Latest KFF Health News Stories
Obamacare’s Star Ratings Offer A Glimmer Of Insight ― But Not For All
Federal officials unveil new ratings for the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace plans. Missouri is one of eight states that has no plans earning at least three stars on a five-star scale.
Meth Trip Or Mental Illness? Police Who Need To Know Often Can’t Tell
The calming techniques that officers learn during training to intervene in a mental health crisis don’t seem to work as well when a suspect is high on meth. Meth calls can be much more dangerous, police say.
Calificación de estrellas del Obamacare ofrece algo de información, pero no para todos
Las calificaciones se pueden ver en cuidadodesalud.gov, el sitio federal en donde los consumidores revisan los beneficios y precios de los planes.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Spooky Stuff
If it’s Halloween, that means open enrollment for plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges is right around the corner. Prices are down this year, but the future of the health law remains in doubt due to a lawsuit seeking to have the entire measure thrown out. This week, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, the panelists read the top entries in KHN’s Halloween Health Haiku Contest.
Editorial pages focus on these health topics and others.
Research Roundup: The Benefits Of Eating Fish; Bias In Medicine; And Food Insecurity
Each week, KHN finds interesting reads from around the Web.
Controversial power outages aimed at preventing wildfires are causing disruption across California, but health care providers dealing with life-and-death matters say it’s particularly vexing for them. Meanwhile, the threat of vicious Santa Ana winds looms over the state that’s already been battered in recent days by the raging fires.
Investigation Reveals Startling Spike In Cancer For Soldiers Who Served In Iraq, Afghanistan
An investigation by McClatchy shows that for some types of cancer were up to a 112 percent increase in treatments during the past 18 years. In other public health news: Ebola, the fertility crisis, diets, disparities in medical research, pedestrian safety, and more.
ProPublica investigates the sometime fatal consequences that come with patient identification errors, including one case where a family made the decision to take a patient off life-support only to realize after the autopsy that it was a stranger instead of their loved one.
In A Frank Self-Examination, Doctors Explore How An Experimental Fecal Transplant Turned Fatal
Fecal transplants have lots of buzz surrounding them, but then a death of one patient sent ripples of concern through the field of study. In an article, the doctors take a hard look at what went wrong.
When it comes to high health care costs, the big players in the industry often point fingers at each other as the culprits, which can make coming to a consensus on lowering costs challenging. The debate was on display at the final panel of the Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit Wednesday, with insurers and pharma representatives sparring over the Democrats’ plan. Meanwhile, lawmakers introduce a bipartisan measure to tackle generic drug costs for seniors.
Media outlets report on news from Louisiana, North Carolina, Texas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Ohio.
“Can’t we figure out a simpler way so that people who are eligible can get into these programs?” Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) said during a Senate Finance Committee’s healthcare subcommittee. Republicans are worried about waste in the program. Other Medicaid news comes form Texas, Ohio and Michigan as well.
Bill Gates watched Alzheimer’s disease rob his father of his mental abilities, yet Gates has spent only a fraction of the money on research of the condition compared to others. His science adviser explains why to Stat. Other news on Alzheimer’s looks at how lifestyle changes can improve cognitive skills, as well.
Lawsuit Filed Over Trump Rule That Requires Visa-Seekers To Prove They Can Pay For Health Insurance
“Congress makes laws, the president executes them. This is an egregious attempt to supersede and overturn congressional will, not only in the immigration realm but in the health care realm,” said Jesse Bless, director of federal litigation at the American Immigration Lawyers Association who helped file the case.
During a court battle over Missouri’s last-remaining abortion clinic, it was revealed that the top health official in the state was keeping a spreadsheet of women’s periods. The information sparked immediate backlash, with lawmakers calling for an investigation into whether patients’ privacy rights were violated and experts condemning the action as unethical. Meanwhile, the trial continued on Wednesday with the abortion clinic’s top doctor defending the quality of care at the facility.
The opioid crisis is still claiming 100 lives a day, and yet it’s unclear if states, counties or local governments will see money from drugmakers anytime soon. And even the most optimistic projections in a possible nationwide settlement would be a drop in the bucket for what it would cost states to tackle the epidemic. Experts say the country will be dealing with the fallout for decades to come.
Lawsuit From Fired Juul Executive Claims Company Knowingly Shipped 1 Million Tainted Nicotine Pods
Siddharth Breja, a former senior vice president of global finance for Juul, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday based on claims that he was retaliated against for raising concerns about the contaminated shipment. Breja describes a “reckless” and “win-at-all costs” culture at Juul, primarily driven by the company’s former CEO, Kevin Burns, who was replaced in a management shake-up last month. A Juul spokesman said in a statement that the claims are “baseless.”
Health care was a winning issue in the 2018 midterms, helping the Democrats re-take the House. But now Democratic candidates fighting for competitive seats worry that, should one of the supporters of Medicare for All be the presidential candidate, they’ll be painted with the same brush as the person at the top of the ticket. Meanwhile, the issue of funding such a single-payer plan continues to dominate the conversation on the election trail.
All signs point to the marketplaces finding stable footing after the tumultuous first years. Not only have premiums moderated, but more insurers are returning to the marketplace with an eye on profitability. But pending legislation on the constitutionality of the law could throw the markets for a loop once again. Open enrollment kicks off on Friday. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats failed to pass a mostly symbolic proposal that would have blocked Trump administration efforts to chip away at the health law.