Latest KFF Health News Stories
Viewpoints: Obama’s Budget, Birth Control Choices; Planning Hospital Readmissions
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the U.S.
First Edition: February 14, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations include news on congressional package to payroll taxes and stop a Medicare payment cut and analysis of President Barack Obama’s budget.
President’s Budget Adds To CMS For Health Law Implementation, Cuts Medicare/Medicaid
The Obama Administration released its annual budget today and Republicans were quick to criticize.
State Roundup: Health Law Implementation in Alaska, Calif., Mental Health Funding Challenges
A selection of health care stories from Florida, California, Iowa, Alaska, Washington state and Texas.
Viewpoints: Rationing Health Care, Jindal And Hospitals, Romney Vs. Past
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the U.S.
The U.S. Debates The Contraception Rule
A selection of opinions and editorials on the controversy surrounding the administration’s regulation mandating insurance coverage for women of birth control.
Knee Replacements Double In 10 Years, Study Says
Advances in technology and surgical improvements have increased demand for the procedure.
N.Y. Times Poll Finds Majority Of Americans Say Taxes Will Exceed Benefits
Two stories examine Americans’ views of government benefits and safety net programs.
Tax Increases, Medicare Cuts Expected In Obama Budget
President Obama releases his budget plan today, which is already getting its share of Republican detractors.
Bishops, Congressional Republicans Vow To Fight New Contraception Plan
Meanwhile, insurers react cautiously to Friday’s announcement, with the America’s Health Insurance Plans trade association expressing concern about the precedent set by the new policy, and Aetna saying more time is needed to study the impact.
GAO Finds Big Disparities In Prices Of Some Medical Devices
News outlets examine a variety of health workplace issues, including a GAO report on medical device prices and efforts to get health workers vaccinated for the flu.
Shortage Of Primary Care Doctors Raises Concerns
As the administration moves toward implementation of the health law, officials are seeking to bolster the number of primary care doctors. Also, hospitals are concerned about a possible measurement that would grade their efforts on patient safety.
Lawmakers Facing Showdown On Payroll Tax, Medicare Bill
Talks between Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp over the weekend failed to find a compromise on a bill that would extend the payroll tax cut and avoid a Medicare rate cut for doctors.
Administration Brief Defends Medicaid Expansion
The health law’s expansion of Medicaid coverage is one of the issues the Supreme Court will weigh this spring.
Examining Romney’s ‘Shift’ On Birth Control Mandate, Other Campaign News
Mitt Romney’s conservative credentials on birth control are examined through the lens of a Massachusetts state law similar to the birth control mandate President Obama has proposed. In other campaign news, Rick Santorum continues his “Romneycare” assault, and The Associated Press analyzes how Obama’s birth control compromises affects the campaign.
States’ Medicaid Spending On Target; Feds Deny Further Fla. Medicaid Privatization
A survey says most state Medicaid budgets are on budget through a series of program changes. In the meantime, CMS has denied a Florida proposal to expand Medicaid privatization there.
Mich. Attorney General To Sue Adminstration On Birth Control Rule
While officials at some religious-based hospitals and universities expressed support for the compromise enunciated by President Obama last week, other religious and governmental leaders remained unsatisfied, according to media reports from around the country.
Hospitals: N.Y. Times Finds Aggressive Debt Collection Despite Charity Care Rules
News about the hospital industry from New York, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia and California.
Supply of Childhood Leukemia Drug Nearly Exhausted
A medicine to treat children’s leukemia is in such short supply that hospitals may run out within weeks; meanwhile, families of people with Alzheimer’s disease are clamoring to use a skin-cancer drug after a promising study in mice.
CSIS Report Examines Polio Eradication Efforts In Nigeria
This report — titled “The Race to Eradication,” published on Friday by the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), and written by Jennifer Cooke, director of the CSIS Africa Program, and Farha Tahir, a program coordinator and research associate in the program — examines efforts to eradicate polio in Nigeria, a country that “remains one of the most entrenched reservoirs of poliovirus in the world,” according to the report summary. CSIS writes on its website, “The Nigerian experience has underscored the complexity of the eradication endeavor and vividly demonstrates the fragility and reversibility of gains made to date” (2/10).
