Latest KFF Health News Stories
IPS Examines How Funding Cuts Might Affect HIV/AIDS Treatment Programs Worldwide
Inter Press Service examines how funding cuts for international HIV/AIDS programs are already being felt worldwide and how this issue was discussed at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, that concluded Wednesday.
Doctor And Nursing Shortage Could Undermine Health Care Reform
A shortage of doctors and nurses could damage health care reform, Reuters reports. Analysis finds that more incentives are needed for primary care doctors and that most medical graduates choose higher paid specialties. Meanwhile, a nurse temp agency forms in Texas to address the shortages there.
Uphill Battle For Obama Sparks Comparisons To Clinton’s Failed Reform Bid
“Will failing to reform health care have the same consequences for Obama’s administration as it did for Clinton’s?” CNN reports.
Today’s Opinions and Editorials
Kaiser Health News presents a selection of opinions and editorials.
Comparative Effectiveness Research Underway At 28 Research Centers
“You hear the pitch in drug ads all the time: ‘Ask your doctor if this medication is right for you,'” reports MSNBC. However, evidence to show whether a treatment is appropriate for a given patient is often scarce.
Massachusetts Could Provide Model To Pay For Reform
USA Today reports that three years after mandating coverage for all, Massachusetts could prove a reform model for a federal try as it tries to pay for its aspirations.
Anti-Abortion Groups Threaten Overhaul Because Of Funding Questions
“Abortion is not explicitly mentioned in any of the major health-care bills under consideration in Congress,” The Washington Post reports, but “abortion opponents charge that the legislation would make abortion more widely available and more common by requiring insurance plans to pay for the procedures and providing government funding to subsidize plans that pay for them.”
New Study Finds Positive Developments, Persistent Problems In Medicare Drug Plan
A new study finds more seniors are covered by a Medicare drug plan and report greater savings, but gaps in coverage and other problems still persist.
Kennedy’s CLASS Act Would Establish National Long Term Care Insurance
Congress is starting to consider long-term care with the proposal of a long-term insurance program.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Hatch Backs Out Of Health Reform Talks, Pelosi Says She Has Votes
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, told reporters Wednesday that he is not participating in bipartisan talks to change a Senate Finance Committee bill aimed at reforming health care, FoxNews reports.
Poll: One In Six People In The U.S. Are Without Insurance
According to a Gallup-Healthways Well-Being poll 16 percent of Americans – one of six adults – are uninsured.
Baltimore Churches Participate In Program Providing HIV Testing To Residents
Eleven Baltimore churches on Tuesday provided HIV testing to local residents as part of a larger effort by the JACQUES Initiative, a program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute of Human Virology, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Small Clinical Trial Examines Drug’s Ability To Reduce HIV In Body
In the first human trial of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) experimental HIV drug S/GSK1349572, the drug was able to reduce HIV to undetectable levels in 70 percent of the 35 patients taking the treatment for 10 days, according to findings presented at the International AIDS Society’s conference in Cape Town, South Africa, Bloomberg reports.
Expert Discusses HIV-Related Kidney Disease, Susceptibility Among Blacks
The New York Daily News profiled Paul Klotman, chair of the Samuel F. Bronfman Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who is “one of the world’s leading experts on the kidney diseases associated with HIV.”
“HIV infection rates among babies are significantly cut when mothers are given prolonged ARV treatment during breastfeeding,” according to findings released at the International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
Prevention, Vaccines Addressed At IAS Conference
During the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, scientists “renewed the call for more immediate and urgent effort to be directed towards HIV prevention amid the dominance of treatment interventions and the world-wide search for a quick fix vaccine, which many agree, is years away,” Health-e/allAfrica.com reports.
U.N. Reports $4.8B ‘Record’ Aid Funding Shortfall
The U.N. on Tuesday said “it is running a record funding-shortfall of $4.8 billion for its aid operations in 16 crisis-ridden countries” and has received “less than half of the $9.5 billion it needs to carry out it humanitarian operations this year,” VOA News reports.
Increased Fighting Makes Humanitarian Work, Health Situation More Difficult In Somalia, U.N. Says
Despite increasing danger posed by “al Qaeda-linked militants,” U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said Tuesday U.N. aid workers “were not backing away” from the country, Reuters reports.
