Latest KFF Health News Stories
First Edition: January 12, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how the congressional health debate might proceed in the wake of last weekend’s violence and more details on New York’s Medicaid challenges.
Reuters Examines Food Prices In Africa
Reuters examines food prices in Africa after the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization last week said its global Food Price Index hit a record high. “The United Nations may have sounded the alarm about soaring global food prices, but in Africa a string of bumper harvests and a changing diet means the political fallout may be more muted than to past price bumps,” the news service reports.
Antibodies Produced By People Who Recovered From H1N1 Offer Clues For Universal Flu Vaccine
The antibodies produced by individuals who fought off H1N1 (swine flu) infection last year may bring researchers one step closer to their quest to develop a “universal” flu vaccine, U.S. researchers said Monday, HealthDay News/Bloomberg Businessweek reports. As the researchers from Emory University and the University of Chicago report in the Jan. 10 issue of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, “people who were infected with the H1N1 virus and recovered had a special immune response, producing antibodies that protect against a wide variety of flu strains,” the news service writes (1/10).
U.N. Has ‘Largely’ Met Its Goals In Haiti Since The Quake, Official Says
The U.N. has mostly achieved its short-term goals since a major earthquake struck Haiti on January 12, 2010, Nigel Fisher, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Haiti, said during a video teleconference on Monday, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.
Lancet Series Examines Health Challenges In India
“Indians are growing richer, but they are also adopting unhealthy lifestyles that could take years off their lives and threaten economic growth,” according to an article published in Lancet Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports (1/11).
With Repeal Still On The Table, Health Debate Detente Expected To Be Temporary
Lawmakers’ face the challenge of tempering their rhetoric in the wake of the Tucson shootings, but people on both sides of the aisle say this “timeout” is likely only to be temporary.
Legal Decision May Foreshadow Supreme Court’s View Of Key Health Law Provision
Experts are reviewing a recent ruling by the Supreme Court which involved the Commerce Clause, the central point in pending challenges to the health overhaul.
Roundup: Calif., Conn. Plan Budget Cuts; Md. Implements Health Reform; Boston Ambulances ‘Heavy Up’
States in the news include California, Maryland, Connecticut, Michigan and Massachusetts.
More States Join Lawsuit Challenging The Health Law
As power shifts at the state level, news outlets report that Georgia, Ohio and Wisconsin are joining the multi-state challenge.
Pro And Con: Varying Perspectives On The Overhaul
While Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, detailed what he sees as flaws in the health overhaul, Obama administration advisor Nancy-Ann DeParle defended the measure.
Major Players Join In Collaboration To Encourage New Medical Technologies
The Washington Post reports on a new effort between the Cleveland Clinic and MedStar.
Advisers Poised To Determine Which Insurance Benefits Are ‘Essential’
Meetings begin this week to determine what benefits insurers must cover under the new health law. The resulting regulation will be just one of the ways in which the new health law will change the health care landscape.
Digital Medical Records Continue To Trigger Difficult Issues
News outlets report on challenges associated with the effort to go digital in the next five years.
WSJ: After Years Of Decline, Abortion Rate Rises
Factors ranging from a plateau rather than decreases in teenage pregnancies to the recession may be playing a role.
Researchers: Docs Often Use Treatments That Have Little Scientific Support
Even medical guidelines are often based on little or no scientific evidence.
First Edition: January 11, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how a recent high court ruling may offer clues as to how the Supreme Court will view a key aspect of the health overhaul law.
CQ Looks At Plans For House Foreign Affairs Committee To Evaluate U.N. Programs
CQ Today examines how Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), House Foreign Affairs Committee chair, “has vowed to use her new [position] to take on the U.N. and some of its more controversial practices.” Ros-Lehtinen scheduled a public briefing titled ‘The United Nations: Urgent Problems that Need Congressional Action’ Jan. 12, during which the “committee will hear from a host of groups long critical of the U.N., including the Heritage Foundation and U.N. Watch,” according to the news service.
Aid Groups, U.N., U.S. Discuss Response To Haiti’s Earthquake As Year Anniversary Approaches
On Friday, the Office of the U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti said that 63.6 percent of the aid international donors “pledged to Haiti in 2010 after a devastating earthquake nearly one year ago” has been disbursed, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports (1/7).
