Latest KFF Health News Stories
U.S. Foreign Policy Should Promote Healthy Women
“When women are healthy and empowered, they can spark a ripple effect in their families, communities and nations that can lead to lower rates of poverty and stronger economic growth and productivity,” Tamara Kreinin, executive director of women and population at the United Nations Foundation, writes in a “RH Reality Check” blog post. “By voting to reduce funding for international reproductive health and family planning activities, eliminate funding for the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), and reinstate the Global Gag Rule, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs threatens to turn back the clock on women’s health and has taken its disturbing war on women to a global stage,” she writes, referring to the House FY12 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill (7/27).
Debt-Ceiling Pressure Increases As Deadline Approaches
News outlets report that states are getting more nervous and are taking steps to prepare for the loss in federal dollars. Meanwhile, in the background, political maneuvering surrounding Medicare and Medicaid continues.
Nation’s Health Care Tab Continues To Grow
Even as new projections estimate that the costs will reach $4.6 trillion by 2020, some point out that the current rate of increase is slower than expected.
Niger Facing High Child Malnutrition Rates
While the world focuses on the famine in East Africa, warnings about high child malnutrition rates in Niger appear “to have gone unnoticed by the international media,” AlertNet reports.
Longer Looks: Expensive Cities For Health Care; Mapping Medicaid
This week’s collection includes articles from Bundle, Time, The Economist, Marketplace, The Nation and American Medical News.
A selection of opinons and editorials from around the country.
State Roundup: Mass. Communities Look To New Law For Health Savings
News outlets report on a variety of state health policy issues.
Federal Judge Upholds Obama Rule On Stem Cell Research
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth rules that NIH guidelines do not violate federal law.
Kansas Health IT Officials Get First Big Test; Utah Faces Digital Incompatibility
The hospital association has asked the Kansas Information Exchange to probe pricing structures of electronic health record vendors, the Kansas Health Institute News reports. Meanwhile, in Utah, plans some analysts are raising concerns that doctors and hospitals have already signed up with systems that may not work together, the Salt Lake Tribune writes.
Veterans’ Health Care Costs Are A Big Part Of Federal Budget
The New York Times reports on how these costs will continue to rise for decades.
However, the Associated Press reports on a trend that has led some insurers to increase profits and may now also give consumers a break from premium hikes.
States Struggle With Exchange Planning; More Guidance From Feds Coming Soon
The Medicaid exchange rule is expected to be released soon. Meanwhile, states that didn’t create exchanges this year are facing crunch time.
Health Law Challenge Inches Toward Supreme Court
The Thomas More Law Center formally petitioned the high court to reverse a lower court’s decision upholding the health law.
Stateline: Detailing How A Medicaid ‘Blended Rate’ Plan Would Work
One of the key parts of this approach involves changing a few of the key funding formulas that determine the amount of federal Medicaid dollars states receive.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the ever-growing U.S. health care tab and about the petition filed by a conservative legal center to bring their health law challenge to the Supreme Court.
Law Center Presses Its Health Law Challenge
News outlets report that the Thomas More Law Center formally petitioned the high court to overturn a lower court’s decision upholding the health law.
House Committee Releases Foreign Operations Spending Bill With State, USAID Funding Cuts
The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday released the FY12 Foreign Relations Authorization Act “that slashes State Department funding and foreign aid,” The Hill’s “On The Money” blog reports (Wasson, 7/26).
Efforts To Fight HIV/AIDS, NTDs Should Be Integrated
“The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) produce a devastating level of chronic disability in sub-Saharan Africa, with some estimates suggesting that the NTD disease burden exceeds tuberculosis and is one-half that of malaria,” Julie Noblick and Richard Skolnick of George Washington University and Peter Hotez of the Sabin Vaccine Institute write in a PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases editorial. With noted relationships between the prevalence of NTDs and HIV, the diseases “demand a public health response from the established global HIV/AIDS community, in parallel with efforts to scale up NTD control,” they argue.
Boehner Plan Faces Delay As Debt Deal Continues To Be Elusive
The delay was caused both by a Congressional Budget Office analysis that found the proposal by House Speaker John Boehner didn’t score the promised savings and by conservatives’ skepticism about the plan.
Medicare Part D Ups Patient Compliance, Reduces Hospital Costs
The findings, which were published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggested that for seniors, access to affordable prescription drugs would reduce their need for emergency and short-term nursing care.
