Latest KFF Health News Stories
Senate Dems Pitch Long-Term Spending Bill
The measure does not include language to prevent funding for health law implementation or Planned Parenthood.
Republicans’ proposed foreign aid cuts could damage food security programs in the developing world and create social instability requiring U.S. military intervention, advocates and government officials said on Thursday at a Capitol Hill event addressing hunger and rising food prices, Agence France-Presse reports (Zeitvogel, 3/3).
WHO Concerned About Potential Disease Epidemics Among Libyan Refugees In Tunisia
Disease epidemics threaten tens of thousands of refugees who have fled the violence in Libya and crossed over into southern Tunisia, Eric Laroche, WHO assistant director-general for Health Action in Crises, said at a news briefing on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports.
Judge Stays Ruling Against Health Law, Sets Deadline For White House To Appeal
A federal judge in Florida issued a stay regarding his own January ruling in which he overturned the health law. However, this breathing room is only temporary – he also put the health law on the fast track to the Supreme Court.
House Votes To Repeal Health Law’s Tax Reporting Requirement
Lawmakers continue to be at odds over how to pay for the repeal of this provision, which was originally included in the overhaul as a means to raise revenue to pay for it.
WSJ: A Windfall For HCA Investors
Meanwhile, a report by Health Care For America Now details profits for the nation’s five largest insurers and draws a strong reaction from the industry.
Family Left On Sideline In Health Care Crisis
The New York Times reports that, in one particular situation requiring end-of-life care and decision making, the patient’s immigrant status added additional complexity.
Major Providers Of Prison Medical Care Set To Merge
Modern Healthcare reports that the development will combine two of the largest prison health care companies in the nation.
New Turf Battle: Retail Pharmacists Vs. Mail Order Companies
The New York Times reports on this marketplace tension.
House Republicans Continue Budget Assault On Health Law
Hearings are scheduled next week to develop legislation to make it possible to defund the health law by redesignating the related spending from “mandatory” to “discretionary.”
GOP Focus Remains Tight On Reforming Medicare, Entitlement Programs
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has made clear his determination to address this issue – The Wall Street Journal is reporting that he has even assured President Barack Obama that he will give him “cover” if he makes a proposal to cut entitlement spending.
Senate Republicans Urge White House To Withdraw Berwick Nomination
The Obama administration used a “recess appointment” last July to appoint Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Yesterday, 42 GOP senators signed on to a letter asking that this appointment be withdrawn.
ACOs: FTC Member Says Health Law ‘Centerpiece’ Needs Clarification
An FTC official is urging the Obama administration to clarify antitrust issues related to accountable care organizations, Bloomberg reports.
Sebelius, GOP Face Off At House Hearing
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stuck to the usual talking points Wednesday as she appeared before a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee in defense of implementation of the health law and the president’s budget request for her agency. She also told Republicans that that there is no system by which Medicaid block grants can be created.
Research Roundup: Hospital Infections And Costs; Prescription Confusion; Medicaid And Access To Care
A roundup of research from the Archives of Internal Medicine, the CDC, The Urban Institute, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
A selection of editorials and opinions from around the country.
State Roundup: After Vinson Stay, Alaska To Implement Health Law
Health care news from across the country.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that a Florida federal judge issued a stay of his own, earlier ruling regarding the health law, clearing the way for it’s implementation — for now — but also making clear that the appeals process should move forward at an expedited rate.
Vinson Issues Stay Of His Earlier Health Law Ruling
Fla. Judge Roger Vinson issues a clarification on his ruling about the health care law, signaling that the implementation of the measure can continue provided that the government expedite its appeal.
New World Bank Strategy Shifts Focus To Building African Economies
A new World Bank plan for Africa aims to expand economies and increase job growth, “while also tackling problems of climate change, disease, food shortages and conflict,” Reuters reports (Wroughton, 3/3). The approach, which was endorsed by the bank’s board of executive directors on Tuesday, “shifts from a more general focus” aimed at improving economic stability and fundamentals to targeting “three key areas such as competitiveness and employment,” Xinhua writes (Mutai, 3/2).
