Latest KFF Health News Stories
Health Care Experts Examine Top Performing, Low Cost Communities
Talk about health care reform efforts has largely focused on all the things that are wrong with the current system. In contrast, an event in Washington, D.C., Tuesday examined best practices in ten top performing communities where they spend less and have better quality of care.
Small Businesses Fear Reform Could Worsen Rising Health Costs
“Many small businesses are worried that rising health insurance costs are choking their growth and hindering the creation of new companies, and they fear health care reform plans being debated in Congress and by the Obama administration could end up costing them even more in taxes, according to business advocates,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
Massachusetts Proposal To End Fee-For-Service Could Be National Model
A proposal in Massachusetts to end the practice of paying doctors for individual procedures could prove a model to hold down costs for U.S. health care reform, Reuters reports.
New Poll: American Confidence In Access To Care Is Growing
“Americans are showing more confidence in their ability to get and afford the health care they need, according to a poll released Tuesday,” the Associated Press reports.
Today’s early-morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Obama Continues The Push For Health Reform
In advance of a primetime news conference scheduled for later this week, President Barack Obama took to the offensive Tuesday challenging Democrats as well as Republicans to take action.
House GOP Leader Tells Obama To Scrap Health Reform Plan
House GOP Leader John Boehner, of Ohio, said Tuesday that President Obama should “scrap this (health reform) bill,” The Hill reports.
Federal Official Comments On HIV Travel Ban, Needle Exchange In U.S. At Conference
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci told delegates at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa “that a bill to lift the ban on funding needle exchange programmes was working its way through Congress, and restrictions on HIV-infected people entering the U.S. were also almost certain to be lifted in the near future,” Plus News/IRIN.
Antiretrovirals Can Be Used To Prevent Spread of HIV/AIDS, Model Shows
In addition to acting as life-saving therapy to people living with HIV/AIDS, WHO researchers say antiretrovirals (ARVs) may also be able to prevent the spread of HIV, Health-e/allAfrica.com reports.
National Strategy To Address HIV/AIDS ‘Desperately Needed,’ Editorial Says
Statistics showing that blacks and men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS and the impact of the virus on Washington, D.C., residents “should shock the conscience
“Mississippi is among the top states in the nation in the spread of HIV and AIDS among pre-teens to young adults, as well as pregnancies in the same age groups,” according findings from CDC’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report issued last week, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.
More Camden, N.J., Residents Using Needle Exchange Programs
A pilot needle exchange program in Camden, N.J.
South Africa TB Treatment Default Rate Declines, Treatment Success Increases, Review Says
South Africa’s tuberculosis treatment default rate has decreased and the treatment success rate has increased, a delegation from the WHO’s Stop TB Partnership said recently, SAPA/IOL reports.
Experimental Malaria Vaccine Using Weakened Malaria Parasite To Begin Human Trials
An experimental malaria vaccine created by “an approach pioneered more than 30 years ago but abandoned as wildly impractical” is about to be tested on humans, the Seattle Times reports.
World Bank To Give Nigeria $100M Loan For Malaria Control
Nigeria on Monday signed on to receive a $100 million loan from the World Bank for malaria control activities, Leadership Nigeria reports.
Former Ghanaian President Named WFP Ambassador
John Kofi Agyekum Kufuor, a former president of Ghana, has been named a global ambassador against hunger for the U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP), Xinhua reports.
Global AIDS Coordinator Addresses Obama’s Global HIV/AIDS Policy Agenda
Speaking at the 5th International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention on Monday, U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Eric Goosby outlined President Obama’s global AIDS policy agenda, Plus News/IRIN reports.
Obama Pushes Democrats, Attacks Republicans, Campaigns For Public Support
President Obama is becoming more personally invested in rallying public and Congressional support for a healthcare overhaul.
House Democrats May Rethink Tax Increases
Democratic leaders may scale back a plan to tax the highest American earners after unrest in their own party at the suggestion of a surtax on the wealthy to fund health care reform, The New York Times reports.
Industry Donations Directed To Key Senators
Health companies and their employees gave Sen. Max Baucus nearly $1.5 million in 2007 and 2008 just as the Senator was readying the Senate Finance Committee to hear health reform, The Washington Post reports.
