Latest KFF Health News Stories
CMS Chief Seema Verma is finalizing a plan to allow states the flexibility to convert their Medicaid programs into block grants. While supporters of the idea say that gives states the freedom to find cost-saving measures, critics warn that it incentivizes states to cut coverage for a vulnerable population. In other Medicaid news: care coordination, coverage for kids, minimum wage increases, and managed care companies.
EPA Chips Away At Protections That Could Affect Drinking Water For Millions Of Americans
The new rules would remove millions of miles of streams and roughly half the country’s wetlands from federal protection in a win for agriculture, homebuilding, mining, and oil and gas industries. The EPA’s own science advisers cautioned against the regulations. Clean water regulations are “essentially about how you provide drinking water,” said Gina McCarthy, president of the nonpartisan Natural Resources Defense Council. “This is a big-deal issue.”
President Donald Trump tried to walk back his suggestions that Medicare and Social Security are on the cutting board table if he wins a second term. Both programs are extremely popular with voters and have sometimes been looked at as a third rail in politics. Democrats have already seized on his earlier comments.
Bloomberg y atención médica: traducir su historial como alcalde a nivel nacional
¿Qué puede decirnos el récord de Michael Bloomberg durante su período como alcalde de Nueva York sobre cómo podría abordar la atención médica desde la Casa Blanca?
Un virus mucho más mortal que el de Wuhan acecha en los Estados Unidos
Se trata del virus de la influenza, que causa la gripe, y que representa una amenaza mucho mayor para los estadounidenses que el brote de coronavirus.
First Edition: January 24, 2020
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Despite New Doubts, ‘Hotspotting’ Help For Heavy Health Care Users Marches On
A high-profile effort in Camden, New Jersey, to reduce health spending by identifying high-cost patients and giving them more coordinated and preventive medical care has been copied around the country. Many of those groups are pushing forward with the efforts, despite a recent critical study of the Camden initiative.
Bloomberg On Health Care: Translating His Mayoral Record To The National Stage
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg uses health care as a key message in his Democratic presidential primary run. Now that he will be taking the stage in the Feb. 19 debate, the message could take on even more prominence.
Readers And Tweeters Fired Up Over Employer’s No-Nicotine Policy
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: SCOTUS Punts On ACA Case — For Now
The Supreme Court said it won’t hear an expedited case that threatens to overturn the Affordable Care Act. That means the future of the ACA will continue to be a top political issue through the November election. Meanwhile, a major doctors’ group endorses “Medicare for All.” Sort of. And both sides in the abortion debate mark the 47th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Caitlin Owens of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, for extra credit, the panelists suggest their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Opinion writers tackle these and other health issues.
Media outlets report on news from California, Virginia, Colorado Massachusetts, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia, Connecticut, Washington, Louisiana, New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Texas.
Research Roundup: Low-Carb And Low-Fat Diets, Physician Burnout, Gender Disparities In Pay, And More
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
‘He Grew A Lot’: Migrant Parents Who Were Deported Under Trump Reunited With Children
Nine parents who were separated from their children for over a year reunited with them in the United States. The emotional scene was a small slice of the emotional fallout that’s come from the zero-tolerance policies that have separated thousands of children from their parents in recent years.
The analysis is “the latest in a long, long line of studies showing the harm done to children when they are consigned to the chaos of foster care,” said Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. In other public health news: smoking, chronic loneliness, tech and wildfire safety, ancient DNA, a fly’s brain, hospice care, and more.
At Height Of Feud Between Azar And Verma, White House Advisers Drew Up List Of Replacements
Advisers were braced for HHS Secretary Alex Azar or CMS Administrator Seema Verma to abruptly leave the Trump administration as they waged an increasingly public and personal feud last year. The issue has since seemed to simmer down. In other HHS and CMS news, a new study looks at what Medicare paid for undelivered post-op visits in 2018.
The county unveiled new online resources, but it is still limited by what it can offer Missouri doctors who don’t have the luxury of a statewide database like the rest of the country. Opioid news comes out of Massachusetts and Ohio, as well.
House Lawmakers To Haul Juul, Other Companies Into Hearings To Grill Them On Youth Vaping Epidemic
Many of the companies are also subjects of multiple congressional investigations into marketing and business practices that allegedly target young people.
More than half a dozen states are considering legislation that would penalize doctors for performing certain treatments for transgender patients. The speed and number of state bills has mobilized activists, suicide prevention groups and civil rights organizations. In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement that recommended giving youths “access to comprehensive gender-affirming and developmentally appropriate health care,” while noting the benefits and risks of using hormones that delay puberty.
Public health officials in Huntington, West Virginia, began making changes after a bit of national shaming. Small but concerted efforts have started to change the tide for the town. In other food health news: a look at how Michael Bloomberg got New York City to eat its veggies, food stamps in Baltimore, and more.