Latest KFF Health News Stories
Romney Defends Mass. Mandate; Gingrich Once Supported That Plan
Romney says an insurance mandate is fundamentally a conservative principle, The Hill reports. Meanwhile, recent news accounts have found past statements by Gingrich praising Romney’s health law efforts in Massachusetts.
House, Senate Pass Two-Month Extension Bill
The long process of negotiation between House and Senate ends as both chambers pass a bill to prevent a cut in Medicare payments, a payroll tax increase and reduced unemployment benefits for two months. But in the new year, Congress must resume talks about a longer-term solution.
N.Y. Times Review Finds Misuse Of Psychotropic Drugs In Disabled Patients
Article reveals that psychotropic medications, which alter the brain’s chemistry, are often dispensed sloppily, without rigorous or regular review, by general practitioners with little expertise in the area.
Roundup: HIV Staff To Be Cut In Ga.; Abortion News In N.J., Mo.; Wis. Medicaid Coverage In Limbo
News outlets report on state health policy developments in Georgia, California, Missouri, New Jersey, Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Oregon.
Medicare Spending Growth Slows, But 2011 A Profitable Year For Medicare Advantage Plans
Medicare spending growth is slowing, even as enrollment rises, The Washington Post reports. Meanwhile, several large Medicare Advantage plans turned a mighty profit in 2011, despite the volatility of the larger economy.
Scientific Journal Retracts Study That Linked Mouse Virus To Human Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Editors at the journal Science have retracted a study that linked a virus in mice to chronic fatigue syndrome in humans after the Cleveland Clinic said some data came from a contaminated lab.
Mt. Sinai Financial Turnaround Offers Lessons; Hospitals Object To New Rules
News outlets report on a variety of hospital issues.
Republicans Widen Probe of AARP Tax Status
House Republicans question the tax-exempt group’s involvement in the sales of health insurance products.
Oregon Hospitals Lose Battle Against New Law; Pittsburgh Hospital, Insurer Reach Agreement
A roundup of hospital news from around the country.
Harkin Blasts South Carolina Over Exchange Grant
The chairman of the Senate HELP Committee wants the HHS inspector general to investigate whether a $1 million federal grant was misused.
Nurses Plan Strike In New York; Calif. Nurse Walkout Spurs Hospital Lockout
Nurses at one hospital in New York are planning a walkout in January unless they can hammer out an agreement with leaders there. In California in the meantime, nurses who staged a one-day walkout Thursday over a contract dispute and staffing issues will not be allowed back to work today, officials said.
Texas Democrats Oppose State’s MLR Waiver Request
The state’s Democratic House members urge HHS to reject the Perry administration request to give Texas insurers more time to meet medical loss ratio standards in the health law.
House Committee Members Investigate $433M HHS Contract To Purchase Smallpox Drug
“Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are looking into a $433 million contract awarded by the Health and Human Services Department to purchase a yet-to-be-approved smallpox drug” known as ST-426, CQ HealthBeat reports. “The lawmakers raised questions about several issues, including the cost of the contract”; “asked for evidence supporting the assumption that the [FDA] will approve the ST-426, which was one of the requirements of the contract”; and “requested documents describing the actual threat of smallpox, the cost of the contract, and the decision to award it” by January 11, the news service notes (Ethridge, 12/21).
Experts’ Debate Over How Trade Affects Food Security Focusing Attention On Doha Talks, IRIN Reports
IRIN reports how “[a]n exchange between two leading world officials on how trade affects food insecurity in countries has helped focus attention on the stalled Doha trade talks.” A debate between Olivier de Schutter, the U.N. Human Rights Council special rapporteur on the right to food, and Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), “has reopened issues around the Doha talks which have been going on, in stop-start mode, for the last 10 years,” IRIN writes.
Promoting Gay Rights Essential For Health Of Africans
Across Africa, “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people suffer brutal attacks, yet cannot report them to the police for fear of additional violence, humiliation, rape or imprisonment at the hands of the authorities. We are expelled from school and denied health care because of our perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” Frank Mugisha, 2011 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureate and executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, writes in a New York Times opinion piece. He adds, “When Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced this month that the United States would use diplomacy to encourage respect for gay rights around the world, my heart leapt.”
Viewpoints: Picking The ‘Right Fights’; Sebelius’s ‘Special Place’ In History
A selection of editorials and opinions about health care policy from around the country.
