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 and 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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).
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.
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.
Inadequate Sanitation Costs India Close To $54B, World Bank Report Finds
December 21, 2010
Morning Briefing
“Inadequate sanitation cost India about 6.4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or the equivalent of $53.8 billion (Rs.2.4 trillion today) in 2006, according to a new report (.pdf) from the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), a global partnership administered by the World Bank,” Livemint reports (Ghost, 12/21).
Global Fund Approves 79 Grants With Two-Year Commitment Of $1.7B
December 16, 2010
Morning Briefing
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria Board of Directors on Wednesday approved 79 grants with a two-year commitment of “$1.7 billion dollars for projects against the diseases, amid warnings that some hard-hit African countries were being left out,” Agence France-Presse reports. The commitment, according to Ethiopian Health Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who chair’s the Global Fund’s board, “shows that even in hard economic times, we can continue to expand the fight against the three diseases” (12/15).
Dr. Donald Berwick – A Resource Guide
November 16, 2010
KFF Health News Original
Dr. Donald Berwick, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is well-liked and known as a passionate advocate for improving the health care system. Some Republicans accuse him of favoring health care rationing – a charge Democrats dismiss as nonsense.
Donors Pledge Almost $49.3B For World Bank’s International Development Association Fund
December 17, 2010
Morning Briefing
The World Bank on Wednesday announced that its International Development Association (IDA) fund will receive $49.3 billion over the next three years, Bloomberg reports (Christie/Martens, 12/15).