Latest KFF Health News Stories
GHI Executive Director Addresses Global Health Community At Kaiser Family Foundation Town Hall
In her first public address since being tapped in January to serve as executive director of President Barack Obama’s Global Health Initiative (GHI), Lois Quam on Tuesday said she’s been doing “a lot of listening” to officials at the State Department, USAID, PEPFAR, CDC and other agencies about the GHI. At a town-hall event hosted at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Barbara Jordan Conference Center in Washington, D.C., Quam reflected on U.S. contributions to global health successes and acknowledged that significant work remains for improving health worldwide.
British Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell on Tuesday announced major changes to the nation’s international aid program based on a nine-month review of the agency’s policies, Reuters reports. “This government is taking a radically different approach to aid. We want to be judged on our results, not on how much money we are spending,” Mitchell said of the changes to the aid program.
Governors Seek More Help With Medicaid Costs
At a Capitol Hill hearing, GOP governors reiterated complaints about the fiscal pressures imposed by Medicaid on state budgets.
Block Grant Plan Among Medicaid Alternatives Eyed By GOP
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is among those who advocate this concept, but the Obama administration’s Medicaid chief has “shot down” the approach.
EU’s Avastin Policy: A Stark Contrast To The FDA’s Recent Decision
The Wall Street Journal reports on how the EU’s position is different from the Food and Drug Administration’s policy in the U.S.
Corporations Brace For Health Law Gains And Losses
Two corporations offer very different views of how changes resulting from the health overhaul will impact their bottom lines.
1099 Repeal Measure’s Pay-For Mechanism Triggers Democratic Concern
With a House vote scheduled for Thursday, the White House is on record opposing the “offset” used to pay for the repeal of this reporting provision included in the health law, but it also stopped short of threatening a veto. This part of the bill also may cause it to lose bipartisan support in the lower chamber.
GOP Lawmakers React To Obama’s Offer Of Flexibility For States
President Barack Obama’s announcement that he would support giving states some flexibility regarding the health law’s mandates received a cool reception from many Republicans.
Hospital Groups Express Opposition To Easing Medicaid Rules
Modern Healthcare reports that hospital organizations sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius saying that such a step would increase the number of uninsured Americans.
Roundup: States’ Angst And Anger Continues About Medicaid, Health Spending Cuts
Other stories from the states include the high cost of incapacitated prisoners in California and details of a $11.3 million payout to a Blue Cross CEO in Massachusetts.
Health Law’s Coverage Expansions Tally $118 Billion In State Costs, Republicans Say
House and Senate Republicans issued a report Tuesday in advance of a Capitol Hill hearing charging that the health law’s expansion of Medicaid will come with a cost to states that is far more than congressional auditors estimated.
Viewpoints: Obama’s ‘Flexibility’ Offer; Virginia’s Abortion Law ‘Mischief’; Primary Care Cuts
A selection of editorials and opinions from around the country.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how, at a Capitol Hill hearing, some governors switched their emphasis from the flexibility issue to focus on the need for “immediate relief” from Medicaid’s fiscal pressure.
Barbour, Other Republicans Attack Medicaid Requirements, ‘RomneyCare’
Three governors testified before the Republican-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee today, as the GOP released a report on Medicaid costs.
At the annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Boston on Monday, researchers “suggested the potential” of a gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir to reduce the risk of anal HIV transmission, TIME’s “Healthland” blog reports. With previous trials showing the gel reduced HIV vaginal infection risk, “[r]esearchers have wanted to know whether the gel could protect against anal transmission of the virus, since the risk of infection from unprotected anal sex may be more than 20 times that of unprotected vaginal sex,” according to the blog (Melnick, 2/28).
Nations Meet To Negotiate International Food Aid Terms
A group of nations are meeting in London this week to negotiate the Food Aid Convention (FAC), an “international agreement that governs food-aid commitments to hungry countries,” the Globe and Mail reports. Argentina, Australia, Canada, the European Union and its member states, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and the U.S. currently are included in the convention, which was last updated in 1999. Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa also would like FAC membership, according to the Globe and Mail.
Obama Backs State Flexibility With Health Law Mandates
In remarks to the National Governors Association, President Barack Obama signaled support for moving up to 2014 from 2017 the date when states could get waivers to create their own plans to reach the overhaul’s coverage goals.
Budget Pressures, Health Law Expansions Trigger Medicaid Skirmishes
Policy proposals – such as turning the program into state block grants unencumbered by federal requirements, as well as the continuing push by some governors to relax maintenance of eligibility standards – are at the crux of these flare-ups.
Market Demands Shape Health Sector Growth
The Wall Street Journal reports on how a string of recent acquisitions are being spurred by an increased demand for outpatient facilities and senior care. However, The Washington Post reports that some specific facilities – those that are doctor-owned, for instance – are sparking criticism.
