Latest KFF Health News Stories
State Roundup: Windfall For Mass. Hospitals
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
New Doc-Fix Plan Links Payment To Quality
Politco Pro reports that a proposal being considered by GOP staff on the Energy and Commerce Committee would address looming cuts with a pay-for-performance system.
Medicare’s Recovery Audit Contractor Program Collected $575.2 Million Since 2009
Modern Healthcare reports that between March and June of this year, the program brought in $233.4 million in overpayments.
Appeals Court Tosses Out Health Challenge Brought By New Jersey Docs
The opinion, which affirms the lower court’s finding, is also a reminder – according to CQ HealthBeat – that decisions still haven’t been announced in two other pending suits.
Speculation About Essential Benefits Package Takes Spotlight
As the Department of Health and Human Services works toward setting the specifics of an essential health benefits package – the minimum coverage that would be offered by plans participating in the exchanges – stakeholders are offering actuarial models and suggestions of what they think would be the best approach.
Longer Looks: Treating Down Syndrome?; Mentally Ill, Meds & Trials
Today’s selection includes articles from The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Economist, The Atlantic, National Review, American Medical News and Slate.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how lawmakers and lobbyists are lining up for the next phase of the deficit deal.
U.N. Issues Appeal For Air Cargo Space, Warns About Rising Child Mortality Among Somalis In Kenya
UNICEF on Tuesday “appeal[ed] to the air transport sector to provide free and discounted cargo space to bring emergency food supplies into the region,” the U.N. News Centre reports (8/2). UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, warned in its latest situation report that “[c]hild mortality rates among Somali refugees in Kenya are on the rise and there are ‘alarmingly high rates’ of malnutrition,” according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C (8/3).
With Deal In Place, Focus Shifts To Role Of ‘Super Committee’
This panel will be tasked with searching out more than $1 trillion in spending reductions from the mandatory-spending side of the budget, which includes Medicare and Medicaid. If they fail, automatic across-the-board cuts will be triggered.
Debt Deal’s Potential Medicare Cuts Echo Through Health Care Industry
Medicare and Medicaid advocates prepare for their luck to run out as the debt deal will likely lead to pressure on providers and could lead to family physicians, hopsitals and even elderly patients feeling the pinch.
Obama Administration Issues New Guidance On Aid To Drought-Stricken Somalia
The Obama administration on Tuesday issued new guidance stating “the U.S. would not prosecute relief agencies for delivering aid to parts of Somalia controlled by the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab, despite concerns that unrestricted aid in the failed state would be diverted to the wrong hands,” Inter Press Service reports (Hough, 8/2).
Children Of Depressed Mothers In Developing Countries Less Likely To Thrive, Report Says
“Children of depressed mothers in developing countries are 40 percent more likely to be underweight or stunted than those with mothers in good mental health,” according to a report published in the August edition of the WHO Bulletin, Reuters reports. “The analysis was based on 17 studies of nearly 14,000 mothers and their small children carried out in Africa, Asia, and South America and the Caribbean,” according to the news agency.
State Roundup: Moving Vets Off Medicaid; San Fran. Grapples With Loophole
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
U.S., Western Governments Can Help Prevent ‘Mass Starvation’ In Somalia
With the State Department’s reassurance to aid groups on Tuesday that they “will not face prosecution if they are forced to pay bribes to al-Shabab or if militants divert some food supplies,” organizations still have “the problem of gaining access to famine victims and ensuring the safety of their personnel, a number of whom have been murdered by the militants,” a Washington Post editorial says. “But the crisis may be causing al-Shabab’s cohesion to break down; some commanders have been cutting deals with aid organizations to receive food supplies,” the editorial states.
Viewpoints: Geithner, Bowles, Simpson, Ryan, Vladeck, Wilensky On Health Spending And The Deficit
A selection of opinions from prestigious authors.
Insurance Rate Reviews Pick Up Momentum
Regulators at the state and federal levels are stepping up oversight of health insurance rate increases.
‘Political Resolve’ Needed To End World Hunger
“[A]s the worst drought in 60 years again devastates the Horn of Africa, throwing as many as 12 million into desperate hunger
N.H. Says Group That Administers Insurance For Cities Owes $100 Million
State investigators say the Local Government Center is required by law to return the surplus to the cities.
Survey Finds Employers Expanding Coverage Under Reform
A new survey finds that employers are providing benefits to a growing number of people, particularly as employee benefits are extended to cover workers’ adult children – a provision of the health law. In related news, Senate Republicans are calling for standardized rules on child-only health plans to encourage more activity in the area because many companies left this market as a result of the health overhaul’s requirements.
New Leadership At HHS Insurance Exchange Office
Steve Larson will join forces with another HHS official to oversee exchange planning. Meanwhile, Julie Appleby provides an exchanges primer.
