Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about Democrats’ $940 billion health-care compromise bill and Republican efforts to stop its progress.
Pelosi, Obama Defend Procedure To Pass Reform
Pelosi calls questions about voting procedure a “nonissue,” and White House says President Barack Obama has no constitutional concerns about signing a bill passed that way.
CBO Finds Heath Overhaul Will Cost $940 Billion Over 10 Years But Trim Deficit
The legislative package would close the doughnut hole in the Medicare prescription drug program, boost subsidies for lower-income individuals to buy insurance and push back the implementation date of the tax on Cadillac insurance plans.
Media Outlets Interview Shah During Life Sciences Conference In Seattle
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah was in Seattle on Tuesday to speak at the annual Life Science Innovation Northwest conference, the Seattle Times’ blog, “The Business of Giving,” reports. The blog outlines the Obama administration’s global health and development goals, including the six-year $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI), as well as some of the challenges facing Shah at USAID.
The FDA is drafting new guidelines for testing and approving multidrug cocktails for life-threatening diseases, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Many diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis and cancer, require multidrug combinations. Such drug cocktails can prevent the development of drug resistance, because the microbe or cancer cell needs to undergo more mutations to escape several drugs than to escape just one. By attacking the disease in different ways, drug combinations also improve the chances of therapeutic benefit,” the newspaper reports (Schoofs, 3/18).
Agriculture ministers from Latin America and the Caribbean came together Tuesday to discuss strategies aimed at eradicating hunger and poverty by 2025, Xinhua/People’s Daily Online reports.
House Democrats Continue Push For Weekend House Vote On Health Reform Measure
Both the substance and process of the Democratic plan is taking shape.
Low-Cost Insurance Policies Aim To Prevent Poverty Among Small-Scale Farmers In Kenya
A pilot crop insurance project, recently launched in Kenya, aims to compensate small-scale farmers when crops fail in an effort to break the cycle of poverty, the Business Daily reports. While crop insurance is widely used in the developed world, cost has been a major barrier to offering it to small-scale farmers in the developing world. In addition, “micro-insurance, particularly for agriculture, has largely failed because it offered no immediate benefit to farmers,” the newspaper reports (Mbogo, 3/18).
Vote Count: Obama’s Lobbying Convinces Some Holdouts To Back Overhaul, But Others Still Resist
President Obama and Democratic leaders continue to round up votes for the health overhaul.
Advertising, Fundraising Money Talk In Health Care Debate
Money in the health care debate funds the large amount of television advertising about health reform and might also be affecting Congressional fundraising.
Pediatricians Warn Payment System May Force Them To Stop Accepting Medicaid Patients
CNNMoney reports that doctors are increasingly choosing not to accept Medicaid patients as the payment system – and an increasing number of Medicaid patients – means they’re losing money treating patients.
WellPoint Draws Flak For Unfulfilled Promise To Help Uninsured
Health insurance firm WellPoint delivered on only about one-fifth of a $30-million pledge to help the uninsured.
Today’s Opinions And Editorials
Kaiser Health News presents a selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
In other states, a report shows Utah residents being squeezed by declining wages and higher health costs and a Delaware newspaper reports on difficulty of comparing prices for generic drugs.
As Reform Hangs In Balance, Policy Benefits Continue To Be Discussed
As health care reform bills are still pending in Congress, many outlets are reporting on policy issues that the bills would address.
Report Cites Rise In Uninsured Middle-Class Americans
A report released Wednesday by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines the rise in the level of uninsured middle-class people in the last eight years.
Obama: Health Bill Debate Too Focused On ‘Washington Process’
In an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, the president said he was not worried about the ‘procedural’ debate in the Democratic push to pass a health bill.
Catholic Nuns, Some Catholic Lawmakers, Announce Support For Health Care Overhaul
Catholics increasingly support health care reform legislation.
