Latest KFF Health News Stories
Advocates Worry Over ‘Super Committee’s’ Consideration Of Medicaid
Meanwhile, the health law’s individual mandate could fall prey to deficit reduction efforts. And, in the background, congressional appropriators face especially unique challenges this year in trying to get their work done.
Viewpoints: NY Times Deconstructs Health Rulings; Issa On Law & Deficit; Veterans’ Care Needs Boost
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
Prescription Drug Shortages Forcing Docs, Pharmacists To Scramble
Experts say a shortage of certain drugs has become a major crisis.
Online Health Records, Medical Devices Face IT Security Risks
Meanwhile, iWatch News reports on how the health information sector seems especially fond of lobbying’s “revolving door.”
Drug Co. Executive Gives Pharma A Sunny Forecast
But medical device companies get less love from Morgan Stanley health analysts.
Gains Against Malaria Recognized On World Mosquito Day
Sarah Kline, executive director of Malaria No More UK, writes in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog” about World Mosquito Day, which is recognized annually on August 20 to commemorate the discovery 114 years ago that female mosquitoes transmit malaria among humans.
Feds Challenge Ohio Hospital Merger
Meanwhile, the Connecticut Mirror reports on the challenges involved in maintaining a pediatric program at a general hospital.
Fla., CMS Discuss Medicaid Managed Care Options
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
New Estimates Predict Trouble For Social Security Disability Payments
The Fiscal Times reports that the trust fund that supports these payments will run out of cash in 2017, unless Congress intervenes.
HHS Approves New Round Of Waivers
The total number of health law waivers granted by the Department of Health and Human Services is now 1,472.
Congress Could Reconsider FSA Restrictions
Minnesota Public Radio reports that some bills in Congress would lift certain limits placed on flexible spending accounts and how they can be applied to certain over-the-counter medicines.
Food Aid System ‘Needs An Overhaul’
The cost of addressing the effects of drought and famine in the Horn of Africa “has soared to $2.5 billion, just to keep malnourished children alive, and the number of people requiring humanitarian aid has doubled” since “November last year, [when] it would have cost $500 million to prevent the situation from deteriorating,” Jo Khinmaung, a food security policy adviser for Tearfund, writes in the Guardian’s “Poverty Matters Blog.”
Medicare Expands Competitive Bidding Program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says this approach, which is geared toward durable medical equipment, will save billions of dollars and could become a model for other efforts to cut costs.
Economic Pressures Trigger Seniors Concern About Assisted Living Housing
While The Wall Street Journal and Kaiser Health News report on the current dark side of aging in America, The Associated Press offers insights into how baby boomer interest in countering the effects of getting older could lead to billions of dollars in spending.
Humanitarians, Policymakers To Discuss Escalating Water Scarcity And Sanitation Issues In Stockholm
“More than 2,600 humanitarians and policymakers meet in Stockholm this week to hash out ideas about how to tackle escalating problems surrounding water scarcity and access to sanitation, particularly in urban environments,” AlertNet reports.
NPR Interviews Author Of Study On Emerging HIV Epidemic Among MSM In MENA
NPR’s health blog “Shots” interviewed Laith Abu-Raddad of the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, co-author of a recent study published in PLoS Medicine that showed “[m]ore than five percent of men who have sex with men are infected by HIV in” the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), about “the challenges of researching such a taboo topic.” Abu-Raddad discusses his motivations for pursuing the study, data collection challenges and surprises in the data, the blog notes (Thrasybule, 8/19).
Climate Shifts May Threaten To Increase Spread Of Malaria, Health Experts Say
“Shifts in the world’s climate and responses to those shifts, including construction of more irrigation systems, threaten to increase the spread of malaria, health experts say,” AlertNet reports. “Because malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, its distribution patterns can be altered by changes in weather conditions, including changes in temperature, humidity, rainfall and the general availability of fresh water, said Suad Sulaiman, a malaria expert and health and environment adviser with the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences,” according to the news agency.
UNICEF Warns Horn Of Africa ‘Crisis Will Get Worse’; China Contributes $16M In Aid Funds To WFP
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake told reporters on Friday that “[m]ore than 300,000 children in the Horn of Africa are severely malnourished ‘and in imminent risk of dying’ because of drought and famine,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.
