Latest KFF Health News Stories
NPR’s “Shots” blog includes an “All Things Considered” story that examines how “a 2009 benchmark ruling in Delhi’s High Court,” which “struck down a 148-year-old law known as Section 377, a holdover from British colonial rule that made homosexual acts illegal,” has led to a wider level of HIV outreach to Mumbai’s gay community. Vivek Anand, CEO of the Humsafar Trust, “which provides free HIV tests and other health services to Mumbai’s gay community,” said the ruling has helped health workers gain a better understanding of HIV prevalence among India’s gay population, the blog notes.
Insurers Have $1 Trillion Riding On The Health Law’s Future
According to a Bloomberg Government study, much of this new revenue would result from the health law’s Medicaid expansion and subsidies to help people purchase health insurance, and it all is contingent on the Supreme Court upholding the law.
Health Programs At Risk In Gathering Budgetary Storm
Deep spending cuts, scheduled as part of last year’s debt accord, are forcing lawmakers from across the political spectrum to consider difficult positions. Medicare and Medicaid will likely be on the table.
U.K. Reviving Budget Support To Malawian Government
“The U.K. Department for International Development [DfID] is reviving its budget support to the Malawian government after rerouting aid to non-governmental organizations last year,” Devex reports. “Ten million pounds ($16 million) will go to the country’s health system, according to a [DfID] press release [.pdf] published Saturday,” Devex writes, noting, “This is part of the 110 million pounds [$140.7 million] DfID previously agreed to provide in support of Malawi’s Health Sector Strategic Plan, which runs 2011 to 2016” (5/14).
Newspapers Examine Concerns Surrounding Possible FDA Approval Of Truvada For PrEP
The New York Times and the Financial Times examine concerns expressed by AIDS activists and members of an FDA panel that last week recommended Gilead Sciences’ antiretroviral drug Truvada be approved for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV among healthy people at risk of contracting the virus. According to the New York Times, “Such a pill has long been a goal of research, something that might help stem a global epidemic that is still causing two million new worldwide cases each year, including 50,000 in the United States” (Grady, 5/14). The Financial Times says some have concerns over the real world efficacy of the drug; whether its approval would encourage reckless behavior, such as not using condoms; side effects that might require additional treatment; the development of drug-resistant HIV strains; and the cost of the drug.
To Maintain Growth, Africa Needs To Improve Food Security, UNDP Report Says
“Africa needs to boost agricultural productivity and address the debilitating hunger that affects 27 percent of its population if it is to sustain its economic boom, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said [in a report] on Tuesday,” Reuters reports (Migiro, 5/15). In its first-ever “Africa Human Development Report 2012: Towards a Food Secure Future,” UNDP “notes that with more than one in four of its 856 million people undernourished, sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s most food insecure region,” the Guardian writes. According to the newspaper, the report says, “Hunger and extended periods of malnutrition not only devastate families and communities in the short term, but leave a legacy with future generations which impairs livelihoods and undermines human development.”
State Roundup: Undocumented Immigrant Health Care Showdown In D.C.
A selection of health policy news from across the country.
The Huffington Post’s “Global Motherhood” section continues to publish opinion pieces on maternal health to recognize Mother’s Day. Two of those pieces are summarized below.
U.N. Office On Drugs, Interpol Better Equipped Than WHO To Combat Counterfeit Drug Trade
“The worldwide counterfeit drug market is huge and growing,” Tim Mackey and Brian Liang of the Institute of Health Law Studies at the California Western School of Law and Thomas Kubic of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute write in a Foreign Policy opinion piece, noting such “drugs occupy a wide spectrum of medications, and their quality is suspect; they can be mislabeled, tainted, adulterated, ineffective, or, in the worst cases, all of the above.” They argue for a new framework for fighting the illegal drug trade because “[g]lobal policy has not kept up with the burgeoning counterfeit drug trade.” The authors say that although initial results of the WHO IMPACT (International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeit Taskforce) are “encouraging,” they note that “[s]ome WHO member states, including India and Brazil (both top producers of generic drugs) and other developing countries, have questioned whether WHO can rightly take on enforcement operations” because it “is not a global law enforcement agency.”
Calif. Gov. Brown’s Revised Budget Includes Substantial Medi-Cal Cuts
The ballooning budget deficit in California might mean hospitals and nursing will get less state money.
Cookstove Technology Needs More Research, Development To Be Effective In Real-World Settings
A recent randomized trial by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers looking at how well clean cookstoves worked in real-world settings found that while there was “a meaningful reduction in smoke inhalation in the first year after a stove was installed, … [o]ver a longer period … they saw no health benefits and no reduction in fuel use” because families did not maintain or repair broken stoves, a Bloomberg editorial notes, adding, “This doesn’t suggest the clean cookstove campaign should be abandoned so much as slowed down. It would be wise to test various designs in real-life settings, and, where necessary, take more time to human-proof models.”
Heritage: Stop Subsidies For ‘Multimillionaire Seniors’ To Shore Up Medicare Program
A report by the conservative Heritage Foundation recommends making wealthier Medicare beneficiaries pay more to help get the program’s “fiscal house in order.” Also in the news, The Wall Street Journal reports that a judge who considers cases related to the Social Security Disability Insurance Program — one of the federal governments most rapidly growing entitlement programs — was placed on paid leave while complaints about his demeanor are probed.
Minn. Hospital Workers Weigh Strike
Unionized workers at eight Twin Cities hospitals — including nursing assistants, food service employees and other support staff — are taking a vote on whether to strike over management’s contract offer.
Okla. Judge Strikes Down Law That Restricted Drug-Induced Abortion
The court said the new law did not meet the state constitution’s guarantee of “the fundamental rights of women to privacy and bodily integrity,” the Tulsa World reports.
Business Trend To Offer Health Benefits To Same-Sex Couples Leaves Feds Behind
Although President Barack Obama’s pronouncement last week in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage does not reverse current federal policy which denies health benefits to domestic partners, some advocates hope it will be a “morale boost.” And many employers already offer such benefits to attract and retain top workers.
HHS Announcing Finalized Alzheimer’s Plan
The plan, which includes an emphasis on research, sets 2025 as the target date for finding effective treatments for this disease.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
Romney, Obama Medicare Plans Trigger Analysis
The New York Times analyzes the specifics of the Medicare plans advanced by GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Fla., is facing attack ads associated with his vote on the health law.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports from Capitol Hill about the continuing pressures surrounding health care costs and deficit issues.
GOP’s Medicare Plan Has Some Candidates Playing Defense
The budget plan advanced by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has become a hot topic in many congressional races. One example is the Illinois race between Rep. Joe Walsh, a Republican, and Democratic challenger and Iraqi war veteran Tammy Duckworth.
