Latest KFF Health News Stories
House GOP Budget Cuts Social Programs
As Congress returns after a weeklong recess, House Republicans will advance legislation to trim almost $380 billion from the federal budget, with social programs bearing the brunt of the cuts. On the Senate side, lawmakers will work on legislation to prevent the doubling of interest rates on college loans. The real issue continues to be how to pay for the fix: whether to use the health law’s prevention trust fund or increase Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes for high earners.
CMS Delays Sunshine Act Data Collection Until 2013
Implementation of this provision of the health law, which is designed to shed light on the financial arrangements between doctors, drug makers and medical device companies, will now begin in 2013.
Obama, Romney And Their Supporters Debate Government Role In Health Care
News outlets cover health care issues in the 2012 campaign as it heats up.
Ariz. Governor Signs Bill Banning Public Funding Of Planned Parenthood
Supporters of the Arizona bill said the law was needed to keep money from indirectly funding abortions. In the Texas case, the panel of appeals judges said Texas must continue funding Planned Parenthood until a lower court decides the case.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
State Roundup: Conn. Retiree Health Plan Expansion Could Endanger Protections
A selection of health policy stories from California, New York, Iowa, Connecticut, Florida, Minnesota, Alaska and North Carolina.
Calif., Ore. And Mass. Try New Ways To Control Health Costs
In Massachusetts, House lawmakers released their proposal to curb health care spending by setting a goal.
Recession Drives Medicaid Spending
Job losses and diminishing income habe pushed Medicaid spending to new heights, according to a study released Friday.
Medicaid Programs In Ga., Ill. Under Microscope
States wrestle with Medicaid funding and opportunities to reshape the programs.
Health Costs, Disability Issues Cause Concern Among People Nearing Retirement
USA Today reports on new poll findings that indicate health care costs are a prominent fear among older workers. Also, Reuters reports on what might be behind the recent rise in disability claims among people in that same age group.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports detailing what’s ahead this week on Capitol Hill as well as state-level developments.
Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law that cuts off state funding for health care providers that also perform abortions. In the Texas case, a panel of federal appeals court judges tell the state it cannot ban Planned Parenthood from a state program until a federal lawsuit is decided.
Mass. House Releases Plan To Curb Health Costs
Proposal would create an agency to oversee medical spending and would set limits on what hospitals and doctors could charge.
Devex Examines Closing Of Global Health Council
Devex examines the April 20 announcement by the Global Health Council (GHC) that it will cease operations in the year of its 40th anniversary, discussing possible reasons why the organization is closing and what lies ahead for its members. According to Devex, a lack of funding, operating challenges, and “a lack of focus” all potentially contributed to the organization’s impending closure. “GHC, for its part, has pointed to the general shift from a ‘broad-based health agenda’ toward disease-specific approaches as a reason for its shutdown,” the news service states. As for the future, Devex notes that those consulted for the article were “either unsure which group would” fill the gap left by GHC’s closure or “suggested that a new group or a coalition needs to form” (Schiff, 5/4).
American Voters Say U.S. Support For WHO Important, Poll Shows
“Nine in 10 U.S. voters say it’s important for the United States to support the global health efforts of the U.N.’s World Health Organization, according to a United Nations Foundation/Better World Campaign poll [.pdf] released Thursday,” The Hill’s “Global Affairs” blog reports. “The poll comes as lawmakers debate significant cuts to federal spending, including cuts to global health funding and foreign aid,” the blog notes (Pecquet, 5/3).
In an interview with Foreign Policy, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah speaks “about how he is reinventing USAID, an often-embattled agency charged with helping the world’s poorest countries develop, while at the same time dealing with crises around the globe,” the magazine reports. Shah discusses his career path, spending oversight, “expanding public-private partnerships, and integrating development and emergency intervention,” especially in relationship to food security in Africa, according to Foreign Policy. Shah said, “The challenges remain fierce but we are excited about the momentum we are achieving through our resilience work around the world and with specific countries,” the magazine notes (Loewenberg, 5/3).
Sierra Leone Has Made Progress In Improving Maternal, Child Health Care, But ‘Much More To Do’
“Just two years ago, our country had one of the worst maternal and infant death rates in the world,” Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma writes in a Huffington Post U.K. “Impact” blog post, adding, “We knew something had to be done.” So in September 2009, the government announced “that all health user fees would be removed for pregnant and lactating women and children under the age of five” and “introduced the Free Health Care Initiative [FHCI] in April 2010, which would give around 460,000 women and a million children a much better chance of having a longer and happier life,” Koroma writes. In one year, the FHCI facilitated a “214 percent increase in the number of children attending outpatient units” and a 61 percent reduction in “the number of women dying from pregnancy complications at facilities,” and “increased the number of health workers and ensured they were given big salary rises to reflect the importance of their positions,” he notes.
As part of a series of Slate articles highlighting issues being examined by the Copenhagen Consensus Center, Bjorn Lomborg, director of the center, examines the implications of population growth on development indicators. In a research paper released on Thursday “for Copenhagen Consensus 2012, Hans-Peter Kohler of the University of Pennsylvania looks at sub-Saharan African nations that, among high-fertility countries, make the dominant contribution to world population growth,” he notes, adding, “‘High-fertility’ countries today account for about 38 percent of the 78 million people that are added annually to the world population, despite the fact that they are home to only 18 percent of the population.”
Guardian Examines Launch Of GAVI-Sponsored Immunization Campaign In Ghana
Ghana’s recent “rollout of the rotavirus vaccine and, to much acclaim, a new vaccine against pneumococcal infections, [makes it] the first country in sub-Saharan African to introduce two new vaccines at the same time,” the Guardian reports. The immunization campaign, organized by the Ghanaian government and the GAVI Alliance in partnership with other international agencies, philanthropies and the private sector, is “expected to save thousands of lives,” the newspaper notes. “That GAVI has deemed Ghana able to introduce rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines together is a vote of confidence in the country’s ability to establish a ‘cold chain,'” a refrigeration network necessary to keep the vaccines viable, according to the Guardian.
The Kaiser Family Foundation on Thursday released a new issue brief that “provides a summary of the major policies and statutory requirements governing U.S. participation in international family planning and reproductive health efforts,” according to the website. “These laws and policies collectively direct how funds are spent, which organizations receive funds and generally shape U.S. family planning and reproductive health activities around the world,” the website adds (5/3).
