Latest KFF Health News Stories
FEHBP Premiums To Increase By 7.2 Percent
The hike in federal employees health insurance premiums is less than last year’s and less than many private sector employees can expect.
First Edition: October 4, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how interests are taking sides regarding health policy and the upcoming election.
45 Va. Employers, Unions Are Participating In Health Law’s Early Retiree Program
The Early Retirement Reinsurance program, established as part of the health overhaul, set aside $5 billion to help employers pay claims for early retirees and their families.
Consumers Should Pay Attention To Changes In Health Plans During Enrollment Season
“This is not the year to simply renew last year’s choices without studying the options. The first baby steps of the nation’s health care overhaul have taken effect. That means most insurance plans will change, at least slightly, when renewed,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Report Says Drugmakers Failing To Give Medicaid Adequate Price Data
The New York Times reports that the inspector general at HHS has found that “drug manufacturers often flout a federal law that requires them to provide the government with pricing data needed to calculate discounts on medications prescribed for poor people under Medicaid.”
HHS Defends Consumer Website After Insurer Group Questions A New Feature
HealthCare.Gov, the consumer health care insurance website run by the federal government, unveiled new features Friday, but America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry group, complains that data about denials is misleading.
U.S. Underrepresented At WHO, FAO, Other U.N. Organizations, GAO Report Says
A report (.pdf) from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), released on Thursday, found that the U.S. “presence and influence in several parts of the United Nations actually declined” over the past few years, Foreign Policy’s blog “The Cable” reports.
After McDonald’s Flap, White House Says It Will Exercise ‘Discretion’ On Medical Loss Ratios
After concerns raised that “limited-benefit” plans used by some businesses, including McDonald’s, may not meet new standards set in the health law, the administration says Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will “exercise her discretion” in enforcing the medical loss ratio requirement.
WHO Says Polio Outbreak In Angola Must Be Stopped To Avoid ‘International Consequences’
A polio outbreak in Angola, which started in 2007 after the country had not reported a case of polio in six years, could have “international consequences” if it is not stopped, Sona Bari, the WHO’s spokesperson on polio eradication, said on Friday, Reuters reports.
Media Outlets Look Ahead To Next Week’s Global Fund Replenishment Meeting
Ahead of next week’s replenishment meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in New York, IRIN/PlusNews examines the challenges associated with trying to ramp up programs worldwide to meet global health targets. “After years of steady increases in funding for the HIV/AIDS response, the global economic downturn of the last two years has seen most donor countries cut or flat-line their contributions,” the news service writes.
This week’s research roundup includes studies from the Archives of Internal Medicine, the American Journal of Public Health, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Medical Care Research and Review.
NIH Announces It Will Share IP Rights To Some AIDS Drugs In UNITAID Patent Pool
The NIH announced Thursday “it will share intellectual property rights on some AIDS drugs in a patent pool designed to make treatments more widely available to the poor,” Reuters reports. The move makes the NIH the “the first research institution to join an HIV medicines patent pool launched by UNITAID, a health financing system funded by a tax on airline tickets which was co-founded by Brazil, Britain, Chile, France, and Norway in 2006,” the news service adds (Kelland, 9/30).
A selection of today’s opinions and editorials from news outlets across the country.
States address a range of health care policy issues.
Bipartisan Deficit Commision Unlikely To Make Big Medicare Changes
Obama’s bipartisan cost-cutting commission will most likely leave health care and Medicare largely unscathed.
Merck To Pay Millions Over Mass. Allegations Of Inflated Wholesale Rate
A Massachusetts court ordered the drug maker Merck to pay $4.6 million in damages for inflating wholesale prices for generic asthma drugs.
Efforts to prevent the spread of drug-resistant malaria along the border between Cambodia and Thailand are showing signs of progress, but additional work is needed to contain the new strain, health officials said on Friday, Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C reports.
Bloomberg Analysis Finds ‘Doughnut Hole’ Deal To Cost Drugmakers Less Than 1% Of Profits
News outlets report how closing the Medicare ‘Doughnut Hole’ affects drugmakers and seniors.
Feds, States Begin Work To Set Up Online Insurance Exchanges
Federal health officials took an early step Thursday towards creating online health insurance marketplaces in the states.
