Latest KFF Health News Stories
Staff Continues Health Reform Heavy Lifting While Obama Vacations
The White House staff continues toiling on health care reform as President Obama vacations on Martha’s Vineyard.
Mental Health In The News: Foreclosures Spur Depression
Nearly half of people questioned who were in foreclosure proceedings in Philadelphia showed some signs of depression.
Veterans Receive False Health Scare
More than 1,800 Gulf War veterans were sent letters from the Veterans Administration this month informing them that they had Lou Gehrig’s disease. But at least some of the letters were in error.
Advocates Hope Homeless Will Receive Better Health Care
At a Baltimore clinic for the homeless, officials look to reform efforts to expand Medicaid and help provide more services.
Reform Efforts Focus Attention On Regional Innovations In Care Delivery
As health reform efforts loom on the over Congress’s upcoming sessions, news reports find models of innovation in their own backyards. Geisinger Health System in rural Pennsylvania, the Jacksonville, Fla., satellite of the Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Oregon and Washington state, and Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond, Va., all get some attention.
Gates Foundation Awards $4.8M Grant For Improving Sanitation Systems In Developing World
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded a $4.8 million grant to the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to study and improve sanitation systems in the developing world, the Seattle Times’ blog, “Business of Giving” reports.
Washington Post Examines Development Of Vaccine For Food Borne Intestinal Illness
The Partnership for Public Service/Washington Post examines how decades of work by Navy scientist Patricia Guerry could lead to “the first vaccine for a food borne intestinal illness that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide each year.”
Smokers Twice As Likely To Get Active TB, Study Finds
“A study in Taiwan has found that smokers are twice as likely to develop active tuberculosis compared to people who have never smoked, prompting calls for policymakers to be tougher on smoking,” Reuters reports.
Fear Mongering Abounds In Health Debate
“What many people say they fear most from an overhaul of the health care system [is] the prospect of the federal government’s limiting the medical care they receive,” the New York Times reports. Policy experts say people are right to worry about health care costs, but that this fear of rationing is unrealistic.
Half Of Somalia Needs Emergency Aid, Significant Deterioration In Food Security, Report Says
Somalia faces its “worst humanitarian crisis since civil war began in the country 18 years ago, with half of the country’s population in need of emergency aid,” the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit, a U.N. agency, said in a report released Monday, Bloomberg reports.
Vertical Farms Could Solve Food Production Problems, Opinion Piece Says
“If climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years farming as we know it will no longer exist,” which means that the “majority of people could soon be without enough food or water,” Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, warns in a New York Times opinion piece.
GOP Unveils Latest Salvo In Health Reform Battle: Seniors’ Bill Of Rights
Republicans unveiled what they’ve termed the “Health Care Bill of Right for Seniors” Monday in an attempt to drive opposition to reform through a new message to the elderly.
Grassley: ‘Government Is Not A Competitor, It’s A Predator’
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, 75, is presenting new skepticism about reform plans.
Obama’s Rhetoric Fails To Capture Voters’ Support
The rhetoric being used by the White House is failing to capture voters’ support for health care reform.
Reports Warns Swine Flu Could Affect Half Of U.S. Population
A presidential panel released a report that says swine flu could infect up to half of the U.S. population. It warns that schools could be acutely affected and urges the release of vaccines and drugs in September.
Report Warns H1N1 Could Affect Half Of U.S. Population
A U.S. presidential panel report released Monday estimates H1N1 (swine) flu could infect up to half of the country’s population, the Washington Post reports.
Sebelius Names Chair Of Presidential Advisory Council On HIV/AIDS
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday named Helene Gayle, president and chief executive of the charity CARE USA, as the chair the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.
Online Patient Data May Open New Doors In Medical Research
“Since the Internet’s earliest days, patients have used the Web to share experiences and learn about diseases and treatments. But now [advocates say] online communities have the potential to transform medical research,” the New York Times reports.
Today’s Selection Of Opinions And Editorials
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
