International Summit To Be Held In London Aims To Provide 120M Women With Family Planning Services
June 11, 2012
Morning Briefing
The Guardian reports on a “major summit” to be held in London on July 11, which “aims to provide access to family planning to 120 million women at an estimated cost of $4 billion.” According to the newspaper, the summit “is being organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the British government’s department for international development (DFID),” and “[b]etween 20 and 25 countries are scheduled to attend, including the U.S., India, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania.”
Ore. Gets $1.9B To Launch Medicaid Coordinated Care Organizations
May 4, 2012
Morning Briefing
The federal support will help Oregon’s Medicaid Coordinated Care Organizations as they try to cut health costs by 2 percent over two years using preventive care to keep patients healthy.
SCOTUS Preview Part 2: Analyzing The Likely High Court Arguments On The Health Law
February 16, 2012
KFF Health News Original
In part two of analysis of the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the health law, Stuart Taylor talks with Jackie Judd about the arguments each side is likely to make defending or against the individual mandate and the Medicaid expansion.
Interactive: Readmission Rates And Poverty Levels For Individual Hospitals
December 19, 2011
KFF Health News Original
This interactive chart compares the heart failure readmission rates and patient population poverty levels for more than 3,000 hospitals.
Today’s Headlines – December 8, 2011
By Andrew Villegas
December 8, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Good morning! Here are your headlines: The Associated Press/Washington Post: House Leaders Hope GOP Lawmakers Ready To Back Bill Renewing Payroll Tax Cut, Jobless Benefits Top House Republicans hope to win rank-and-file GOP support for a measure renewing this year’s Social Security payroll tax cut and extending benefits for the long-term unemployed. House GOP lawmakers […]
Aid Groups Warn Yemen Needs Immediate Assistance To Prevent Food Security ‘Crisis’; Donors Pledge $4B For Development
May 24, 2012
Morning Briefing
“Seven aid groups on Wednesday warned Western diplomats that Yemen was on the brink of a ‘catastrophic food crisis’ and urged them to bolster efforts to salvage the situation as they meet in Riyadh for an international conference to help the nation,” Agence France-Presse reports (5/23). The meeting of the so-called “Friends of Yemen” is expected to focus on political transition and improving security, but “[i]n their warning, the aid agencies — CARE, International Medical Corps, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, and Save the Children — say this focus is preventing action to alleviate poverty and hunger,” BBC News writes (5/22). Reuters notes that the “United States, European Union, France, Egypt, and Russia were attending the Riyadh summit on Wednesday, as were Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman” (Kane, 5/23). The donors have promised $4 billion to support development projects and stabilization efforts in Yemen, with Saudi Arabia pledging $3.25 billion of the total, Devex reports (Mungcal, 5/24).
Targeting Wealthy Medicare Beneficiaries
November 13, 2011
KFF Health News Original
More than half of 15 major deficit reduction proposals put forth in 2010 and 2011 call for higher-income Medicare beneficiaries to pay more for their coverage.
State Highlights: Ill. Gov. Proposes $1.35B Cuts To Medicaid
April 20, 2012
Morning Briefing
News outlets report on health care policy issues in California, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Massachusetts and South Carolina,
Today’s Headlines – February 8, 2012
By Stephanie Stapleton
February 8, 2012
KFF Health News Original
Good morning! Here are your morning headlines: The New York Times: Talks Stall On How To Pay For Extending Payroll Tax Cut Any hope for a fast and quiet resolution to the Congressional battle over a payroll tax cut seemed to dim Tuesday as members of a bipartisan negotiating committee clashed over how to pay […]
What Every Baby Boomer Should Know About Medicare
By Caroline E. Mayer
December 5, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Among the most costly mistakes is missing the deadline for enrollment.
Study: MLR Rule Would Have Translated Into $2B In Rebates To Consumers
April 5, 2012
Morning Briefing
If the health law’s requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care had gone into effect in 2010, instead of a year later, private plans would have had to refund as much as $2 billion to consumers, either in rebates or reduced premiums, according to a study by the Commonwealth Fund, which supports the law.
Enrollment Still Growing In Medicare Advantage Plans, GAO Says
By Mary Agnes Carey
December 1, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Predictions of the demise of Medicare’s private insurance plans are premature, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
Large Childhood Immunization Campaign Begins In Haiti, With Support From U.S., Other International Partners
April 17, 2012
Morning Briefing
Haiti, the U.S. and other international partners on Monday launched “a nationwide vaccination campaign in the Caribbean country that seeks to curb or prevent infectious diseases, health officials said,” the Associated Press/Fox News reports. The campaign will include immunizations against measles, rubella and polio, as well as the pentavalent vaccine, which is effective against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type b, according to the news agency. Immunization rates are low in Haiti, with the WHO reporting slightly more than half of the population immunized for measles and polio, but the current campaign aims to vaccinate 90 percent of Haiti’s youth population, according to Health Minister Florence Duperval Guillaume, the news agency notes.
J&J Fined $1.2B For Hiding Anti-Psychotic Drug Dangers, Deceptive Marketing
April 12, 2012
Morning Briefing
An Arkansas judge fined the drug maker and a subsidiary for misleading doctors and the public on the risks involved with taking an anti-psychotic drug, Risperdal, and for marketing the drug for an off-label use to the state’s Medicaid system.
Some Public Health Advocates Disagree With Indian Government’s Decision To Roll Out Pentavalent Vaccines, IPS Reports
April 30, 2012
Morning Briefing
“Ignoring widespread concern over the safety, efficacy and cost of pentavalent vaccines” — which provide protection against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) — “India’s central health ministry has, this month, approved inclusion of the prophylactic cocktail in the universal immunization program in seven of its provinces,” Inter Press Service reports. Pentavalent vaccines have “had a history of causing adverse reactions and deaths in India’s neighboring countries like Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan,” the news service writes, noting that India’s National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) in 2010 “recommended limited introduction of pentavalents in southern Kerala and Tamil Nadu and evaluation of results over a year before extension to other states.” Despite this recommendation and outstanding public interest litigation, the government on April 16 announced the vaccines would be introduced in five additional states, IPS reports.
Report: Savings of $125B Possible for Coordinating Care of Dual Eligibles
By Marilyn Werber Serafini
September 21, 2011
KFF Health News Original
The federal government could save $125 billion over ten years by requiring all people who get both Medicare and Medicaid – dual eligibles – to enroll in team-based coordinated care programs, according to a report written by Emory University’s Kenneth Thorpe and funded by America’s Health Insurance Plans. States could save $34 billion, and the […]
Building Health Reform’s Research Arm
By Shefali S. Kulkarni
January 9, 2012
KFF Health News Original
KHN’s Shefali S. Kulkarni interviews Dr. Anne Beal, COO of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Today’s Headlines – Oct. 28, 2011
By Stephanie Stapleton
October 28, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Happy Friday! Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the health law’s public support, the latest on the super committee and news about the cost of Medicare Part B premiums. The Wall Street Journal: Repeal Health Law? It Won’t Be Easy Every Republican presidential candidate has promised to repeal the Obama […]
Health On The Hill: Budget Experts Warn Super Committee About Consequences Of Failure
November 1, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Jackie Judd talks with KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey about the super committee’s public hearing Tuesday when it heard from the leaders of previous deficit reduction groups.
Today’s Headlines – December 22, 2011
By Lexie Verdon
December 22, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Here are your morning headlines for the first day of winter! Stay warm. The Los Angeles Times: U.S. Leaders Say They Are Hard At Work On Payroll Tax With no endgame in sight to prevent a looming payroll tax hike, President Obama and congressional leaders took turns trying to convince Americans that they were hard […]
