Latest KFF Health News Stories
Twenty Charged With Medicare Fraud; And Such Crimes Are Emerging As A New Area For Gang Activity
Those charged bilked Medicare for $26 million in unneeded or undelivered medical equipment in California and Las Vegas. Federal authorities report that increasingly dangerous criminals and gangs are being drawn into such enterprises.
Americans Split On Obama’s Health Care Proposals, New Poll Finds
But CNN survey finds that the majority of Americans favor passing some sort of reform rather than leaving the system unchanged. Polls also finds growing support for the public option.
House Republicans Find Many Angles For Opposition To Health Bills
House lawmakers who oppose Democratic-led reform efforts are finding a variety of targets for their complaints.
House Committee Votes To Remove Antitrust Protection From Insurance Companies, Senate May Follow
Democrats look to change the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption to drive costs down and competition up.
Study: Massachusetts Health Reform Popular With Doctors, Doesn’t Hold Costs Down
Massachusetts doctors are supportive of the reform efforts in the state.
Obama Administration Disputes Government Report On Reform’s Higher Costs
Administration officials quickly rejected a new analysis of the House health reform legislation that found health costs would rise even faster under the bill, with an HHS spokesman calling it out of date and “old news.”
First Edition: October 22, 2009
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including yesterday’s Senate vote on the medicare physician pay fix and a new report on how health reform proposals pending in the House would impact health care costs.
Senate Votes To Shelve ‘Doc Fix’ Legislation
The Senate rejected a procedural vote that would have moved the Medicare physician payment measure to the floor. A short-term solution is now in the works.
Party Leaders, Key Lawmakers Speculate On The Health Reform Schedule
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met today with two key Senators in his ongoing effort to shape the final Senate health care reform bill.
House Committee Votes To Strip Health Insurance Industry Of Federal Antitrust Exemption
The House Judiciary Committee Wednesday “voted to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws.”
106M Infants Worldwide Received Vaccines Last Year, Coverage Gaps Remain, Report Says
A joint report by the WHO, UNICEF and the World Bank on worldwide vaccination efforts released Wednesday found “a record 106 million infants were vaccinated last year against life-threatening diseases, but nearly a fifth of the world’s babies still are not protected fully,” the Associated Press reports.
EU Policies Threaten Developing Countries Drug Supplies, Report Says
A report, released Tuesday, from Oxfam International and Health Action International says the EU is putting big drug companies’ interests ahead of “millions of people” in developing countries who do not have access to essential medicines, Agence France-Presse reports (10/20).
Explainers And Studies On Health Insurance
Several news outlets offer explanations of some unusual aspects of U.S. health insurance.
House Lawmakers Laud New CBO Score Of $871 Billion, Including A Public Option
A government-run public insurance option is in the House Democrats’ health overhaul measure which the Congressional Budget Office has “scored” at $871 billion over 10 years.
Harry Reid Faces Public Option Dilemma
Liberals are pressuring Majority Leader Harry Reid to include a government-run public option for health insurance in the legislation that goes to the Senate floor.
Insurers’ Stocks Bruised By Reform Efforts Despite Earnings
Despite strong performance on earnings sheets, stocks for companies like UnitedHealth Group have faltered amid uncertainty about the future shape of American health care.
Media Outlets Examine How AIDS Vaccine Trial Results Will Shape Future Studies
As the AIDS vaccine conference continues in Paris this week, Reuters examines how recent trials are helping researchers better understand ways to develop a vaccine that offers people protection from HIV. Researchers involved in Merck’s AIDS vaccine trial, which was halted in 2007 after it was feared the vaccine raised study participants’ risk of infection, presented follow-up data from the trial during the conference on Tuesday.
Funding Cuts Continue To Plague State Health Programs
State health agencies and Medicaid programs continue to take hits from spending cuts. A new program in Florida may be backfiring against some health workers with criminal records while a novel health benefits program in Houston hopes to lower the number of uninsured.
