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.
Explaining Medicare’s ‘Premium Support’
By Jessica Marcy
January 20, 2012
KFF Health News Original
Every week, Kaiser Health News reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web. Washington Monthly: The Yaz Men: Members Of FDA Panel Reviewing The Risks Of Popular Bayer Contraceptive Had Industry Ties Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration convened a committee of medical experts to weigh new evidence concerning the potential […]
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.
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).
Considering Cost: Bloggers Reveal ‘Parsimonious’ Ponderings
By Andrew Villegas
January 13, 2012
KFF Health News Original
Should doctors think about cost when they’re helping you make your health care decisions? Yesterday on the main KHN site we had a round robin of experts talking about the American College of Physicians’ latest update of its ethics manual. The manual encourages doctors to be “parsimonious” in doling out health care — that is, if you […]
Medicare: Who Said That? The Answer Sheet
December 20, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Here are the details regarding not only who said what about Medicare, but when and where.
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,
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 […]
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 […]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Tells GlobalPost State Department Reviewing Nearly $1.5B In Unused PEPFAR Funding
April 19, 2012
Morning Briefing
Prompted by an inquiry from GlobalPost, U.S. officials have said the Obama administration called for a $550 million reduction — an 11 percent cut — for its global AIDS program in its FY 2013 budget request because the “government didn’t need more money because there has been nearly $1.5 billion stuck in the pipeline for 18 months or more,” GlobalPost reports. According to the news service, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, headed by Ambassador Eric Goosby, “said this week it will immediately start a consultation period with Congress, its partners across the U.S. government and AIDS advocates to address a key question: What should they do with $1.46 billion?” GlobalPost reports that Goosby “explained that $1.46 billion designated to fight AIDS hasn’t been used because of inefficient bureaucracies; major reductions in the cost of AIDS treatment; delays due to long negotiations on realigning programs with recipient country priorities; and a slowdown in a few countries because the AIDS problem was much smaller than originally estimated” (Donnelly, 4/17).
