Perry And Other GOP Candidates Knock Romney On Mass. Health Reform, Blast Health Law
October 12, 2011
KFF Health News Original
The Republican candidates for president spent their latest debate Tuesday night criticizing features of the health care law, including the IPAB. Newt Gingrich brought up “death panels” and Gov. Rick Perry faced questions about Medicaid in Texas.
Birth Control Without Copays Could Become Mandatory
By Julie Rovner, NPR News
July 18, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Is birth control part of preventive care for women? That’s the question before an independent panel of experts. And their decision could force insurance companies to fully cover the cost of the pill and other prescription contraceptives
Medicare 2012 Part B Premiums Will Be Lower Than Expected
October 28, 2011
Morning Briefing
The Obama administration cheered the news regarding the cost of Part B premiums in part because it could give a political boost to President Barack Obama’s popularity among older voters.
Free Birth Control For Many, Courtesy of HHS
By Jenny Gold
August 1, 2011
KFF Health News Original
With co-payments of $10 to $35 a month, birth control pills can add up to an expensive precaution for American women, even those with private insurance. But a new rule issued today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services makes those fees a worry of the past for many insured women. Under the health […]
Health Care Recommendations From Previous Bipartisan Deficit-Reduction Groups: Document
August 2, 2011
KFF Health News Original
The debt-ceiling agreement calls for a bipartisan “super committee.” This is not the first effort to find a bipartisan agreement on reducing the federal deficit; here is a guide to the health-care recommendations from four groups.
IPS Profiles Maternal Shelter In Kenya’s North Eastern Province
December 20, 2011
Morning Briefing
Inter Press Service profiles the Garissa Maternal Shelter in North Eastern Province, Kenya, “the only such facility in an area with the country’s highest maternal mortality rate.” The news service writes, “At 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births, [the maternal mortality rate] is almost double the country’s average, [b]ut despite this, there are only seven women here in a facility that can accommodate 24.”
Medicare Part B 2012 Premiums Lower Than Projected
October 27, 2011
Morning Briefing
Kaiser Health News tracked stories about today’s HHS announcement that premiums for Medicare Part B coverage in 2012 will be $99.90 a month for most beneficiaries, a smaller-than-expected increase over the $96.40 paid this year by a majority of elderly and disabled beneficiaries.
IOM Recommends Free Birth Control For All
By Jenny Gold
July 19, 2011
KFF Health News Original
American women ought to be able to get their birth control for free, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM). The group is the latest to weigh in on which preventive services health insurers should have to offer at no cost under the new health law. Officials at the Department of Health […]
Today’s Headlines – July 15, 2011
By Stephanie Stapleton
July 15, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Happy Friday! In preparation for the weekend, here’s what we’re following to start the day. Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports that the debt-ceiling strategy appears to moving toward a “plan B.” The New York Times: ‘Decision Time’ On Budget, Obama Tells Leaders The president said he might summon the […]
Does President Obama Really Want To Means-Test Medicare? Probably Not
By Julie Rovner, NPR News
July 18, 2011
KFF Health News Original
President Obama (and many, many others) have been throwing around the phrase “means testing” as they talk about ways to cut spending for Medicare. “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means,” says Inigo Montoya, Mandy Patinkin’s character in one of the many now-famous lines in the […]
South Africa’s Population Would Be 4.4M More If Not For AIDS, Data Show
January 24, 2012
Morning Briefing
“There would be more than 4.4 million more people in South Africa if it were not for the AIDS pandemic, according to a survey released on Monday” by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), SAPA/News 24 reports (1/23). Without AIDS-related deaths, the population would have been 55 million today, instead of 50.6 million, where it currently stands, and “[b]y 2040 the population would have reached 77.5 million — a whopping 24 million people more than is currently projected,” according to the study, GlobalPost notes (Conway-Smith, 1/23). “The survey is based on data sourced from the Actuarial Society of South Africa and the Institute for Futures Research,” SAPA/News 24 writes (1/23).
First Edition: October 28, 2011
October 28, 2011
Morning Briefing
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.
Higher Medicare Premiums Will Undermine Social Security’s Raise
October 19, 2011
Morning Briefing
Social Security recipients are expected to get a 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase in January, but a boost in the cost of Medicare Part B premiums will likely offset some of the impact.
Health On The Hill: “Super Committee”: Recipe For Gridlock Or Potential For Consensus?
August 11, 2011
KFF Health News Original
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey and Politico Pro’s David Nather talk to Jackie Judd about the now complete “super committee” and what it may mean for Medicare and Medicaid.
Health On The Hill Transcript: Obama Tries To Aid Deficit Talks With Meetings
June 28, 2011
KFF Health News Original
KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey talks with Jackie Judd about President Obama’s separate meetings with Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid in which the trio is trying to find common ground on Medicare cuts to help lower the deficit.
Health On The Hill: Medicare, Medicaid Taken Off Table In Budget Talks
July 27, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Neither the Boehner nor the Reid plans include cuts to Medicare or Medicaid. KHN’s Mary Agnes Carey talks with Jackie Judd about why that happened and what could bring these entitlements back into the deficit-reduction conversation.
Medicare Part B Premium Costs Likely To Cut Into Social Security’s Increase
October 20, 2011
Morning Briefing
Social Security benefits will increase by 3.6 percent, but many consumers won’t feel more weight in their wallets because of an expected boost in Medicare costs.
Today’s headlines – July 14, 2011
By Stephanie Stapleton
July 14, 2011
KFF Health News Original
Good morning! Today’s headlines include reports about how tempers are flaring in the midst of debt-ceiling negotiations and how failure to reach an agreement could lead to tough choices about which of the nation’s obligations will be left unpaid. Los Angeles Times: Default Risk Widens Rift Within GOP So far, such warnings have had little impact in […]
Medicare Part B Premiums Going Up, Cutting Into Social Security COLA
October 13, 2011
Morning Briefing
The Social Security Administration is expected to announce the program’s first cost-of-living adjustment in two years. But a boost in Medicare premiums will undermine how much benefit receipients experience.
Early Warning Systems Helping Aid Agencies Respond To Potential ‘Food Crisis’ In Sahel Region
December 13, 2011
Morning Briefing
Africa’s Sahel region is facing a potential “food crisis,” “[b]ut the good news is that the world’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) is giving West African countries and donor nations a period of time to prepare, says the aid group Oxfam,” the Christian Science Monitor reports. “Early reports suggest that as many as six million people in Niger and 2.9 million people in Mali live in vulnerable areas, where low rainfall, falling groundwater levels, poor harvests, lack of pastureland, rising food prices, and a drop in remittances from family members living abroad are starting to take their toll,” according to the newspaper.
