Latest KFF Health News Stories
Walgreen’s Threat To Drop Delaware Medicaid Customers Looms
An ongoing disagreement between Delaware’s Medicaid program and Walgreen Co. over how much the state-run health program will pay for drugs will not leave low-income beneficiaries without access to medications yet, though if an accord isn’t reached, the pharmacy company says it will stop filling prescriptions on Aug. 11.
Baucus: Bipartisan Group Of Finance Committee Members Reach MedPAC Agreement
The bipartisan group of six Senators have coalesced around language that would give new weight to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
Poll Numbers Show Public Wary Of Health Reform Legislation
A new Quinnipiac poll indicates that Democrats’ August pitch to voters to support the President’s number one domestic priority — overhauling the health care system — is facing increased public skepticism.
Obama: Healthcare Reform Bill To Be Passed By Year End
Speaking in Elkhart, Indiana, President Obama reiterated his intent to pass this sweeping legislation, adding that the reforms do not have to have bipartisan support.
Opinion Pieces, Editorial Discuss Federal Needle Exchange Funding Ban
Summaries of two opinion pieces and an editorial related to the ban on
the use of federal funding for needle exchange and recent congressional
action appear below.
The fifth annual report card from the Washington, D.C.,-based Appleseed Center for Law and Justice examining the district’s response to HIV gives the city “high marks for rapid testing, interagency coordination, surveillance and fighting the disease in the D.C. Jail,” but finds that the city falls short in other areas, the Washington Examiner reports.
Microbicide Under Research For HIV Prevention Examined
A team of researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Missouri and Japan has been studying a compound they believe might prevent HIV transmission, the Columbia Tribune reports.
USAID, “the main U.S. foreign aid agency is in limbo, entering its seventh month without a permanent director despite pledges by the Obama administration to expand development assistance and improve its effectiveness in poor countries,” the Washington Post reports in an article examining the agency’s prospects and concerns that changes could reduce its clout.
WHO Maintains That 2B Worldwide Could Get H1N1
The WHO on Tuesday maintained that roughly two billion people could become infected with the H1N1 (swine flu) virus, Reuters reports.
Indian Government Asks UNICEF To Stop Distribution Of Nutrition Aid
“India has asked UNICEF to stop distributing millions of dollars worth of nutrition aid to children, saying it had been done without permission and at the expense of local food to fight hunger,” Reuters reports.
Ghana Seeks To Eliminate Malaria, Health Minister Says
In October, Ghana’s Ministry of Health plans to begin a national program to eliminate malaria with the goal of being the first country in Africa to eradicate the disease, George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, the minister of health, said recently at the 74th Annual Conference of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana in Accra, Ghana, GNA/Homepage Ghana reports.
States Confront Budget Pressure, Anticipate Reform
States are grappling with budget cuts, trying to anticipate the effects of Washington’s health system overhaul, and rejiggering Medicaid programs.
Even While Considering Major Overhaul, Democrats Expand Government Role In Public Health
With health care legislation extended beyond the initial August deadline, Democrats have alternative strategies to re-shape U.S. health care.
Obama Administration Takes On Attacks, Rallies Senate Democrats
President Obama and his Administration Tuesday attacked attacking insurers and other conservative naysayers on health reform before rallying Senate Democrats working on a bipartisan agreement on reform to take up the message, Politico reports.
Insurers Say Democratic ‘Villain’ Comments Hurtful To Process
Karen Ignagni, the health industry’s chief lobbyist, said insurers were being vilified for their role in health care reform when they are the ones trying to reform the system.
Lawmakers Face Angry Constituents In Town Hall Meetings
Home in their districts for the August recess, lawmakers are facing constituents at town hall meetings on health care.
CNN Poll Finds Americans’ Opinons Are Divided Regarding The President’s Health Reform Push
Fifty percent of those questioned say they support the President’s effort.
Interest Groups Crowd Airwaves, Pursue Lawmakers
“The increasingly heated fight over health-care legislation is saturating the summer airwaves, with groups on all sides of the debate pouring tens of millions of dollars into advertising campaigns designed to push the cause of reform forward, slow it down or stop it in its tracks,” the Washington Post reports.
Plans To Control Doctors’ Pay Big Issue In Massachusetts
Massachusetts officials are proud of their low rate of uninsured people, but the state also hosts the highest health care costs in the country, a problem that jeopardizes their achievement in expanding coverage.
