Latest KFF Health News Stories
Indian State Of Jammu And Kashmir Avoids Grim AIDS Predictions
When the only community health care center providing medical and psychosocial care for people living with HIV/AIDS in India’s northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir “closed down [six months ago] for lack of patients, it was a sure sign that the north Indian state had beaten back dire forecasts,” Inter Press Service reports.
Caregivers Seek Help In Administration Alzheimer’s Plan
The AP reports that the plan will include both an emphasis on research and assistance to caregivers.
Berwick Offers Hopeful Prediction: The Launch Of ‘Pioneer’ ACOs By End Of Year
Also in the headlines: the Department of Health and Human Services tells Delaware “no” in response to its medical-loss ratio waiver request. And on the state level, the AP reports that some Illinois lawmakers involved in developing their state exchange are receiving campaign cash from insurers.
CBO: Health Sector Likely To Fare Best With Trigger Cuts
Meanwhile, the deficit panel is getting input from a variety of sources – Medicare patients, actuaries, policy analysts and physician groups – on how critical issues about health care costs and spending should be considered.
First Edition: September 13, 2011
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including a report that new Census data is expected to show that working-age people are losing ground in terms of their health insurance coverage.
Deficit Panel Feels Pressure To ‘Go Big;’ Looking In Usual Places
Health care advocates are getting nervous as they hone their pitches and prepare for this week’s stepped up level of action.
Some States Lag In Health Law Implementation Efforts
The Washington Post reports that some states are progressing at a slow pace – either because of political or practical issues – and the federal government may take on a bigger role as a result. Meanwhile, The New York Times offers a surprising tale of how implementation efforts in New York are facing a GOP revolt, despite the state’s popular Democratic governor and large number of uninsured residents. Also, Oklahoma’s congressional delegation backs the state’s request for a waiver from the health overhaul’s MLR requirement.
Risks Of Infectious Disease Outbreak Portrayed In The Film ‘Contagion’ Are ‘Very Real’
In this New York Times opinion piece, W. Ian Lipkin, a professor of epidemiology and a professor of neurology and pathology at Columbia University and a paid technical consultant on the film “Contagion,” which opened this weekend, writes about the risks of an infectious disease outbreak as portrayed in the film, stating, “Those risks are very real — and are increasing drastically.”
State Roundup: Ohio High-Risk Pool Faces Higher Than Expected Costs
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
U.N. Haiti Mission Should Acknowledge Waste Dumping And Apologize For Cholera Outbreak
Yves Engler, a Canadian writer and author, writes in a post on the Guardian’s “Comment Is Free” blog that local citizens and investigative journalists have alleged that the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah) dumped feces and other waste in holes a few feet from water used for drinking and bathing in the central plateau city of Hinche on August 6 and again 10 miles from Hinche on August 21, as well as cites a report (.pdf) stating that sewage disposal at the U.N. base near Mirebalais 10 months ago caused a devastating cholera outbreak.
Watson Goes To Work For WellPoint
The health insurer, WellPoint, will use IBM’s Watson technology to suggest treatment options and diagnosis to doctors.
Micronutrient Powder Helps Prevent Malnutrition In Children Up To Two Years Old, Study Review Shows
In a systematic review published by the Cochrane Collaboration last week, researchers found that the micronutrient powder used in recent years to combat malnutrition, anemia and iron deficiency in children was very helpful in preventing malnutrition in children six to 24 months old, VOA News reports. World Health Organization epidemiologist Luz Maria De Regil “and other researchers combined the results of eight previous studies involving thousands of children,” VOA writes, adding, “The studies were done on three continents, in countries as varied as Haiti, Cambodia, and Ghana.”
A selection of opinions and editorials from around the country.
The Down Economy Drives Mounting Medical Bills
The rate of medical debt is at an all-time high in the U.S. Meanwhile, Kaiser Health News reports on denials in the individual health insurance market.
Researchers Investigate Impact Of Physician Financial Incentives
Reuters reports on an analysis of data related to incentive programs from the U.S., the U.K. and Germany.
“Reducing the incidence of malaria could also drastically reduce the number of deaths from bacterial infections among children in Africa, a study” published last week in the Lancet found, according to SciDev.Net. “‘Children who are protected from malaria are less likely to catch bacterial infections. It therefore means that controlling malaria will give an additional benefit,’ Anthony Scott, the lead author and a researcher at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, in Kenya, told SciDev.Net.”
Ky. Medicaid Plan Approved; Calif. Dentists Decry Reduced Patient Benefits
In state Medicaid news, Kentucky gains federal approval for a managed care system, California dentists say cuts to programs there have hurt patients, a nursing homes prepares to close in New York City and questions are raised about the mental health managed care system in Kansas.
Will Obama Jobs Plan Undercut Health Sector’s Jobs Growth?
Politico reports that health care providers are warning that deeper cuts to entitlement programs will slow growth in the health care sector.
Meanwhile, a survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions finds that Americans still don’t believe the health law is working and have questions about the federal government’s priorities.
Government Funding Crisis In Swaziland Disrupts Supply Of HIV/AIDS Supplies
“An acute government funding crisis in Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, is disrupting supplies of HIV/AIDS drugs and hampering the fight against the virus in the country with the world’s highest infection rate, Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) said Friday,” Reuters reports. “Stocks of testing kits and related chemicals were ‘almost dry,’ making it next-to-impossible to chart the progress of the 70,000 patients on therapy or more than 130,000 other people carrying the virus, the aid agency said,” according to Reuters.
