Latest KFF Health News Stories
Major Insurers Funded Chamber Of Commerce Ads Attacking Health Bills
“Just as dealings with the Obama administration and congressional Democrats soured last summer, six of the nation’s biggest health insurers began quietly pumping big money into third-party television ads aimed at killing or significantly modifying the major health reform bills moving through Congress,” The National Journal reports.
First Edition: January 13, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the latest developments regarding the health overhaul’s proposed health exchanges and the employer mandate.
China’s One-Child Policy Creates ‘Serious’ Demographic Problem, Chinese Report Says
A study from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a government-backed institution, has found that “China’s ‘one couple, one child’ family planning policy” has resulted in a gender imbalance that is the “most serious demographic problem facing” the country, the Times of London reports.
Progress On MDG Targets Is ‘Key Priority’ In 2010 For U.N. Secretary-General
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called 2010 “the year of development” and said “he would make the drive to achieve” the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 “one of his key priorities this year,” Agence France-Presse/My Sinchew reports.
UNAIDS Chief Calls For Reducing MTCT Of HIV In Africa
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe on Monday during a five-day trip in Kenya, called for a drastic reduction in mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, Capital News reports. “In our continent we still have 400,000 babies born every year with HIV and we know if we are capable of making sure that testing will become available universally to all our pregnant women, (and) that pregnant women also have access to treatment, we will prevent the transmission,” Sidibe said (Karong’o, 1/11).
After working to ensure the U.S. had access to enough H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine, health officials may now face a new dilemma
UNICEF Program Aimed At Curbing Deaths In West Africa Falls Short Of Goals, Study Finds
A $27 million UNICEF program that aims to decrease disease-related child deaths in West Africa did not meet its goal of reducing death rates by at least 25 percent at the conclusion of 2006, according to a Lancet study published on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. “The U.N. children’s agency pursued strategies like vaccinating children, giving them vitamin A pills and distributing bednets to protect against malaria from 2001 to 2005 in parts of 11 countries,” according to the article.
New Jersey To Legalize Medical Marijuana
The New Jersey Legislature approved a measure Monday that would make the state the 14th in the nation, but one of the few on the East Coast, to legalize the use of marijuana to help patients with chronic illnesses.
Medicare Pay Irks Physicians, Leaves Some Patients Stranded
Doctors’ payments through the Medicare program are scheduled to be lowered by 21 percent in March, prompting some physicians to drop Medicare patients or refuse taking on new ones.
Today’s Selection Of Opinions And Editorials
A sample of opinions and editorials from around the country.
Budget And Cost Issues Continue To Plague States
Arizona and California facing new cuts in health programs while Connecticut approves double-digit insurances increases.
Minneapolis-St. Paul Hospitals Stopping Losses After Year Of Cost Cutting
Hospitals in the Twin Cities appear to be back in the black after cutting jobs, freezing pay and delaying new construction on hospitals around the region.
Labor Leaders Confront Obama On ‘Cadillac’ Tax Proposal
President Obama listened to concerns Monday from labor leaders worried that a tax on high-cost insurance plans in a health reform bill would harm their workers.
Health Bill Negotiators Consider Applying Medicare Tax To Investment Income, WSJ Reports
News outlets look at some unsettled and sticky policy questions
Skeptics Question Health Overhaul Savings, Cost-Controls
Top goals of the health overhaul legislation are to cut health care costs and restrain their growth over time, but some experts doubt whether Congress’ plans for either will actually work.
Denmark’s Digital Health System Could Pave Way For U.S.
Denmark is leading the world in digital health care, The New York Times reports.
Lawmakers Face Political Challenges As They Return To Health Overhaul Chores
During the holiday vacation, some Democratic lawmakers appeared to waver on health reform, faced with “tepid public support” for their proposal and “mounting electoral angst for the party.”
GAO: Some Meds Had ‘Extraordinary’ Price Hikes Over Past Eight Years
A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued Monday finds that “[p]rices on a growing number of prescription medications have ballooned in recent years as consolidation in the drug industry leaves fewer companies manufacturing niche medications,” The Associated Press reports.
Study Finds Financial Ties Between Clinical Study Leaders And Pharmaceutical Companies
Study shows that “cancer researchers who design clinical trials, analyze or interpret the data, or play other key scientific roles are four times more likely to have financial ties to industry than their counterparts who have lesser roles,” Reuter reports.
