Latest KFF Health News Stories
Administration’s Waivers Of Health Law Raise Questions About ‘Mini-Med’ Plans
Are the limited benefit plans known as “mini-meds” worth their salt?
Flu Season Looking ‘Typical,’ CDC Says
Low levels of influenza were seen through the summer, the CDC reports, but officials still urge people to get a flu shot. The vaccines cover swine flu and two other strains.
Federal Judge In Michigan Rules Health Law Constitutional
A federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday that the new health law is constitutional. Opponents say they will appeal.
Research Roundup: Examining Comparative Effectiveness Research And Changes In Medicare Part D
This week’s research roundup includes studies from Health Affairs, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Commonwealth Fund.
First Edition: October 8, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights include stories on a federal court decision in Michigan that supports the individual mandate in the health overhaul law, some of the campaign arguments over that law and a report about why your doctor won’t respond to an e-mail.
ABC News Announces One-Year Reporting Series On Global Health Issues
ABC News on Wednesday announced “a yearlong project to focus attention on the diseases and health conditions that afflict the world’s poorest people,” the Associated Press reports (10/6).
CQ HealthBeat Examines HIV Prevention Research Funding
The global economy has affected HIV/AIDS prevention research, so “scientists and those who fund them are struggling to set priorities among several competing research methods that could slow the spread of the disease, which causes about 2.7 million new infections worldwide a year,” CQ HealthBeat reports. The article looks at the “tension among those searching for effective vaccines and those who are concentrating on other prophylactic methods. With more and more lines of inquiry showing promise, scientists may be victims of their own success.”
OpEds: Editorials Weigh In On Success — Or Not — Of ‘Obama’s’ Health Reform
Kaiser Health News presents a selection of health care opinions and editorials from around the U.S.
Senate Dems Criticize ‘Excessive’ Medigap Price Hikes; ACOs Examined
Top Senate Democrats call for greater protection of seniors in Medigap plans while the Medicare Advantage shopping seasons starts.
The U.S. on Wednesday announced that it will contribute $120 million to the Haiti Recovery Fund, the New York Times reports. Cheryl Mills, chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, announced the funding during the third meeting of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) (Sontag, 10/6).
HHS Offers Waivers As Firms, Insurers Threaten To Abandon Markets
The Obama administration has granted dozens of waivers that will allow companies and insurers – most notably McDonald’s – to continue offering health benefits that do not meet new health law requirements, an effort to mitigate criticism and keep these organizations from exiting markets or dropping coverage for workers altogether.
U.N. Secretary-General Urges Funding For GAVI During Replenishment Meeting
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has “urged more funding” for the GAVI Alliance, to help achieve its childhood vaccine targets and the related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), TopNews reports. “Let us commit to improving health for children, women and men everywhere,” Ban said Wednesday at a GAVI replenishment meeting in New York (Mukherjee, 10/7).
Dengue Fever Spreads In Asia, WHO Warns 2.5B People At Risk
The World Health Organization (WHO) “has warned that 2.5 billion people are at risk” of dengue fever, “which has ‘grown dramatically in recent decades,” Agence France-Presse reports. WHO officials cite higher temperatures, growing populations and international travel for the “rapid rise in urban mosquito populations” and rise in dengue. Seventy percent of the at-risk population is in Asia, the WHO said.
DEA Issues New Guideline To Ease Delay In Prescriptions For Nursing Home Residents
The Drug Enforcement Administration has issued a new guideline to ease the delay in prescriptions for nursing home residents.
Firm Sees Drugs Sales Rising 5 to 7 Percent Next Year, Other Drug Industry News
The Associated Press reports that global prescription drug sales should rise 5 percent to 7 percent next year, “reaching at least $880 billion, fueled by new drugs and rising sales in developing countries, according to drug data firm IMS Health.”
States address a wide range of health policy issues.
HHS Official: Medical Loss Ratio Rules Will Allow ‘Flexibility’
A senior health official has promised insurers “discretion” – especially for “smaller” and “newer” plans – in pending regulation that will require them to spend at least 80 percent of premium dollars on health services.
Websites Bridge Gaps Between Patients And Doctors And
Two new websites seek to bring consumers more treatment information, some provided by marketers.
A California Chamber of Commerce political action committee bankrolled in part by insurance companies is helping fund TV ads for Republican nsurance commissioner candidate Mike Villines, the Los Angeles Times reports.
