Latest KFF Health News Stories
DC ‘Squanders’ AIDS Money On Questionable Groups Despite Urgent Needs
A Washington Post investigation has found that the city with the highest AIDS rate in the United States, Washington, D.C., has awarded millions of dollars to ineffective and perhaps fraudulent groups with little oversight.
More Details Emerging On Health Reform’s Proposed Changes To Medicare
The Dallas Morning News reports on the likely effects of changes to Medicare.
Health Providers Make Cuts, Changes And Gambles In Face-Off With Economy
News reports this weekend highlight several developments as medical providers respond to changing economic forces, and in some cases, clashes of personality.
Analysts Urge Democrats To Tailor Health Reform Pitch To Women
Women – who make most of a family’s health care decisions – may help build public support for Democrat’s health care overhaul plans.
The CBO’s Educated Guesses Make Or Break Reform Bills
The senior Congressional Budget Office analyst whose job is calculating the costs of overhauling the health system — an overworked, “amiable father of three” named Phil Ellis — “is the first to admit that his painstaking numbers are almost certainly wrong,” the Washington Post reports.
Workers To Pay More For Health Care Next Year, Consultants Say
Employees are likely to see their premiums and out-of-pocket costs increase next year, health care reforms or not.
Young Adults Struggle To Find Health Care Coverage
Nearly one-third of young adults — those between the ages of 19 to 29 — have no health insurance.
SEIU Opts Out Of Ad Campaign Opposing Tax On ‘Cadillac’ Plans
“The healthcare negotiator for one of nation’s most powerful unions made clear that it opposes a tax on high-cost-insurance plans, despite abstaining from an multi-union campaign objecting to the plan,” The Hill reports.
Medicaid Expansion And Struggling State Budgets
This state-federal program that provide health care to the poor would expand to cover nearly one in five Americans under health insurance legislation pending in Congress.
Insurers, Other Health Businesses Examine Effect Of Reform Bills
Health care industry CEOs are analyzing their wins and losses in the bills being considered in Congress.
Is ‘Model Health System’ Geisinger Replicable Elsewhere?
Central Pennsylvania’s Geisinger Health System has been widely hailed as a model for health reform by leading Democrats including President Obama. But its success may hinge on a confluence of circumstances that wouldn’t translate to other areas, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Health Reform Bills May Not Protect Consumers From Treatment Denials
Congressional efforts to curb costs and get everyone covered may put pressures on insurers to deny expensive treatments.
First Edition: October 19, 2009
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including the weekend’s developments and what’s ahead regarding the public option and other key elements of health overhaul legislation.
Palin Criticizes Baucus Health Bill In Essay On Her Facebook Page
In an essay on her Facebook page, former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin critiqued the Senate Finance Committee health reform bill. She didn’t repeat any of her controversial ‘death panel’ arguments, but called for more cost controls and criticized President obama.
Obama Not Insisting On Public Option, Lawmakers Wrestle With Health Reform Details
Key White House advisers say President Obama is not insisting on a public option as news outlets examine which provisions could end up in Democratic health reform bills.
Controversy, Lobbying Surround Reid’s Medicare Doctor Payment ‘Fix’ Plan
Some news outlets are looking ahead to a vote expected next week “fixing” a planned cut in Medicare payments to physician, as a White House adviser Axelrod says the fix belongs in the federal budget.
Obama Attacks Insurers As ‘Dishonest,’ Pushes For Health Reform
Just days before the full Senate is expected to vote on health care reform legislation, President Barack Obama ramped up his attacks on the insurance industry.
World Food Day Marked, ActionAid International Releases Hunger Report
Today marks World Food Day, with the aim of bringing “awareness to the issue of hunger,” as the world faces “more mouths to feed but fewer farmers to grow the needed crops,” Deutsche Welle reports. The news outlet calls hunger an “income problem,” adding that “farmers will continue fleeing their fields for more lucrative opportunities in the urban areas unless incomes improve.”
FDA Approves 100th Antiretroviral For PEPFAR
HHS recently announced the FDA’s 100th approval of an antiretroviral drug for PEPFAR, PharmTech.com reports. Seventy-one of the more than 100 drugs reviewed by FDA for PEPFAR were generic products. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement, “This milestone exemplifies the dedication, caring, and hard work of all who strive to better the lives of those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS” (10/15).
