Latest KFF Health News Stories
Groups Call For Permanent Fix For Doctor Payment Formula
National groups call for a permanent solution to the Medicare doctor payment formula and warn about a possible shortage in doctors caused by low pay.
First Edition: January 22, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the latest on Democrats efforts to plot a new health reform path.
Eastern side of Pennsylvania has six of the 18 counties in the United States with the highest rates of thyroid cancer.
Democrats Regroup To Focus On Economy, But Divisions Remain
Democratic infighting about the way forward from Massachusetts’ upset election could impact lawmaking beyond just health care.
Republican Leaders: Dems Aren’t Reaching Out To Pass Health Reform Bill
House GOP Whip Eric Cantor told reporters he doesn’t believe Dems got the message from the Mass. Senate election.
Pelosi: Senate Health Bill Won’t Pass The House Without Changes
The Speaker of the House told reporters that Democratic leaders still were committed to approving a health bill this year.
World Bank Forecasts Global Economic Growth For 2010, Notes Toll Of Financial Crisis
After shrinking in 2009, the world economy is expected to grow in 2010 and 2011, the World Bank predicted in a report issued Wednesday, Agence France-Presse reports in a piece that outlines the bank’s predictions (Smith, 1/20).
Wars Less Deadly, Most War-Related Deaths Result From Disease, Hunger, Report Says
“Wars are less deadly than they once were and national mortality rates have continued to decline even during conflicts due to smaller scale fighting and better healthcare,” according to a study released Wednesday by the Human Security Report Project, Reuters reports. “The report noted that most deaths in wars result from hunger and disease but said improved healthcare in peacetime had cut death tolls even during wartime, as had stepped up aid to people in war zones.”
U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Reaches Haiti
Even before the U.S. Navy’s hospital ship, Comfort, anchored off the coast of Haiti on Wednesday, patients who were injured in last week’s earthquake were airlifted onto the ship to receive care, the Miami Herald reports (Clark, 1/21).
States Struggle With Budget Cuts, Increased Medicaid Pressure
States struggle with how to handle budget cuts and increased Medicaid pressures.
Today’s Selection Of Opinions And Editorials
A sampling of opinions and editorials from around the country.
State Organizers Mobilize Against National Health Reform
State organizers are creating obstacles to implementing national health care reform if it passes.
Democrats Weigh Imperfect Options For Moving Forward On Health Reform
As Democrats reel from the loss of a Massachusetts Senate seat that will deprive them of the 60-vote majority needed to pass the health overhaul, two alternative legislative strategies have moved to the forefront.
Reuters Examines Chronic Disease In Developing Countries, Future Of Drug Prices
“Global health projections leave little doubt that chronic diseases are rapidly overtaking infectious diseases, such as malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis (TB), as the world’s biggest killers
Democrats Consider Scaling Back Health Reform Package
Some Democrats are embracing President Obama’s call to consider an incremental approach to health reform.
Medicare Fraud Round-Up: N.D. Beneficiaries Getting Illegal Phone Calls, Doctor Indicted In Ohio
North Dakota officials report a new scheme in which scammers call senior and ask them to pay for not having Part D coverage.
Health Reform Positions And Personalities: Pelosi, Nelson, Grassley, Harkin, Snowe And McCaskill
News outlets report on some of the major players in the health care debate, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., the Senators from Iowa, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.
Brown: Mass. Voters Shouldn’t Have To Pay For National Health Reform
Newly-elected Scott Brown says that he was elected because Massachusetts voters, with an already-reformed state health care system, don’t want to subsidize other states.
Health Care Companies Assess Where They Stand On Health Reform After Election
The Wall Street Journal reports that several firms reiterated support for a health care reform bill Wednesday, a day after the overhaul’s viability was called into question by the victory of Sen.-elect Scott Brown in Massachusetts.
