Latest KFF Health News Stories
The proposal Georgia submitted is designed to make coverage less expensive, with more competition among insurers and fewer enrollment snags. Georgia residents could bypass Healthcare.gov and sign up for insurance directly through an insurance provider or broker website. Thirteen states have had this type of 1332 waiver approved by the federal government.
The hearing over the future of Missouri’s last-remaining abortion clinic concluded, but shockwaves over top health official’s spreadsheet tracking women’s periods still reverberate. While there were no names associated with the data, critics find it uncomfortable that such personal information was used in the fight. “How is the government going to use my information to wage a political war?” said Bonyen Lee-Gilmore, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Indiana Becomes Second State In Recent Weeks To Pump The Brakes On Medicaid Work Requirement Plans
Indiana and Arizona — both with Republican governors — are the first states to voluntarily take step that three other states were forced to take through court orders. Many advocates had been vocal in their warnings that many people would lose coverage if Medicaid work requirements are put into place, but the Trump administration has been allowing states to move in that direction.
The tobacco giant wrote down its investment in Juul by more than a third, acknowledging that it hadn’t anticipated the regulatory pitfalls confronting the e-cigarette market. Altria hoped to tap the vaping market in the face of declining smoking rates and cigarette sales in the United States. Now the company is under investigation by the FTC over its role in the resignation of Juul’s former chief executive and his replacement by an Altria executive. Meanwhile, the total number of vaping-related lung disease cases continues to climb.
First Edition: November 1, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
If Power Outages Are California’s New Normal, What About Home Medical Needs?
Those who rely on plug-in health devices or medicine that requires refrigeration are scrambling to find ways to avoid potentially life-threatening disruptions now and in future fire season shutdowns.
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.