House Passes FY11 Measure To Fund Government With $6B Worth Of Cuts
March 16, 2011
Morning Briefing
The House passed a continuing resolution on Tuesday “that would cut $6 billion from current discretionary-spending levels and keep the government operating through April 8,” National Journal reports. The House voted 271-158 to approve the bill (Sanchez, 3/15).
UNICEF Requests $1.4B To Assist Women, Children In Humanitarian Crises Worldwide
March 7, 2011
Morning Briefing
UNICEF on Sunday released the Humanitarian Action for Children Report, 2011 (.pdf) “requesting $1.4 billion in its appeal to donors to assist children and women caught in the throes of crises. The report highlights 32 countries and emphasizes the increasing importance” of investments in disaster preparedness and risk reduction, The Hindu reports (Dhar, 3/7).
House Republicans Release Two-Week CR With $4B In Proposed Cuts
February 28, 2011
Morning Briefing
“House Republicans late Friday afternoon released a two-week continuing resolution [CR] that cuts more than $4 billion in federal spending,” Roll Call reports (Stanton, 2/25). “Under the proposal, the law now keeping the government open would be extended two more weeks, until March 18 … In the interim, House and Senate leaders would try to negotiate a broader plan to finance the government at reduced levels through Sept. 30,” the New York Times reports. Republican leaders trimmed programs in education, transportation and other areas “that President Obama had previously sought to close down” (Hulse, 2/25). “The plan, scheduled to hit the House floor Tuesday, includes $1.24 billion in program terminations and $2.7 billion in earmark terminations, according to a summary provided by the House Appropriations Committee,” CQ writes (Goldfarb/Young, 2/25).
Replace The Tattered Medicaid Long-Term Care Safety Net
By Howard Gleckman
November 29, 2010
KFF Health News Original
Medicaid, the state-federal health program that also pays for nearly half of all long-term care services for the frail elderly and younger people with disabilities, is in big trouble.
Text: President Obama’s Proposed 2012 HHS Budget
February 14, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Text of President Obama’s proposed budget for the Department of Health and Human Services.
House Republicans Drafting Two-Week Continuing Resolution With About $4B In Spending Cuts
February 24, 2011
Morning Briefing
In an effort to avoid a government shutdown, House Republicans are drafting a new continuing resolution (CR) that will include some cuts to the federal budget, Republican leadership aides said on Wednesday, Roll Call reports (Stanton, 2/23). “The measure will contain about $4 billion in spending cuts and will merge cuts approved last week by the House and several taken from President Obama’s list of program terminations and savings,” National Journal writes. “The CR would extend government financing for two weeks” and the cuts “would be prorated to reflect” the reductions that were approved in last week’s CR. “In other words, the $4 billion in savings would be roughly equal to the cuts the CR called for if carried out for just two weeks,” the publication notes.
New Deficit Report Recommends Seniors Pay More For Medicare
By Jordan Rau Phil Galewitz
November 17, 2010
KFF Health News Original
A blue-ribbon bipartisan panel of experts, chaired by former budget director Alice Rivlin and former Sen. Pete Domenici, recommends major changes to the way the government pays for health care.
Digital Divide Threatens Health Care
By Emma Schwartz, The Center For Public Integrity
January 11, 2011
KFF Health News Original
In a story from The Center For Public Integrity, experts worry low-income clinics cannot afford the electronic health records that others can and will fall behind as a result, potentially missing the Obama administration’s goal of going digital in the next five years.
House Republicans Release CR Proposing To Cut $100B From FY11 Budget
February 14, 2011
Morning Briefing
House Republican leaders on Friday evening released legislation “designed to fund the rest of the fiscal year, which includes $100 billion in discretionary spending cuts compared with President Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget request,” National Journal reports.
Dueling Letters On Medicare Part D Changes
By Jessica Marcy
October 25, 2010
KFF Health News Original
Officials at CMS say they’re streamlining Medicare Part D – including eliminating some plans they call duplicative. But as the open enrollment period nears, some Republicans are criticizing the move as “frightening.”
House Republican Leaders’ FY11 Budget Proposal Cuts $32B In Spending
February 4, 2011
Morning Briefing
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday released a fiscal year 2011 spending proposal that would “slice more than $32 billion from agency budgets over the next few months,” the Washington Post reports (Montgomery, 2/3). The proposal “could mean big reductions for virtually all federal agencies other than the Pentagon,” according to the Wall Street Journal (Hook/Boles, 2/4).
Hundreds Die of Illnesses In Texas County Jails
By Brandi Grissom, The Texas Tribune
November 16, 2010
KFF Health News Original
More than 280 inmates in Texas county jails died from illnesses while in custody over a four-and-a-half period. There are no state standards for health care in county jails, but criminal justice advocates and correctional facility experts say the large number of illness-related deaths prove they’re needed.
House Appropriations Committee Approves $32B Budget Cut, Reducing Foreign Aid, Domestic Spending For FY11
February 9, 2011
Morning Briefing
The House Appropriations Committee “voted, 27-22, Tuesday evening to move ahead with Republican plans for cutting” $32 billion “from domestic and foreign aid spending over the last seven months of this fiscal year,” Politico reports (Rogers, 2/8).
What if Republicans Win?
By John Goodman
October 25, 2010
KFF Health News Original
If certain steps are taken, the next round of reform could make health insurance portable, affordable and fair.
U.N. Commission To Establish Benchmarks For $40B Maternal, Child Health Initiative Commitments
January 24, 2011
Morning Briefing
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will travel to Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday to co-chair a commission that aims to establish benchmarks for the U.N.’s $40 billion maternal and child health initiative that was establish at last year’s Millennium Development Goal summit, the Canadian Press/Toronto Star reports (1/23).
AMA Head Predicts ‘Catastrophe’ If Physician Medicare Pay Isn’t Fixed
November 1, 2010
Page
Wilson, in an interview with KFF Health News, warns that if the 30 percent scheduled pay cut goes through, doctors will bail out of the program, causing access problems for seniors.
Three Drug Companies To Pay $421 Million In Fraud Settlement
December 8, 2010
Morning Briefing
Roxane, Abbott and B. Braun were accused of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by inflating prices.
Text: 2010 Medicare Trustees Report
August 5, 2010
KFF Health News Original
The government released Thursday the annual trustees report on the financial wellbeing of Medicare and Social Security.
Canadian PM, Tanzanian President Open Meeting To Develop Framework For $40B Maternal And Child Health Initiative
January 26, 2011
Morning Briefing
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete were in Geneva on Wednesday to open a meeting aimed at “developing a framework” to monitor the implementation of a $40 billion U.N. maternal and child health initiative, according to CBC News. Harper and Kikwete are co-chairs of a commission that is charged with ensuring accountability for the pledges.
Text: Berwick’s Prepared Testimony – ‘I Pledge To Be Open And Transparent’
November 16, 2010
KFF Health News Original
Tomorrow, Dr. Donald Berwick, the adminstrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Finance. Here is an advance copy of his prepared statement.
