Latest KFF Health News Stories
A Grandchild’s Death, Road Wrecks: Human Peril Tied To Those Super-Fast Amazon Deliveries
A ProPublica-New York Times investigation looks at the dangers created by the next-day deliveries. In other public health news: rear-seat alerts in cars; urban heat climates; food stamp losses; cyberbullying safeguards; skin picking; and genital mutilation.
“A new generation of nicotine users has essentially been created almost overnight,’’ said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon). Wyden who is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said he would introduce legislation next week to help combat the problem. Across the country, more states confirm cases of the mysterious lung illness that seems to be linked to vaping.
Like in the United States, many health experts’ warnings fell on deaf ears in the Australian government. Now the country is facing a similar epidemic to America’s. “I was screaming from the mountaintops after Jon died and I’d started doing my research. And it was like I’m screaming and nobody wants to hear me,” says Jasmin Raggam, whose brother Jon died in 2014, a sentiment that sounds all too familiar to many caught in the U.S. crisis. In other news on the epidemic: fentanyl, fraud, DEA’s footprints, and more.
Insurers Face $15.5B Bill If Health Law Tax Resumes As Planned In 2020
The annual fee on insurers was suspended by Congress in 2019 out of concern for consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. Insurance premiums are likely to rise by more than 2% in 2020 if the IRS implements the tax as planned, the new report warned. Health law and state insurance news comes out of Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota, California, Ohio and Tennessee, as well.
Advocates Want Missouri Voters To Weigh In On Whether State Should Expand Medicaid
Backers of Medicaid expansion in other states have seen success in previous elections when the issue goes in front of voters. The campaign, which is backed by nurses, doctors, hospitals, business executives and health care advocates, needs more than 172,000 signatures to qualify their measure for the 2020 ballot. Other Medicaid news comes out of Florida.
Republican efforts to chip away at the organization have gained ground under the Trump administration, and so Planned Parenthood has launched a telemedicine push to try to keep reaching rural patients, who are often the most effected by new restrictions. The app, called Planned Parenthood Direct, lets patients use a smartphone to request birth control delivered to their door, obtain prescription treatment for urinary-tract infections or make an appointment at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
$2B In Federal Grants To Fight Opioid Epidemic Doled Out To ‘Communities Where Help Is Most Needed’
President Donald Trump said the funds will go to state and local governments to be used to increase medication-assisted treatment as well as mental health services. Regional news coverage reports on how much certain states will receive.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s decision not to just rubber-stamp the merger had thrown a dark cloud over the deal in recent months. But he ruled that the opponents’ arguments were unpersuasive, saying that the health care markets at issue in the case “are not only very competitive today, but are likely to remain so post-merger.”
The report from HHS’ internal watchdog found that children separated from their families under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy did not receive adequate mental health care while in U.S. custody. Some children refused to eat or participate in shelter activities. Some cried inconsolably. Many believed their parents abandoned them or were killed, the report states. The report made six recommendations to improve conditions, including limiting the amount of time children are held.
Judge Blasts Mississippi’s Mental Health System Saying State Violated Federal Civil Rights Laws
“Despite the state’s episodic improvement, it operates a system that unlawfully discriminates against persons with serious mental illness,” said U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves in his 61-page report. Reeves ordered both the U.S. Department of Justice, which brought the lawsuit in 2016, and the state of Mississippi to submit names of potential special masters to oversee improvements within 30 days.
A decade ago, when the military began to see weight as a growing problem throughout the armed forces, it deployed countermeasures. Gym hours at bases were expanded. More unit-wide workouts were scheduled. French fries were curtailed in the mess halls. But the problem has only worsened, especially for the Navy. In other military health news, The Washington Post fact checks former Vice President Joe Biden’s statistics on veteran suicide.
These online forums, like 8chan, that extol shooters, mass violence, and other toxic ideals are becoming a battleground for law enforcement to find the next possible threats to public safety. But the anonymity in which they thrive can make the process difficult. Meanwhile, in other gun violence news: San Francisco designates the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization”; President Donald Trump hints at a coming proposal; active shooting drills becoming a frightening norm for school kids; politicians in red states walk a careful regulation line; and more.
Supporters say there’s no better man for the job than the one currently filling it — acting FDA Chief Norman “Ned” Sharpless. But people familiar with the process say Stephen Hahn of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston may have caught the Trump administration’s eye.
First Edition: September 5, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
As Measles Outbreak Fades, N.Y. Sets In Motion New Rules On School Vaccinations
New York, where nearly 900 people contracted measles this year, has enacted contentious requirements for immunizations.
Analysis: How Your Beloved Hospital Helps To Drive Up Health Care Costs
It’s easy to criticize pharmaceutical and insurance companies. But we spend much more on hospitals.
Back To School 2019: Backpack, Lunchbox And A Drug Test
As schools begin a new year, more districts will test students as young as 11 for illicit drug use even as other drug prevention efforts are scaled back. More than 1 in 3 school districts nationwide give students drug tests.
Cómo sería el “fenomenal” plan de salud que promete Trump
El presidente ha mencionado en varias oportunidades un plan de salud, sin ofrecer muchos detalles. Sin embargo, un documento de 2018 deja entrever algunas de sus ideas centrales.
Americans More Likely Than Swedes To Fill Prescriptions For Opioids After Surgery
New research published in JAMA Network Open quantified for the first time international differences in doctors’ prescribing habits and patients’ use of these highly addictive painkillers.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health issues and others.