Latest KFF Health News Stories
Daschle Says GOP Might Defund Health Plan, And Other Overhaul News
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, tells Kaiser Health News that a Republican strategy to defund the health law may be an effective way for the plans opponents to unravel it.
Today’s Op-Eds: The Ongoing Debate Over Medicare Cuts; Fear of Government Meddling
A selection of today’s opinions and editorials from across the U.S.
India’s Trade Minister Says EU Will To Take Steps To Prevent Seizure Of Generic Medicines
“India believes a row with the European Union over seizures of generic drugs will be settled without litigation, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday,” Reuters reports (Lynn, 10/20).
Joint Commission: Medical Errors In Hospitals Tied To ‘Handoffs’ Of Patients
The Joint Commission has released an update on a collaborative project with 10 health systems that targets the frequent errors that happen in hospitals when a patient is handed off from one provider to another.
States address a range of health policy issues.
The Anopheles gambiae mosquito, “one of the major carriers of the malaria parasite in Sub-Saharan Africa, is evolving in two directions,” according to two studies published Thursday in the journal Science, Scientific American’s “Observations” blog reports. “Some 247 million people were infected with malaria as of 2008, according to the World Health Organization, and it is implicated in about one million deaths each year,” the blog adds (Harmon, 10/21).
“Haitian Health Ministry officials have informed the World Health Organization that 138 deaths are a part of a fast-moving cholera outbreak north of Port-au-Prince, a U.N. official said,” CNN reports. In addition to the deaths, 1,526 cases of cholera have been reported in the Lower Artibonite region, said Imogen Wall, the U.N. humanitarian spokesperson in Haiti. “This is a situation that’s developed very quickly. It’s only been 48 hours, and we’ve already got 138 deaths confirmed,” Wall said.
Massive Medicare Fraud Operation Nets Millions In Miami
Federal agents Thursday arrest four people involved in two Florida health care companies that allegedly illegally billed Medicare for millions of dollars.
“Companies and aid organizations implementing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S.-funded projects here say they are preparing to leave Afghanistan unless President Hamid Karzai amends a decree that outlaws their private security protection,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Accusing private firms of “causing civilian casualties and colluding with the Taliban,” Karzai ordered them to dissolve by 2011; he has made an exception for foreign military bases and embassies but not aid and development organizations, according to the newspaper.
Approximately 500 million small-scale farmers worldwide are going hungry because of “an explosive cocktail” of farmland speculation, environmental damages and urbanization, Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, said on Thursday, the Associated Press/Winnipeg Free Press reports (Lederer, 10/21).
Health Reform – And Opposition To It – Remains Contentious As Nov. 2 Nears
As the Nov. 2 election approaches, Americans remain divided on the health overhaul, and GOP challengers are seeking to use that to their advantage.
Sen. Grassley Asks HHS To Probe Doctors Using Excessive Prescriptions
The Republican senator writes to HHS seeking a review of doctors who write thousands of prescriptions for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
This week’s research roundup includes studies from Health Affairs, The Journal of the American Medical Association, the Archives of Surgery, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund.
First Edition: October 22, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including details of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners vote on recommendations regarding a key provision of the health law.
Diabetes And Peripheral Artery Disease Are Costly; PAD May Spur Growth in Medical Device Industry
Diabetes and peripheral artery disease cost billions each year in medical expenses. Diabetes rates are expected to double in the next 20 years, while the market for PAD-related medical devices is thriving.
New York Times Magazine Examines Individual-Initiated Foreign Aid Projects
A New York Times Magazine article by the newspaper’s Op-Ed columnist Nicolas Kristof examines a “revolution” that is “just beginning” and “might be called Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid, because it starts with the proposition that it’s not only presidents and United Nations officials who chip away at global challenges. Passionate individuals with great ideas can do the same, especially in the age of the Internet and social media.”
Malaria Deaths In India 13 Times Higher Than WHO Estimate, Study Says
“Malaria kills around 205,000 people in India each year, more than 13 times the estimate made by the World Health Organization, researchers said on Thursday,” Reuters reports (Ee Lyn, 10/20).
One poll finds the public evenly split on which party they support on health care, another finds the Democrats with an advantage. Meanwhile, Ginni Thomas’ public opposition is raising conflict-of-interest questions.
