Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare Actuary Issues Cautions About Current Efforts To ‘Cure’ Spiralling Costs
Richard S. Foster said that plans such as the GOP-backed premium support system and the Obama administration’s cost-cutting proposals do enough to control the program’s growth.
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the U.S.
Budget Cuts Threaten Global Health Progress, Advocacy Group Warns In Report
The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) — consisting of 40 global health research and advocacy organizations — on Tuesday held a congressional briefing to launch its third annual policy report, titled “Sustaining Progress: Creating U.S. policies to spur global health innovation,” GlobalPost’s “Global Pulse” blog reports (Donnelly, 2/28). The group is “warning deep cuts in the U.S. federal budget could reverse progress made on many diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,” VOA News writes (DeCapua, 2/28).
In the Republican campaign for the presidential nomination, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), “the most religiously conservative candidate, surprisingly, is the most fervent advocate for U.S. global health diplomacy,” Jack Chow, former U.S. ambassador on global HIV/AIDS and former assistant director-general of WHO on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, writes in a Foreign Policy opinion piece. “Santorum has staked out global health as one of his preferred instruments of asserting American power abroad” and “seems determined to lay the groundwork for a global health agenda that is not only far more extensive than his competitors’, but would surpass both [George W.] Bush and Barack Obama in advancing U.S. interests abroad through fighting disease,” Chow writes.
Typhoid Outbreak Spreading In Zimbabwe; Officials Working To Improve Sanitation, Drug Supply
“A typhoid outbreak that began in Harare last year is steadily spreading across Zimbabwe with more than 3,000 cases reported although only one death due to the disease has been reported so far, health officials have said,” ZimOnline reports (Marimudza, 2/29). “We have reported 203 new typhoid cases this week only … So we actually have an outbreak that is raging,” Ministry of Health Epidemiology and Disease Control Director Portia Manangazira told VOA News, according to the news service (Gonda/Chifera, 2/28). Speaking to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Welfare on Tuesday, Manangazira “said the ministry did not have adequate supply of drugs for patients,” NewsDay notes (Chidavaenzi, 2/29).
‘Global Leadership’ Through Foreign Assistance Is ‘Strategic Imperative’ For U.S.
“[T]oday, with the national debt approaching $14.7 trillion, Americans rightly demand fiscal responsibility. Yet efforts in Congress to cut billions from the president’s proposed budget for the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are short-sighted,” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. He adds that “all of our foreign aid programs and foreign policy initiatives — from sending diplomats to Afghanistan to helping reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa — cost less than one-tenth of our annual military expenditures” and “comprises a mere 1.5 percent” of President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request.
China’s AIDS Action Plan Calls For Education, Condom Distribution To Stem Spread Of HIV
China’s State Council, or cabinet, on Wednesday “published the country’s AIDS Action Plan for the 12th Five-Year Program period (2011-2015) on the website of the Chinese government, http://www.gov.cn,” Xinhua/China.org.cn reports (2/29). According to the plan, “China hopes to cap the number of people living with HIV/AIDS at 1.2 million by 2015, up from around 780,000 at present,” by promoting condom use, reducing stigma and discrimination, and educating urban and rural populations, as well as local officials, about the disease, Reuters notes (Blanchard, 2/29). In addition, the plan aims to implement interventions among people at higher risk of infection, such as drug users, and increase the rates of HIV testing and treatment, according to Xinhua (2/29).
Clinton Discusses GHI In Testimony On FY13 USAID, State Department Budget Request
“People look to [the U.S.] to protect our allies; stand by our principles; serve as an honest broker in making peace; to fight hunger, poverty, and disease; to stand up to bullies and tyrants everywhere,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Tuesday in testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, and she added that to do so “takes more than just resolve. It takes resources,” ABS-CBNnews.com reports (Jaleco, 2/29).
First Edition: February 29, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports on yesterday’s GOP presidential primary elections and how health policy played a role in some of the rhetoric.
Maine’s Top Court Backs State Authority To Limit Health Plan’s Profits
In a case closely watched by the insurance industry, Maine’s top court Tuesday upheld state regulators’ authority to hold down rate increases sought by Anthem Health Plans of Maine.
More Americans Head To The ER For Dental Emergencies
According to a new report, more than 800,000 visits to the ER in 2009 were for avoidable dental ailments.
‘Obamacare’ Draws More Opposition Than ‘Romneycare’
Politico reports on new polling that shows the federal health law draws more negative public opinions than does the Massachusetts law signed by Mitt Romney when he was the state’s governor. Also, the LA Times reports that a majority of registered voters believe the health law’s individual mandate is unconstitutional.
On Health Exchange, Neb. Makes Progress, Wis. and Texas Mull Next Steps
A roundup of reports on what’s happening on the ground in several states, where Republican governors have been opposed to implementing the health law’s insurance exchanges.
Feds Pursue Anti-Trust Action Against Georgia Hospital Chain
Hospital news from around America includes worries from Massachusetts hospitals that cuts included in the payroll tax package will hurt their bottom lines. In the meantime, the federal government will appeal a Georgia hospital chain purchase to the Supreme Court and the CEO of Dallas’ troubled Parkland Hospital says public transparency won’t correct that hospital’s problems.
State Budgets Improve But Not Enough To Spare Medicaid
Medicaid news from California, Georgia and New York.
Mass. Senate Race: Brown-Kennedy Dust-Up Continues
Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., has refused a request from former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to pull a campaign advertisement rejecting the federal birth control mandate that features Kennedy’s father, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Financial Crime Convictions – Including Health Care Fraud – Reap Billions In Restitution Payments
The AP reports that financial crimes including Ponzi schemes and health care fraud reped more than $12 billion in court-ordered restitution.
HPV Vaccine Recommended For Boys
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended boys – not just girls – be vaccinated against HPV, though questions about its cost-effectiveness remain.
Health Law, Entitlement Programs Part Of GOP Campaign Talk
News outlets report on the positions taken and jabs traded by the GOP presidential candidates as they position themselves for primary elections in Michigan and Arizona.
Hospitals, Consumer Groups Have Postive View Of ‘Stage 2’ Health IT Rules
Both hospital and consumer groups are reacting positively to new federal rules meant to improve the effective use of the technology, and new electronic health records certification rules are released.
