Latest KFF Health News Stories
White House Increases 10-Year Deficit Projection
Republicans viewed the figures as proof the nation can’t afford a sweeping expansion of health coverage for the uninsured, but administration officials said this news was no reason to back away from President Obama’s domestic priority.
Sebelius Names Chair Of Presidential Advisory Council On HIV/AIDS
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius named Helene Gayle, president and chief executive of the charity CARE USA, as the chair the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
CDC’s Decision To Consider Routine Newborn Circumcision Examined
The Jackson Clarion Ledger examines CDC’s decision to consider recommending newborn boys be circumcised as part of an effort to reduce the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
CDC Numbers Spark Louisiana Action
The Louisiana Office of Public Health HIV/AIDS Prevention Program released data on the number of residents living with HIV in the state, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports
Magic Johnson To Black Religious Leaders: Join HIV/AIDS Awareness, Prevention Efforts
Former National Basketball Association player Earvin “Magic” Johnson in the opening address of the CDC’s 2009 HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta “spoke frankly about being HIV positive for nearly 20 years,” and discussed the impact black religious leaders have on addressing HIV/AIDS in the black community, the Southern Voice blog “The Latest” reports.
Editorial, Opinion Piece Push For Community Awareness About HIV/AIDS
“We cannot write often enough about the terrible toll that HIV/AIDS is exacting on the United States,” a Washington Post editorial states, adding: “the generalized and severe epidemic’ threshold is crossed when 1 percent of a local population is living with HIV/AIDS (as in D.C.).”
One-Quarter Of Medicare Beneficiaries Will See Premium Hikes Next Year
Medicaid recipients, wealthy retirees and new enrollees in the Medicare program will all face higher premiums to join the health insurance program for the elderly, U.S. News and World Report reports.
Democrats Talk Of Moving Reform Bill Without Republicans, Plan Rallies
Democrats, who are putting together rallies for health care reform while staying away from town hall meetings, are preparing to move ahead without Republicans on health care reform.
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.
