories
Viewpoints: Prominent Republicans Against IPAB; Docs Defend Health Law; Medical Marijuana Research
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
U.N., Africa Union Appeal To International Community For Aid To Fight Drought In Horn Of Africa
During a Tuesday news conference with reporters in Geneva, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “called on countries to urgently support United Nations agencies in their efforts to respond to the crisis in the Horn of Africa, where more than 11 million people are in need of life-saving assistance as they face the worst drought in decades,” the U.N. News Centre reports. U.N. agencies have called for $1.6 billion in aid for the region, but only half of that amount has been received, according to the news service (7/12).
Big Employers Work To Weaken Insurance Mandate
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Internal Revenue Service, along with two other agencies, is in the midst of figuring out messy questions related to enforcing this health law provision. In other news, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf offers bleak predictions about future prospects of bending the curve for health care costs. He offered some suggestions for possible reductions, including rolling back the health law’s Medicaid expansion and insurance subsidies.
Insurance Commissioners Back Away From Broker Bill
The measure, which is sponsored by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and is currently pending in Congress, would exempt insurance agents’ commissions from the health law’s limits on what companies can view as administrative costs.
Political Fault Lines In Budget Discussion
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., appears to be trying to push President Barack Obama in one direction and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is standing firm on Obama’s left. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is taking a go-big-or-go-home position on the need to reach a “grand deal” on entitlement cuts and revenue raisers.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including details regarding the next moves in the ongoing budget discussion — including a “last-choice option” proposed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Obama Administration Rolls Out Rule For Health Exchanges
The proposed rule includes provisions that give states leeway on how to create these new insurance marketplaces.
Local Reaction Offers Insights Into How States View The Exchange Reg
For some states, significant questions still remain. Others are already well underway in their efforts to develop these health insurance marketplaces.
State Roundup: Minn. Shutdown’s Health, Economic Impact Significant
News outlets report on a variety of state health issues.
A selection of editorials and opinions from around the country.
Kenyan Government Should Do More To Address Alcohol As Public Health Issue
“Alcohol abuse is a mammoth public-health problem in Kenya, and the government needs to make drinking more economically painful,” Justin Martin, CLAS-Honors Preceptor of Journalism at the University of Maine and a columnist for Columbia Journalism Review, writes in a Christian Science Monitor opinion piece. Martin notes that “[i]n rural Kenyan villages, it is not uncommon to see more pubs than schools or medical clinics.” He highlights a 2010 government effort to prohibit the sale of alcohol before 5p.m., but concludes, “A more effective measure, though, would be making Kenyan men pay more for their libations when they shuffle into pubs after quitting time” (7/11).
Report: The Fed’s System To Detect Medicaid Fraud Is Inadequate
According to the AP, a new report finds that billions of dollars of fraudulent claims are paid out each year without notice.
Proposed Cuts In Medicare Pay Increase Access-To-Care Concerns
CBS News reports on how the combined impact of various proposals to reduce Medicare spending could limit patient access to physicians and health care.
NPR: IPAB Inspires Antipathy Across Party Lines
Although most agree that slowing the growth of Medicare spending is key to solving the deficit problem, the health law’s Independent Payment Advisory Board continues to draw criticism.
If Berwick Exits, Is Quality Care ‘In Jeopardy?’
The National Journal explores this issue, noting that Donald Berwick’s term as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator will end in December.
U.N. Officials Highlight Concern About Humanitarian Situation In East Africa
“U.N. officials sounded the alarm Tuesday about a deepening crisis in East Africa, saying they are struggling to cope with the number of people on the move in the region because of the severe drought and continued fighting in Somalia,” the Associated Press reports. “World Food Program Executive Director Josette Sheeran said the drought has left millions hungry, farmers at risk of losing their livelihoods and the lives of hundreds of thousands of children at risk,” the AP writes (7/12).
Budget Talks: Partisan Divisions Become More Entrenched
Included in the negotiations are proposals that would trim more than $350 billion from the federal Medicare and Medicaid health programs. Much of that would come from Medicare, where Republicans proposed to squeeze $246 billion in savings by reductions in payments for home health care, as well as increasing co-payments for laboratory services.
Gilead Becomes First Company To License Drugs To Medicines Patent Pool
“In the first agreement between a pharmaceutical company and the new international Medicines Patent Pool, Gilead Sciences announced Tuesday that it would license four of its AIDS and hepatitis B drugs to the pool,” the New York Times reports (McNeil, 7/12).
