Latest KFF Health News Stories
But while the growth in health care usage slowed last year, larger hikes in prices more than offset it. Overall, national health care spending rose to $3.65 trillion in 2018, up 4.6% from 2017, according to an annual report by nonpartisan economic HHS experts. Retail prescription drug prices dipped by 1%, the first drop since 1973.
Trump Directs Feuding Health Leaders Azar, Verma To Smooth Things Over With Each Other
An escalating personal rift between HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Chief Seema Verma has caught President Donald Trump’s attention. Politico reports that he has directed the two public officials to settle their feud.
After the death, Border Patrol said that an agent had found Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez, a 16-year-old Guatemalan migrant, “unresponsive” after checking in on him and deemed the death a “tragic loss.” But ProPublica has obtained video that documents the boy’s last hours, and it shows that Border Patrol agents and health care workers at the holding facility missed increasingly obvious signs that his condition was perilous.
But the vote would give House Democrats an election talking point and let them show that they can govern despite the impeachment proceedings. The legislation would allow HHS to negotiate lower prices for up to 250 drugs per year, with the lower prices applied to people with private insurance as well as Medicare.
First Edition: December 6, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Analysis: Choosing A Plan From The Impossible Health Care Maze
In 21st-century US health care, everything is revenue, and so everything is billed.
Black Mothers Get Less Treatment For Postpartum Depression Than Other Moms
Cultural barriers may keep some African American women from seeking treatment for postpartum depression as early as they need it, and the standard screening tools aren’t always relevant for some black women.
Patient-Induced Trauma: Hospitals Learn To Defuse Violence
Health care workers face a greater threat of workplace violence than workers in most other industries. Hospitals are installing security cameras and panic buttons, arming security guards with stun guns and teaching their employees how to handle potentially violent situations.
Website Errors Raise Calls For Medicare To Be Flexible With Seniors’ Enrollment
Members of Congress and others complain Medicare’s revamped Plan Finder had problems. Federal officials say they can help consumers who got bad information change their plans next year. But details about how switching will work are yet to come.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: We Spend HOW MUCH On Health Care?
The annual accounting of national health spending is out. And the 2018 health bill for the U.S. was $3.6 trillion, consuming nearly a fifth of the nation’s economy. Meanwhile, Congress is nearing the end of the year without having finished either its annual spending bills or several other high-priority health items. Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this and more. Also, Rovner interviews KHN’s Markian Hawryluk about the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month.”
Research Roundup: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome; Rural Health Care; Medicare Plans; And More
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Media outlets report on health care news from Hawaii, New York, California, Ohio, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Florida and Washington.
A new study finds that black women who regularly used permanent dyes to color their hair were 60 percent more likely to develop breast cancer. While earlier research on hair dye and cancer risk included mostly white women, 9% of this study’s participants were African-American women. In other public health news: CTE, children’s health, a once-a-month birth control pill, and more.
The state accuses Juul of targeting young users with “youth-oriented” sleek designs and an array of flavors. On the same day Minnesota announced the suit, Alaska reported its first case of the vaping-related lung disease sweeping the country. Now all 50 states have reported patients with the illness.
House To Vote On Bill Geared Toward Helping Hospitals That Are Overwhelmed With Robocalls
For hospitals, the issue of robocalls is a life-or-death problem. A provision in the House’s version of the legislation is designed specifically to protect the medical facilities from such scam calls.
Lawmakers Push For Independent Dispute Resolution Option For Dealing With Surprise Medical Bills
The method that Reps. Joe Morelle, (D-N.Y.), Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) and Van Taylor (R-Texas) are trying to build support for is favored by many providers. Although many lawmakers want to address the issue of surprise medical bills, debate has raged over who gets stuck with the cost at the end of the day. Other news on health care costs focuses on: expensive emergency room visits, value-based care, hospital closures, and more.
States involved in the opioid dispute with the company argued against the bonus. “Purdue should not award bonus payments to [CEO Craig Landau] before resolving the allegations that Landau committed deadly, illegal misconduct,” they said. Purdue Pharma said maintaining its bonus program is essential to keep key employees on the job.
The study found that in one drug only 1% of an estimated 276,000 serious adverse events had been reported. Researchers say they data emphasizes the need for better surveillance of the risk of injury. In other pharmaceutical news: biotechs react to the House drug pricing bill, another drugmaker admits to price fixing, a new medicine might help curb dementia-related delusions, and more.
“The idea that the attorney general of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, is recommending abandoning communities as retribution for pushing for police reform or criticizing policing practices, is profoundly dangerous and irresponsible,” said Vanita Gupta, the president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Meanwhile, a new study found that police shootings of unarmed black Americans led to more infants who were born prematurely.
Although the work requirements played a key role in getting state Republicans to buy in to the idea of expanding Medicaid in Virginia, Democrats recently won control of the Legislature. Now, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has directed his administration to “pause” any of those efforts.