Latest KFF Health News Stories
Alliances Form Among Super Committee Members
Three Republicans and three Democrats on the panel are joining forces to develop a deal of their own. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO is launching a campaign to defeat any Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security cuts the panel may ultimately propose. And Social Security appears to be in play as deliberations continue.
Early Retirees’ Health Insurance Fund Running Out
A federal report predicts this $5 billion account created as part of the health law will be drained by 2012. Also drawing criticism are exchange regulations, which advocates say could undermine the law’s goal of expanding health insurance.
State Roundup: Ga., Minn. Move Slowly On Exchanges
Today’s state roundup comes from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Georgia, New Hampshire, Iowa, California, Oregon, Oklahoma and Kansas.
Obama Takes Action To Address Drug Shortages
President Barack Obama issued an executive order Monday directing the Food and Drug Administration to, among other steps, speed up reviews of manufacturers’ applications to begin or alter production of a drug in potentially short supply.
Congress Questions IRS On Oversight Of Nonprofit Hospitals
The New York Times reports that the Internal Revenue Service is not collecting information on the amount of charity care these facilities provide.
Debating ‘RomneyCare’s’ Parenthood
WBUR provides a video of a Republican-Democratic debate exploring whether Massachusetts’ health reforms laid the ground work for the federal health reform law.
NYC Settles Medicaid Suit; Wis. Officials Face Deadline For New Plan For Health Care For Poor
A roundup of state news about health care programs for low-income residents.
Home Health Payments Will Fall 2.3% in 2012
The pay cut for home health agencies was announced in a regulation that was issued Monday. Although this reduction is less than initially proposed and will be phased in over two years, industry voices described it as “severe.”
Hospitals Must Improve Tracking Of Serious Errors, Report Finds
According to USA Today, the Department of Health and Human Services will release a report today pressing hospitals to improve in their efforts to track and report serious errors.
Viewpoints: Super Committee Clock Is Ticking; Replacing CLASS; ‘Personhood’ Amendment In Miss.
A selection of editorials and opinions on health care policy from around the country.
First Edition: November 1, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report that the health law’s early retirees’ health insurance fund may be running out.
Pressure Mounts As Clock Ticks Toward Debt Panel’s Deadline
The LA Times reports on how a deficit-reduction deal has so far eluded Congress while Politico outlines the politics that are at work in the process.
ACO Rule Revisions Get Nod From Medical Industry Group
Also, Modern Healthcare delves into the projections for Medicaid growth under the 2010 health law.
Gates Asks Wealthy Countries To Continue Foreign Aid Efforts In Developing Nations
“Despite [the] economic crisis rippling around the world,” Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, “is pushing countries to continue foreign aid efforts to poor and developing nations, saying that every dollar of aid ‘makes a huge difference,'” ABC News reports. ABC’s “This Week” anchor Christiane Amanpour interviewed Gates last week after he visited Capitol Hill “to make his case to members of Congress.” Gates is expected to “present a plan at the G20 Summit next week in France calling on the wealthiest countries to continue their aid efforts, despite austerity measures being taken around the world,” the news agency writes.
Child Mortality Declining In Refugee Camp In Ethiopia
In the clinic of Hilaweyn, one of four camps at Ethiopia’s Dollo Ado complex for Somali refugees seeking relief from famine and poor security conditions, “[a] massive infusion of humanitarian resources … appears to be turning the tide” against child mortality, according to Doctors Without Borders, which operates the clinic, VOA News reports. “When Doctors Without Borders opened the Hilaweyn clinic … in August, children were dying of malnutrition at the rate of more than one a day. Two months later, the clinic’s emergency coordinator Aria Danika said they treat 1,000 cases a day, and only one child has died in the past two weeks,” VOA writes (Heinlein, 10/28).
Commonwealth Government Leaders Pledge Millions Of Additional Funds To Fight Polio
“Commonwealth government leaders meeting in Australia agreed Saturday to step up efforts to eradicate polio worldwide, despite the Afghanistan war setting back vaccination efforts there and in neighboring Pakistan,” the Associated Press reports (10/29). “Leaders from Britain, Canada, Australia and Nigeria, and” representatives of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation “on Saturday pledged tens of millions of dollars in extra funding to wipe out the disease” in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria — the four countries where polio remains endemic, Reuters states (10/29).
