Latest KFF Health News Stories
Essential Benefits, Summaries Among Implementation Issues In The News
In this pair of stories, CQ HealthBeat offers the latest news on the health law’s benefts summary rule and one state insurance commissioner’s views on essential benefits.
First Edition: February 6, 2012
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the continuing fall out from the Obama administration’s birth control rule and the latest on the Komen foundation’s efforts to bounce back from the Planned Parenthood funding flap.
Catholic Church Launches Campaign Against Obama Birth Control Rule
Also, Newt Gingrich attacked the Obama administration for the rule, which mandates coverage of birth control in health plans, as Gov. O’Malley, D-Md., defended it.
Komen Foundation Seeks To Restore Public Support After Ending Cuts To Planned Parenthood
The prominent breast cancer charity announced Friday in a blog post that it had reversed this decision, which had stirred an outcry.
Questions Emerge About Whether War Savings Can Pay For ‘Doc Fix’
House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp said that using war savings to pay for an overhaul of the Medicare physician payment formula is likely out of the scope of the conference committee’s deliberations. In addition, the proposal faces political obstacles.
Komen Denies Cut In Planned Parenthood Funding Was Political
As backlash grows, Planned Parenthood reports increasing contributions to help cover the lost funding.
‘Humanosphere’ Blog Examines Roles Of Former President Carter, Researcher Foege In Fighting NTDs
This post in KPLU 88.5’s “Humanosphere” blog examines how former President Jimmy Carter gave the fight against neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) “a good first shove nearly 30 years ago,” writing, “Neglected diseases like river blindness, Guinea worm, parasitic (lymphatic) elephantiasis and schistosomiasis have been in Carter’s cross hairs since the mid-1980s.” The blog adds, “Few would argue that it has been primarily the work of the Carter Center, carrying on the work of the CDC and others, that has brought the horrible parasitic disease Guinea worm so close to eradication today — from millions of cases in the 1980s down to a little more than a 1,000 last year.” The blog also discusses how William Foege, a former CDC official who is responsible for the smallpox vaccination strategy that helped wipe out the disease, was instrumental in bringing Carter and the Gates family into global health (Paulson, 2/1).
Republican Win In 2012 Election Could Spell End Of International Family Planning Programs
“If a Republican becomes president, … say goodbye to international programs providing birth control to women in desperately poor countries such as Liberia,” senior contributing writer Michelle Goldberg writes in this Daily Beast opinion piece. Goldberg notes that birth control has become a “significant issue in the U.S. presidential campaign,” writing, “All of the Republican candidates have slammed the administration’s refusal to give religious institutions a broad exemption from the mandate that insurance cover family planning.”
At Local Level, Komen Affiliates Express Concern About Decision
In California, seven Komen groups ask the national breast cancer group to reverse its funding decision. Others report concerns about community support for future money-raising activities.
Global Malaria Deaths Twice As High As Previously Estimated, IHME Study Suggests
“Malaria is killing more people worldwide than previously thought, but the number of deaths has fallen rapidly as efforts to combat the disease have ramped up, according to new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington” published in the Lancet on Thursday, an IHME press release reports. “More than 1.2 million people died from malaria worldwide in 2010, nearly twice the number found in the most recent comprehensive study of the disease,” the press release states (2/2). The study, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “used new data and new computer modeling to build a historical database for malaria between 1980 and 2010,” BBC News notes (Bowdler, 2/2).
States, Localities Seek Ways To Trim Health Care Costs For Employees, Retirees
Officials in Providence, R.I., and Iowa propose changes in health benefits. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he’ll use health care reserve fund dollars to make up a shortfall.
Words From Daily Report Readers
Here are today’s health policy haiku.
Medicare, Deficits And The Politics Of 2012
Reuters offers an analysis based on a recent poll and finds that people, shaken by the difficult economy, worry about the impact of efforts to address the nation’s deficit. This concept could lead to Democrats finding traction for their positions on Medicare.
Medicaid News: Kansas Insurer Says ‘No’ To Medicaid
Medicaid coverage is making news in Kansas, Connecticut and Colorado.
State Developments: Florida Hospitals Dodge Budget Bullet
A selection of state health policy news from around the U.S.
Business Group Urges Flu Shot Requirements For Hospital Workers
The National Business Group On Health is advocating this position as a way to reduce flu risk for health care workers and patients.
As Administration Explains Birth Control Rule, GOP Leaders Join In Criticism
House Speaker John Boehner, R- Ohio, called the decision on birth control coverage unconstitutional, while a senior White House official acknowledged during a conference call with reporters that there has been “a fair amount of interest and some confusion” about the policy.
Have Some For-Profit Hospices Learned To Work The Medicare System?
Bloomberg reports that hundreds of hospices across the U.S. exploit quirks in the Medicare payment system that yield higher reimbursements.
Hospitals Pay More For Devices, According To Government Study
The Wall Street Journal reports on a new study that details how hospitals pay higher tabs than others for big-ticket medical devices.
HHS Offers Progress Report On Shrinking Medicare’s Doughnut Hole
A provision in the health law was intended to help fill a gap in Medicare’s prescription drug coverage. On Thursday, administration officials said 3.6 million beneficiaries saved $2.1 billion on prescription drugs in 2011.
