Latest KFF Health News Stories
Lake Sworn In As UNICEF Executive Director
Anthony Lake, who “has been a foreign policy advisor to several Democratic U.S. presidents and presidential candidates,” has officially become the executive director of UNICEF, Agence France-Presse reports (5/2). Lake was sworn into office Monday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the U.N. headquarters in New York, according to a UNICEF article (5/3).
News outlets report on issues affecting physician practices.
Supreme Court Decides Federal Doctors Cannot Be Sued For Prisoner’s Death
A case that was brought before the Supreme Court yesterday decided that federal doctors could not be sued in the case of a detained prisoner’s death from neglect.
Health Law Program May Benefit Early Retirees, Big Firms
A health law program that will go into effect next month will steer $5 billion to buttress employer-sponsored health plans for retirees who are not yet old enough to qualify for Medicare and have no other options for buying coverage.
Health IT Roundup: Many Obstacles, Much Promise
The government is offering to make major investments in physicians’ e-health, but doctors aren’t all lining up.
CBO: Medicare Payment ‘Doc Fix’ Is More Expensive Than Expected
CongressDaily reports that the Congressional Budget Office says that freezing Medicare payment rates to doctors would likely cost nearly $276 billion through 2020.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including stories about parts of the new health law dealing with long-term care, high risk insurance pools and early retiree health insurance.
HHS Releases Requirements For Web Portal For State Insurance Options
HHS Releases Requirements For Web Portal For State Insurance Options
States Decide On Risk Pools As First Major Health Law Decision
Politico reports that establishing high-risk insurance pools, the first major decision after the enactment of health care reform, “has come and gone with the decisions so far made mostly along party lines.”
GOP, Democrats Increasingly Use Health Reform Lessons To Shape Other Policies
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers also are dealing with the fallout from the health overhaul debate as they face midterm election challenges.
PlusNews/IRIN Examines HIV/AIDS Elements Of New Adult Mortality Data
PlusNews/IRIN examines what the global adult mortality data, released Friday in the journal Lancet, suggests about HIV/AIDS. According to the news service, the study, based on an analysis of adult mortality rates between 1970 and 2010 in 187 countries, revealed: “HIV was key to reversing the worldwide decline in mortality from 1970 to 1990. Even though worldwide mortality is still about 26 percent lower than it was 40 years ago, there are regional imbalances. In sub-Saharan Africa, hard hit by HIV, mortality is at levels not seen in developed countries such as Sweden since the 1700s.”
CQ Examines Foreign Aid Budget
CQ examines the challenges involved with passing the Obama administration’s FY 2011 “budget request for the State Department and foreign operations.” Though eight former secretaries of state recently urged Congress not to cut foreign aid, “lawmakers and aides involved in the appropriations process say that getting President [Barack] Obama all the money he wants will be a really tough sell.”
WHO, UNICEF Issue Guide, Call For More Research Into Medicines For Children
Along with the release of a WHO-UNICEF guide on medicines for children, the U.N. agencies on Friday said the guide “exposed dangerous shortfalls” in medicines designed for children and called for more research into treating children, Reuters reports. “While effective medicines exist to fight disease and treat life-threatening conditions like malnutrition, formulations suitable for children are often difficult to source,” Francisco Blanco, UNICEF’s chief of medicines and nutrition, said, according to the news service.
Health Law Brings A ‘Host Of New Taxes’ And Billions In Tax Credits
News reports explain how tax provisions in the health law would affect individuals, employers, and even Congress.
Baltimore Hospitals Buying, Consolidating Doctors’ Practices In Bid For Efficiency
Hospitals and other systems in the Baltimore area are “buying practices, forming management agreements or structuring joint ventures with primary care practices that cannot afford to buy necessary electronic health records systems, hire more support staff or add another physician” in a bid to help primary care doctors lower their overhead, the Baltimore Business Journal reports.
Kaiser Health News presents a selection of opinions and editorials from around the nation.
California Community Health Centers Face Potentially Crippling Budget Cuts
State roundup: Water main break in Boston complicates life in hospitals; Conn. House approves poans for regional health network; Maine expands health insurance safety net.
