Latest KFF Health News Stories
Issuing First Report On NTDs, WHO Aims For ‘Complete Control’ By 2015
The WHO “said on Thursday that it was aiming for ‘complete control’ by 2015 of tropical diseases that affect one billion impoverished people” and kill an esitmated 534,000 people each year, Agence France-Presse reports (10/14).
Medicare Actuary Says Changes In Advantage Plans Will Mean Higher Cost For Some Seniors
Politico reports that Richard Foster, the actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, has found in an analysis that the health law will mean increased costs for seniors in Medicare Advantage plans.
World Food Prize Recipients Call For Investment In Agriculture In Developing Countries
The 2010 World Food Prize recipients “say it’s no time for the United States to back off a historic pledge to invest in boosting the production of the world’s poorest farmers,” the Des Moines Register reports (Brasher, 10/14).
Reuters Examines Experts’ Concerns About Global Polio Eradication Effort
Reuters examines the global effort to eradicate polio and how failure to eliminate the disease could affect future global health undertakings. “Global health and vaccines experts say they have polio ‘on the ropes,’ but are frustrated that the goal of eradicating it continues to elude them more than 20 years after they set their sights on it. They fear failure could crush trust in other major disease projects such as fighting malaria, HIV or measles,” according to the news service.
First Edition: October 14, 2010
Today’s headlines examine the Obama administration’s efforts to work with insurers to keep coverage options for children, the latest campaign news on the health overhaul and a major government crackdown on a Medicare fraud ring.
Today’s OpEds: Individual Mandate In Court, On Ballot And In Campaigns
Kaiser Health News offers a selection of opinion columns from other news outlets.
States Grapple With Medicaid Problems In Access, Improper Payments
The Washington Post reports that District of Columbia officials are wrestling with how to serve a large set of Medicaid beneficiaries who will have mental health coverage for the first time.
Various Health Groups Examine Cost, Quality Issues
Various groups including military groups, the Committee for Quality Assurance and lawmakers examine cost and quality in healthcare.
State Roundup: N.Y.’s Retiree Health Benefits Crisis; Colorado Referendum
States address a range of health policy issues.
Researchers Seek To End Disparities In Cancer, Stroke Care
Researchers seek an answer to why there is a racial gap in breast cancer care, and others are alerting minority communities to seek help immediately when signs of stroke occur.
Insurance Companies Denied Policies To 1 Of Every 7 Applicants, Probe Finds
The four largest for-profit health insurers — Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc., and WellPoint Inc. — “on average denied policies to one out of every seven applicants based on their prior medical history,” according to a congressional investigative report released yesterday
News Outlets Report On Sessions At World Health Summit
As the World Health Summit continues in Berlin, some media outlets wrote about the discussions taking place.
Stop TB Partnership Launches Global Plan To Stop TB 2011-2015
The WHO’s Stop TB Partnership “laid out a new plan [.pdf] on Wednesday to combat tuberculosis and the nearly 2 million deaths it causes each year,” Reuters reports (Herskovitz, 10/13).
Justices Wrestle With Issue Of Protecting Vaccine Makers
At issue in the case argued before the Supreme Court Tuesday are parents who believe vaccines have injured their child and a 1986 federal law that barred most lawsuits against vaccine makers while establishing a compensation system for families.
World Food Prize Symposium To Give Out Award, Focus On Issues Facing Smallholder Farmers
Global agriculture officials and as many as 60 farmers from around the world this week at the annual World Food Prize symposium in Des Moines, Iowa will focus on the challenges facing small farmers, the Associated Press reports.
Berwick: New Technology Will Make Coordinating Care Easier
“Health care practitioners have new information technologies at their disposal that will make coordinating care among providers easier and more effective than the old health maintenance organization model of 40 years ago, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services told a group of policy experts Tuesday,” CQ Healthbeat reports.
Health Care Workforce Faces Strains, Shifts
New doctors are increasingly hired by hospitals while hospitals try to reign in costs.
West African Cholera Epidemic Exacerbated By Flooding; More Than 1,800 Deaths Reported
The WHO “says 1,879 deaths have been reported” from Cholera in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, the Associated Press reports. “The wave of cholera started a few months ago” and “nearly 40,500” cases have been reported in the region so far. Nigeria alone has experienced nearly 1,200 deaths, “its worst cholera outbreak in two decades,” according to the article (10/12).
