Latest KFF Health News Stories
Incorporating Mental Health Into Agenda To Ensure Access To Services For All
In this Lancet editorial, Giuseppe Raviola, Anne Becker and Paul Farmer, professors with the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, write, “Unprecedented opportunities to promote excellence and equity in health care delivery for the world’s most underserved populations are upon us,” but “delivery of mental health services in low-resource settings lags unacceptably and unjustly far behind that of other services.”
Education For Women, Girls A More Effective Strategy Than Family Planning To Solve Global Problems
In a post in the National Review’s “The Corner,” Christopher White, international director of operations for the World Youth Alliance, responds to a New York Times opinion piece published Wednesday in which columnist Nicholas Kristof hailed family planning as a solution to “many of the global problems that confront us.” White writes, “Somewhere along [Kristof’s] many trips around the globe … he’s failed to realize the ineffectiveness of contraception and see the real needs of poor populations — particularly mothers and girls.”
Super Committee Progress Appears To Be At ‘Impasse’
As the clock ticks toward the panel’s Thanksgiving deadline, the question of raising taxes continues to be a sticking point. Republicans and Democrats appear to be trying to “horsetrade” revenue increases for entitlement program cuts. In the background, 33 Republican senators sent a letter to the committee insisting on “no net tax increase.”
Boehner Sends Signals On Deficit Deal
The speaker of the house said Thursday that there is room for revenue increases in a deficit-reduction deal as long as such proposals are accompanied by major changes in government benefit programs.
Gates Delivers Report To G20 Leaders Calling For Increased Development Efforts
“In a report about financing for development delivered [Thursday] at the G20 Summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, urged leaders to commit to increasing the pool of resources dedicated to development, or risk causing irreparable damage to the livelihoods of millions of the poorest people,” a Gates Foundation press release states (11/3). “Gates’ report to G20 leaders, whose countries account for 85 percent of the global economy, suggests they can raise over $250 billion (180 billion euros), a modest part of which could accelerate the development of poor countries,” Agence France-Presse reports (11/3).
Global Task Force Report Presents ‘Compelling’ Action On Cancer Care, Control
“More than 50 percent of all new cancers and two-thirds of the annual cancer mortality worldwide happen in low-income and middle-income countries,” a Lancet editorial states and describes how the recently released report Closing the Cancer Divide, by the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries, “presents a compelling case for comprehensive action on expanded access to cancer care and control with realistic recommendations that will be beneficial beyond cancer.” The editorial says the report notes that cancer and issues surrounding it “need to be addressed on humanitarian and rights-based grounds,” as well as “in terms of economic productivity and development.”
Obesity Affecting Wealthy, Middle Classes More Than Poor In Developing Countries, Study Says
“‘First world’ health problems such as obesity and heart disease may be gaining ground in developing nations, but they are mostly afflicting the rich and middle class while poor people remain undernourished and underweight,” according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Reuters reports. “Researchers who looked at more than 500,000 women from 37 mid- and low-income nations in Asia, Africa and South America found that there was a clear divide between the better-off and the poor,” Reuters states, adding, “Across countries, the wealthier the women were, the higher their average [body mass index (BMI)], a pattern that held steady over time.” The news service notes, “The pattern is different from that seen in wealthy nations, such as the United States, where lower incomes and less education often correlate with higher weight” (Norton, 11/3).
Women’s Groups In Somali Town Push For Law Banning Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting
“Women’s groups in the Somali town of Galkayo are lobbying the authorities in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland to enact a law banning female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), saying the practice was becoming widespread,” IRIN reports. “Activists say FGM/C causes serious health problems to the women and is against their religion,” according to the news service, which speaks with several advocates pushing for the enactment of an anti-FGM/C law. The advocates note that, in addition to passing a law, “a religious fatwa [decree] proclaiming that FGM is Haram [illegal] under Islam” and “convincing and winning the support of traditional elders and religious leaders was crucial to” their efforts, IRIN writes (11/3).
Global Food Prices Drop But Still High; Market Remains Volatile, Food Indexes Show
“The [U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization] FAO index of global food prices hit an 11-month low in October, reflecting sharp falls in grain, sugar and oils prices, the U.N. food agency said on Thursday, Reuters reports (11/3). “The agency attributes the decline to an improved supply outlook for a number of commodities and uncertainty about global economic prospects,” the U.N. News Centre writes (11/3). “Nonetheless prices still remain generally higher than last year and very volatile, FAO said,” according to an FAO press release (11/3). On Tuesday, the World Bank Group released its Food Price Watch ahead of this week’s Group of 20 (G20) summit, stating that “[w]orld food prices remain high and are hitting the poorest countries hard,” according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur/M&C (11/1).
Guardian Profiles Anglo American CMO’s Efforts To Fight HIV/AIDS
The Guardian profiles Brian Brink, chief medical officer at Anglo American, South Africa’s largest private-sector employer, and the company’s efforts to treat and prevent HIV among its employees. According to the newspaper, “HIV affects 12,000 of its employees, or 16 percent of its 70,000-strong permanent staff.” The Guardian continues, “For Anglo, a healthy workforce is a more loyal and productive one,” which is why it offers HIV testing and treatment free-of-charge to employees, runs HIV prevention programs, and promotes gender equality. “Not only is it a moral imperative to get on top of the AIDS problem, it’s also good for business, and the wider South African economy. The prevalence of AIDS and HIV [the virus that leads to AIDS] probably lops one percent off the country’s GDP,” Brink said (11/3).
Angolan Health Officials On High Alert After Polio Case Confirmed
Health officials in the northern Angolan province of Uige are on high alert “after a 14-month-old boy tested positive for polio, which has made a resurgence in the country, UNICEF said Thursday,” Agence France-Presse reports (11/3). “After eliminating new polio cases for three years in succession following its 27-year civil war, Angola saw a strain of the crippling virus reappear in 2005,” the news service adds.
State Roundup: Puerto Rico Settles Disability Battle With Feds
News outlets examine a variety of state health policy issues.
Governors Raise Concerns About Insurance Exchanges
In a letter to HHS, governors say they need more support in establishing marketplaces.
A selection of editorials and opinions about health policy from around the country.
Health Insurers Predict They Will Pass On Health Law’s New Tax To Consumers
A report financed by insurance trade group America’s Health Insurance Plans predicts that premiums will increase by about 2 percent in 2014, and 3 to 4 percent by 2023.
MedPAC Offers Recommendations For Changes To Dual Eligibles Program
Modern Healthcare reports that the advisory panel voted unanimously for these changes designed to improve and expand a program for these high-cost beneficiaries.
Stakeholders Anxiously Await High Court Health Law Review
Insurers are on the lookout for what they view as the worse-case scenario. Meanwhile, some state attorneys general are watching developments surrounding this case to see if it might fuel other such state challenges to federal laws.
Romney Details His Deficit-Reduction Plans
Media outlets also report on how the abortion issue might impact GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, fact checks and news from Iowa about Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum also are in the headlines.
Medicare Beneficiaries File Class Action Suit Over Hospital ‘Observation Status’
The lawsuit challenges Medicare’s use of this practice, which classifies certain hospital patients as not having been formally admitted for billing purposes, even though they might have been in the hospital for days. The impact is that these patients are responsible for higher hospital costs and are also denied Medicare coverage for some types of follow-up care.
