Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Sen. Grassley asked hospitals to disclose provisions of their contracts with health IT vendors, and Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, spoke about health and technology at a Nashville conference.
Rules For Patient Data Security Remain Widely Unenforced
“As the federal government prepares to spend up to $27 billion in stimulus funds to promote electronic medical records,” a health and insurance providers “are violating federal security rules on patient data,” The Center for Public Integrity reports.
First Edition: January 21, 2010
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how lawmakers are scrambling to grasp health reform’s new political landscape.
Using reconciliation to advance health reform appears to be picking up support among congressional Democrats, but time will tell — as leaders say they will wait for Senator-elect Scott Brown to be seated before action is taken.
