Latest KFF Health News Stories
IRIN Examines Government Officials, Advocates Reaction To Global Fund Restructuring In Zimbabwe
IRIN examines how government officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in Zimbabwe are responding to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s decision to channel funds through the UNDP rather than the government-operated National AIDS Council.
Mid-Missouri has experienced an 18 percent increase in people seeking treatment for HIV/AIDS, according to RAIN, the organization that handles case management for patients in the area.
World Poverty Gains Reduced, Countries Unlikely To Achieve Most MDGs, U.N. Report Says
The global economic downturn has “reversed a 20-year decline in world poverty” and could “add up to 90 million to the ranks of the hungry in 2009, an increase of six percent over current totals,” according to a U.N. report on the Millennium Development Goals, which U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon launched in Geneva on Monday, Reuters reports.
Complexity Surrounding Changing Iowa HIV Transmission Law Examined
The Iowa Independent looks at the complexity of changing Iowa’s HIV transmission law. The Independent writes that Iowa “isn’t a state with a high percentage of people living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
International Health Experts Hold Two-Day H1N1 Meeting
WHO leaders and international health ministers met Thursday for a two-day meeting in Cancun, Mexico, to share the lessons learned from the spread of H1N1 (swine flu) (Xinhua, 7/3) and strategies for “battling the pandemic,” the AP/Washington Post reports.
Communicable Disease Epidemics In Developing World Not Being Adequately Addressed, IFRC Says
The “crippling” and “growing burden” of communicable diseases such as dengue fever, polio, or meningitis is not being sufficiently addressed in developing countries, according to “The Epidemic Divide,” a report released Monday by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), AFP/Google.com reports.
AP/Los Angeles Times Examines Haiti’s Fight Against HIV
The AP/Los Angeles Times examines Haiti’s success at reducing the number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the country through the work of the “nonprofit groups, Boston-based Partners in Health (PIH) and Port-au-Prince’s GHESKIO, widely considered to be the world’s oldest AIDS clinic.”
Maine Fights For Senators’ Votes, Grassley Can’t Satisfy Either Side
Senators home for the Forth of July recess found activists on each side of the health care debate waiting for them when they got home, as the two Republicans senators from Maine prepare their votes which could provide crucial support for the debate, The New York Times reports.
Obama Urges Groups To Stop Attacks
“President Obama, strategizing… with congressional leaders about health-care reform, complained that liberal advocacy groups ought to drop their attacks on Democratic lawmakers and devote their energy to promoting passage of comprehensive legislation,” The Washington Post reports.
Lawmakers Seek Compromise On Health Overhaul Proposals
Democrats and Republicans are saying that they will need to compromise on a government-run public plan if they are to meet the deadline of having a bill on the Senate floor by August.
Today’s Selection Of Opinions And Editorials
A selection of today’s editorials and opinions.
Minnesota Clinics Serving Many More Thanks To Stimulus Dollars
As Minnesota braces for some cuts to public health programs, the state’s network of community health centers is being buoyed by money from the federal stimulus that will expand coverage to the un- and underinsured in that state, The Minnesota Post reports.
‘Consumer-Directed’ Plans Rise In Popularity As Businesses Scramble To Cut Health Costs
High-deductible health insurance plans coupled with health savings accounts are becoming the plan of choice for Connecticut’s small businesses newly offering insurance to employees.
Advocates Are Back With Real Health Care Stories
Thousands of people are “now telling their stories on videos, ads and Web sites on both sides of the health care debate,” The Associated Press reports.
For America’s Aged, Surgery At Any Price?
When doctors decide whether or not to go ahead with an expensive surgery, “age is no longer the deciding factor, even for invasive treatment such as open-heart surgery,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The European Experience: The Pluses and Minuses Of Government-Run Health Care
As President Barack Obama pushes to overhaul health care, the role of government is at the heart of the debate and many look to Europe for examples of free, state-run health care.
Medicare Offers Lessons For Possible ‘Public Plan’
As President Barack Obama and some Democratic lawmakers push for a government-run public plan, Medicare is being scrutinized.
Co-ops Offer Compromise, But Could Take Decades To Develop
“A network of health insurance plans run by the customers they serve, proposed in the U.S. Congress to offset opposition to a government-run system, may take a generation to pay off, even with $10 billion in seed money,” Bloomberg reports.
Paying For Health Care Overhaul May Fall Unevenly On States
Paying For Health Care Overhaul May Fall Unevenly On States
Lobbying Draws on Ranks Of Former Government Officials, Health Industry Coffers
“The nation’s largest insurers, hospitals and medical groups have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress in hopes of influencing their old bosses and colleagues,” according to a Washington Post investigation.
