Latest KFF Health News Stories
The Real-Life Conversion Of A Former Anti-Vaxxer
Kelley Watson Snyder, a mother who for years opposed mandatory childhood vaccinations and joined with like-minded parents who espoused similar views, today runs a pro-vaccination Facebook page. What changed?
Superstar Athletes Popularize Unproven Stem Cell Procedures
Treatments for baseball pitcher Max Scherzer and other pros may mislead fans about costly, controversial, unapproved stem cell shots.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care topics and others.
Each week, KHN finds interesting reads from around the Web.
Media outlets report on news from North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, California, Louisiana and Massachusetts.
Editorial writers weigh in on the debate about the future of health care.
Younger patients were also more likely than older people to have advanced cases. Awareness and testing, which has attributed to decreasing rates among older adults, needs to improve among people under age 50. Persistent constipation, cramps, bloating, blood in stool, unexplained weight loss and fatigue can all be symptoms. Other public health news focuses on disparities in post-cancer care for LGBTQ survivors, Ebola, mosquito-borne viruses, options for cows milk, vegetarian burgers, fighting obesity, and challenges for athletic moms.
In the school department’s first-of-a-kind report, it listed online which of the 5,408 pre-school and kindergarten classrooms it inspected had lead problems. Administrators stressed the 938 classrooms are safe, but parents who want to get free blood tests for their children were informed how to go about it. Lead exposure is a serious health risk for young children. News on environmental health hazards comes from Ohio, California and Georgia, as well.
Studies have shown that community doctors are only 50 to 60 percent accurate in diagnosing Alzheimer’s. A new test could help increase those rates.
Trendy CBD With Its Myriad Of Promises Attracts Attention From Major Consumer Health Companies
While the benefits of most CBD-based products remain to be proven in tests, research estimates the U.S. market will reach almost $24 billion by 2023. News on medical marijuana comes out of Oregon, Louisiana, Missouri and Colorado.
The Harvard and Johns Hopkins doctors were particularly alarmed by the possibility of the poor conditions increasing the spread of infectious diseases.
New Life Breathed Into Pharma’s Efforts To Block California’s Drug Pricing Transparency Law
The legislation would require drugmakers to inform the state and give justification for their price hikes. The judge is allowing the industry to proceed with the argument that the law is unconstitutional because it violates interstate commerce and free speech principles.
Emails obtained by Politico reveal a “singular obsession” from White House senior adviser Stephen Miller when it came to the rule that will allow DHS to bar legal immigrants from obtaining green cards if they receive certain government benefits. The previously undisclosed emails could raise legal questions about whether the public charge rule was rushed to completion. Other news from the
Trump administration looks at disaster aid for Puerto Rico, CDC’s HIV efforts and the FCC’s prioritization of telemedicine.
Health Insurers’ Stocks Are Holding Up Surprisingly Well Despite Choppy Political Waters
The industry is even outpacing others when it comes to profit growth, and UnitedHealth and Anthem, the two largest insurers, each beat Wall Street estimates with their second quarter results. Other health industry news looks at medical device litigation, a lab’s court challenge of a multi-billion dollar Medicare cut, hospices, and more.
Under Intense Congressional Fire, Juul Ramped Up Donations To Lawmakers In First Half Of Year
The new FEC figures show that Democrats, who won control of the House during last year’s elections, received $74,000 from Juul’s PAC between Jan. 1 and June 30 while Republicans received $22,500. In other tobacco news: former FDA chief blasts Juul products, a vast majority of Americans support raising the smoking age, and an annual report looks at how states are working to reduce cancer rates.
For the first time in several years, death rates in urban areas have topped those in rural ones. “It indicates the drug problem is a problem everywhere,” said Holly Hedegaard, epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Utah voters in 2018 approved the full expansion with Proposition 3, but lawmakers, citing the potential for runaway costs, repealed the initiative and adopted their own, more restrictive plan. However, the state was rejected from getting the most generous federal funding available because of that decision. Other Medicaid news comes out of Virginia, North Carolina and New Hampshire, as well.
Budget for non-defense programs — ranging from border patrol to veterans’ health care to cancer research — would rise from the current $605 billion this year to $632 billion next year and $634.5 billion the following year. The bill goes to President Donald Trump next, who touted plan as “phenomenal” for veterans.
Keep Your Mitts Off Our Prescription Drugs: Canadians Not Thrilled With Trump’s Importation Plans
Although President Donald Trump’s plan to allow some importation of prescription drugs from Canada is popular in the United States, those in our neighbor to the north are concerned it will cause shortages for them.