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First Edition: July 15, 2011

July 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that the debt-ceiling strategy appears to moving toward a “plan B.”

Guyana Coast At Risk Of Malaria Resurgence As Climate Change Brings Warmer Temperatures, More Rainfall

September 7, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Guyana is battling to prevent the spread of malaria as climate change brings higher temperatures and more rainfall, threatening to push the disease back into densely populated coastal regions,” AlertNet reports. The majority of malaria cases occur in the northwest of the small South American country, [b]ut recently, the mosquito-borne disease has also been found in an adjoining coastal region, as well as further inland to the east and south,” the news service writes.

Vaccination Must Be Part Of Response To Cholera Outbreak In Haiti

September 23, 2011 Morning Briefing

Though “[c]holera vaccines are not a magic bullet and are not available in adequate numbers” to vaccinate everyone in Haiti, where at least 10 people die each day in an outbreak that began in October 2010, “there are compelling reasons to add vaccinations to the arsenal of public health weapons that has been deployed against cholera in Haiti,” a Washington Post editorial states. Efforts to improve access to clean water, educate the public about cholera transmission and treat those infected are ongoing, “[b]ut those efforts should be supplemented with an ambitious vaccination program starting as soon as practicable,” the editorial writes.

Plan B Gaining Traction In Debt-Ceiling Strategy

July 15, 2011 Morning Briefing

A proposal offered earlier this week by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is emerging as a means to resolve the current stalemate in negotiations to raise the nation’s debt limit. But even as this approach continues to gain momentum, it will face considerable political and procedural hurdles.

Medicare Patients Aren’t Taking Advantage Of Some Newly Free Tests

By Susan Jaffe April 26, 2011 KFF Health News Original

This year, seniors enrolled in Medicare no longer have to pay for more than a dozen tests and services to prevent disease thanks to the health law. Many, however, aren’t lining up for mammograms or colonoscopies though free wellness checks are luring many.

U.N. Increases Humanitarian Aid Need To $7.9B For 2011

July 21, 2011 Morning Briefing

The U.N. on Wednesday said during a donor meeting in Geneva that “it needs $7.9 billion this year, $500 million more than it had originally sought, to fund relief operations in the face of spreading humanitarian crises in Africa and Asia,” Reuters reports (7/20).

Some Seniors Are In For Sticker Shock On Drug Premiums

By Mary Agnes Carey February 11, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Starting this year, affluent Medicare beneficiaries will begin paying more than the standard premium for their Part D coverage.

Under Health Law, Colonoscopies Are Free – But It Doesn’t Always Work That Way

By Harris Meyer April 25, 2011 KFF Health News Original

The billing can get complicated if doctors find a polyp during a screening: Some insurers

Gilead Becomes First Company To License Drugs To Medicines Patent Pool

July 12, 2011 Morning Briefing

“In the first agreement between a pharmaceutical company and the new international Medicines Patent Pool, Gilead Sciences announced Tuesday that it would license four of its AIDS and hepatitis B drugs to the pool,” the New York Times reports (McNeil, 7/12).

After The Deluge: Health Reform Without An Individual Mandate

By Austin Frakt and Kevin Outterson February 24, 2011 KFF Health News Original

As challenges to the health law’s individual mandate wind their way through the courts, it is important to focus on the real question: what happens to the health law if this provision is ultimately struck down?

CBO Outlines ‘Key Features’ Of Ryan Budget Proposal: ‘Substantial’ Changes To Medicare, Medicaid

April 5, 2011 KFF Health News Original

The Congressional Budget Office analyzed Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget proposal and revealed some additional details not in the Republicans’ news conference Tuesday.

Direct Incentives For Vaccination Would Increase Rates

June 28, 2011 Morning Briefing

In its first decade, the GAVI Alliance has helped prevent the deaths of more than five million children by introducing more widespread vaccination in low-income countries, “[b]ut, going forward, the alliance is going to have to think more about getting parents to vaccinate their kids

Judges Reviewing Health Law Say Penalty Is Not A Tax

By Julie Rovner, NPR News February 23, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Congress took great pains to ensure that the penalty imposed on people who don’t get health insurance was not called a tax in the health law. This could make it tough for the Justice Department to argue that it is a tax.

Large Donations Help GAVI Raise $4.3B, Exceeding Goal

June 14, 2011 Morning Briefing

“Large donations from the U.K., Norway and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helped a global vaccine charity raise $4.3 billion at a summit Monday, exceeding its targets and allowing it to carry out all its immunization plans through 2015,” the Wall Street Journal reports. The U.K. pledged $1.34 billion to the GAVI Alliance, the Gates Foundation promised $1 billion and Norway offered $677 million (Whalen, 6/14).

Experts Ponder ‘Plan B’ Options For The Individual Mandate

By Joanne Kenen December 16, 2010 KFF Health News Original

If the courts were to strike down the provision of the health law requiring consumers to buy insurance, some experts say there are other ways to get people covered.

Understanding Rep. Ryan’s Plan For Medicare

By KFF Health News Staff April 4, 2011 KFF Health News Original

Are vouchers the same as premium support? Will seniors’ health care look like that offered federal workers? A guide to some of the questions and issues in the House Budget chairman’s plan.

Global Fund Disbursed Record $3B In 2010, Faces More Than $1B Shortfall For 2011-13, Report Says

May 20, 2011 Morning Briefing

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on Thursday in Paris released a report (.pdf) noting that while it disbursed a record $3 billion in 2010, the $1.3 billion shortfall if faces for 2011-2013, “threaten[s] goals to roll back diseases that together claim more than four million lives a year,” Agence France-Presse reports.

Text: Health Law Repeal Bill And House ‘Resolution’ On Replacing The Law

January 17, 2011 KFF Health News Original

This document contains the text of the bill to repeal the health law and a Republican resolution “instructing certain committees to report legislation replacing” the law.

Glossary

February 23, 2011 Page

The most important terms in health care policy, from A to Z. The main sources for this glossary are the Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Other sources include: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Internal Revenue Service, University of California, San Francisco, U.S. Department of Labor, […]

GAVI Appeals For $3.7B Ahead Of Pledging Conference Despite Lower Vaccine Prices

June 7, 2011 Morning Briefing

The GAVI Alliance has appealed to donors for $3.7 billion to be pledged during an upcoming conference despite announcements by several major pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of their vaccines for childhood diseases, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports (6/6).

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