Latest KFF Health News Stories
Confusion Reigns After Obama Administration Suspends CLASS
Even though the White House signaled that the long-term insurance program will not be implemented, President Barack Obama made clear yesterday that he is opposed to the measure’s repeal. Meanwhile, the decision to suspend the plan from going forward has left many experts to ask what’s next in the effort to address the nation’s long-term care issues.
Russia Pledges Money To Support HIV, TB Programs In Neighboring Countries
“Russia plans to step up its international role in fighting infectious disease across eastern Europe and central Asia, in what some observers see as the latest effort by the Kremlin to reassert its political influence over its former Soviet neighbors,” the Financial Times reports. “Arkady Dvorkovich, economic aide to President Dmitry Medvedev, pledged money for a new international development agency to support programs against HIV and tuberculosis (TB)” at the Millennium Development Goal 6 Forum hosted in Moscow last week, the newspaper notes.
Use Of Social Media To Fight Malaria Shows ‘Great Promise’
As the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation hosts the second international Malaria Forum in Seattle this week, Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation, in this entry in the Huffington Post’s “Impact” blog reflects on the advances made in the fight against malaria since the first Malaria Forum four years ago. She writes that “we’re seeing great promise using communications technologies in malaria endemic countries” and highlights social media campaigns conducted by Malaria No More and the U.N.’s social media advocacy group, Social Media Envoys. She concludes, “We have seen that everyone can make a difference, no matter their location. … The rest is up to you” (10/17).
CDC: Visits To Emergency Rooms On The Rise
The increased rates are leading emergency room docs to step up their interest in medical liability reform.
A selection of today’s editorials and opinions from around the country.
Aging Population Drives Job Growth In Health Care
MarketWatch reports that the health sector continues to be a major source of job growth.
Assessing Health Policy Positions On The Campaign Trail
NPR compares and contrasts the health policies of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama.
“Nearly a third of all countries affected by malaria are on course to eliminate the mosquito-borne disease over the next 10 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday … [i]n a progress report (.pdf) published by the Roll Back Malaria (RBM) partnership at the start of an international Malaria Forum conference in Seattle,” Reuters reports (Kelland, 10/17). “The [WHO] has awarded malaria-free certification to three nations in the past four years, according to the report,” Agence France-Presse notes, adding, “If current successes in the fight against malaria continue, more than three million lives can be saved by 2015 with the elimination of the disease in eight to 10 countries, RBM said” (10/17).
Study: Digital Mammography No More Effective Than Other Screening Tests
iWatch News reports that a study comparing digital mammography screening with less expensive film mammography found the two equally effective at detecting cancer in most women.
State Roundup: Mass. Mulls ‘Global Payments’; Oregon Liability Cost Studied
A roundup of news from various states, including California, Massachusetts, Iowa, Oregon, Texas, Michigan, Illinois and Georgia.
States Juggling Medicaid Requirements, Costs, Coverage
In Arizona, Oregon, Florida and elsewhere, states are examining who is covered by Medicaid, how they’re covered and what it costs.
HHS Begins ‘Innovation Advisors’ Program
As part of a program set up by the health law, the Department of Health and Human Services will select as many as 200 “experts” to work with doctors and other providers to better coordinate care and improve the health care delivery system.
Republicans Looking Ahead With Plans To Dismantle Health Law
GOP activists, who increasingly consider both the Senate and White House to be within reach, are developing multi-pronged strategies to roll-back the health law beginning in 2013.
Security Issues, Rains Hampering Relief Efforts In Horn Of Africa
Security issues and torrential rains are hampering relief efforts aimed at fighting severe malnutrition and disease in the Horn of Africa, the Guardian reports. Last week, two workers with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) were kidnapped, allegedly by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, prompting the group to evacuate some of its staff from two of three refugee camps on the border of Somalia and Kenya, according to the newspaper.
Population Growth Calls For New Technologies, Reduction In Fertility Rates
The world’s population is expected to reach seven billion this month, which is “cause for profound global concern” and begs the question of “can we enjoy ‘sustainable development’ on a very crowded planet?” Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, writes in a CNN opinion piece.
Cholera Outbreak In West, Central Africa Accelerated By Increased Migration, UNICEF Official Says
“More than 85,000 cases of cholera in West and Central Africa are making this one of the region’s most severe epidemics in recent memory,” VOA News reports. “Grant Leaity, UNICEF’s chief of emergency operations for West and Central Africa, says the epidemic is due, in part, to a greater movement of people across the region,” VOA writes, noting, “Three simultaneous cross-border outbreaks are affecting people in two dozen countries along the coast from Guinea, and in the Lake Chad basin to the West Congo basin and around Lake Tanganyika.”
Donors Need To Look Beyond Emergency Funding To Long-Term, Strategic Solutions
“Americans are among the most generous people in the world, giving more money to charities than citizens of any other nation in the world,” but “[m]uch of our charity goes to disaster relief,” entrepreneur and philanthropist Sheila Johnson writes in an opinion piece in the Huffington Post’s “Black Voices.” She adds, “I believe we can do more. We need to think long-term and become true partners in reshaping history. We need to boldly invest in innovative responses to Africa’s problems that are relevant locally, and that put Africans in the driver’s seat of determining the future of their continent.”
Cholera Claims Nearly 200 Lives In Somalia Over 24-Hour Period
“During the past 24 hours, cholera has claimed the lives of nearly 200 women and children in famine-stricken Somalia,” a Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported on Sunday. “More than 800 children suffering from the disease in refugee camps were reportedly transported to medical centers in south Mogadishu,” the news service writes, adding, “As the number of sick is on the rise, doctors are facing a shortage of medicine.” Press TV notes, “According to the United Nations, drought, high food prices and fighting in Somalia have increased the number of those in need of humanitarian assistance across the Horn of Africa to 13.3 million” (10/16).
