Latest KFF Health News Stories
Hospital Groups Fight Over Patients
News outlets report on a variety of issues affecting hospitals and doctors.
House GOP Plans Vote On Canceling Health Bill Provision On Medical Education
House Republicans plan another vote on a bill to roll back a spending provision of the health law. Plus some question whether Senate candidate Tommy Thompson is out of step with other Republicans on health care reform, and what OMB’s role was in the latest ACO regs.
Roundup: Kan. Lawmakers Promise Exchange Blueprint; Calif. Anti-Fraud Measure Faces Opposition
Reports from around the nation on state health policy issues.
Use Of Generics Rising Quickly
The National Journal and NPR look at different ways the cost of drugs is affecting consumers.
5 Faculty Members At Stanford Medical School Disciplined
School says the employees violated policy by giving paid promotional speeches for drug companies.
Texas, Minnesota Lawmakers Advance Abortion Bills
News outlets report on abortion bills working their way through the legislatures in Texas and Minnesota.
Ryan Medicare Plan May Split GOP As Senators Prepare To Vote On It
In the meantime, Ryan’s plan to voucherize Medicare picked up a boost from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops president, who commended Ryan for the plan. Democrats said, however, that the plan will hurt seniors immediately.
This week’s studies come from the Kaiser Family Foundation, Health Affiars, the PwC Health Research Institute, the Journal Of The American Medical Association, Academic Pediatrics and the Commonwealth Fund.
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said Thursday it would help 10 countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus to preserve 25 million hectares of cultivated farmland from a “locust crisis” that is threatening food security for 20 million people, Agence France-Presse reports.
Insurers Must Justify Double-Digit Rate Increases
Despite opposition from insurers, HHS finalizes a rule stipulating that health insurance premium increases greater than 10 percent will trigger scrutiny.
Kenyan HIV/AIDS Advocates Ask Government To Boost Health Funding
IRIN/PlusNews reports that hundreds of Kenyan HIV/AIDS advocates took to the streets of Nairobi on Wednesday “to demand that the government meet its commitment to increase annual health and HIV funding.”
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations include reports on an Obama adminstration rule for scrutinizing health insurance rate increases.
HHS Issues Finalized Health Insurance Rate Review Regulation
The rule’s effective date, which was initially slated for July, has been delayed until September.
Water Shortages Most Extreme In Middle East, African Regions, Report Says
“Water shortages are worst in Africa and the Middle East, and the hardest hit are nations in the Gulf, including Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to a study released Wednesday by risk analysis firm Maplecroft,” the Associated Press reports in an article examining the firm’s “Water Stress Index.”
OPINION: U.S. Administration Must Address Humanitarian Situation In Haiti
Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), Donald Payne (D-N.J.), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) write in a Huffington Post opinion piece that the “increasing gravity of the situation” of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Haiti “requires an urgent response. This is why we and 50 other members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking the U.S. administration to ‘take decisive action’ and ‘work with the incoming government of Haiti and the international community to ensure that the rights and vital needs of IDP communities are addressed in a timely and efficient manner. … In short, an already intolerable situation is about to get worse. Swift, efficient action is needed if we are to avoid another full-fledged humanitarian crisis” (5/17).
Bill To Expand Reproductive Health Services In The Philippines Introduced In Country’s Congress
A reproductive health bill introduced Tuesday in the House of Representatives in the Philippines “would require the government to provide information on family planning methods, make contraceptives available free of charge and introduce reproductive health and sexuality classes in schools,” the Associated Press/Seattle Times reports, noting the scope of controversy surrounding this issue.
African LGBT Advocates Warn Against Cutting Multilateral Aid To Uganda
At a World Bank panel discussion in Washington, D.C., on homophobia in developing countries, LGBT advocates from Africa expressed concern that if multilateral development organizations cut aid to Uganda in protest of attempts to make homosexual acts crimes punishable by death, the human rights situation for them could worsen, the Washington Blade reports.
New York Times Examines DDT Use In Uganda
“In the Apac region of Uganda, the United States focused on two conflicting agendas: developing organic farming and eradicating malaria, ultimately affecting the livelihoods of tens of thousands of farmers. … Now Uganda’s constitutional court is expected to hear a case brought by a Ugandan environmental organization against the government that asserts that officials failed to meet W.H.O. standards for using DDT, including failure to properly prepare the local population,” the New York Times writes in a story looking at the challenges associated with the use of DDT for malaria control in Uganda.
China’s HIV/AIDS-related mortality has dropped from 39.3 per 100 person-years in 2002 to 14.2 in 2009, or 64 percent, since the nation began providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 2002, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and published online Wednesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases, the New York Times reports (McNeil, 5/18).
