Latest KFF Health News Stories
The newly-formed Vita Nuova Inc. has filed a lawsuit saying it has the right to Title X grants. The new group lacks a website and, according to the complaint, has yet to raise funds or build a network of providers. It’s not clear what medical services, if any, it plans to provide. But the move hints at renewed enthusiasm from such groups following the family planning funding rule changes from the administration.
Some states have already begun enshrining protections guaranteed by the Affordable Care Act, but others see the current legal challenge to the health law as an opportunity for Congress to pass a new, improved version. The states’ leaders discussed the issue at the summer meeting of the National Governors Association.
Juul “deployed a sophisticated program to enter schools and convey its messaging directly to teenage children,” recruited thousands of online influencers to market its vaping devices to youths and targeted children as young as 8 in summer camp, a memo prepared by an Oversight and Reform subcommittee’s staff members claimed. Several committee members said Juul’s initiatives appeared similar to past efforts by the tobacco industry to reach young people under the guise of smoking prevention programs.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s pep talk came as the House passed a two-year budget deal that lifts the government’s borrowing limit. The Senate is expected to approve the measure next week.
Senate Finance’s Sweeping Drug Prices Bill Moves Forward But It Has A Bumpy Path In Front Of It
In particular, a provision that would cap drug prices paid by Medicare based on the rate of inflation has sparked some pushback even among Republicans who voted to advance the long-awaited bill. And Democrats, who unanimously voted to advance the bill, may still kill it. Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is trying to make the case that lawmakers may not like his bill, but they’ll dislike what the Trump administration and House Democrats come up with more.
En Tijuana, madres migrantes esperan dos fechas límite: el parto y la corte
Más mujeres embarazadas deben vivir meses en refugios en la frontera, esperando por sus audiencias de asilo en EE.UU. Reciben poco o ninguna atención prenatal.
They May Owe Nothing — Half-Million-Dollar Dialysis Bill Canceled
After reporting by KHN, NPR and CBS, Fresenius has agreed to waive a Montana man’s huge bill for out-of-network dialysis care.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Robotic Surgical Tool, Not Medical Evidence, Drives Free Hernia Screenings
Hospitals around the country are promoting free hernia screenings that tout their robotic surgery tools. But some experts warn such screenings could lead people to get potentially harmful operations that they don’t need.
Migrant Moms Await Due Dates And Court Dates
A growing number of pregnant women are among the migrants seeking asylum in the United States. Many must wait in Mexico until their cases are heard, spending weeks or months in migrant shelters with limited access to health care.
Klobuchar Says D.C. Has Enough Drug Lobbyists To Double-Team Lawmakers
The drug industry has the biggest lobbying war chest.
GOP Senators Distance Themselves From Grassley And Trump’s Efforts To Cut Drug Prices
Even some Republicans who supported a sweeping bipartisan bill to rein in drug costs may not back it in the Senate vote.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Cue The Drug Price Debate
Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee unveiled their long-awaited proposal to try to rein in prescription drug costs, even as bipartisan leaders of the other Senate committee that oversees health announced it would not bring its drug price bill to the Senate floor until fall. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss this, plus court actions on health issues.
Watch: Out-Of-Network Outrage After A $540K Charge For Dialysis
CBS This Morning covers the highest KHN-NPR Bill of the Month yet: more than half a million dollars for just 14 weeks of kidney dialysis in Montana.
Research Roundup: Infant Deaths; Type 2 Diabetes Risks; Aging; And Health Care Spending
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Editorial and opinion writers look at a broad range of health topics from the Affordable Care Act to food stamps to drug pricing and more.
Doctors can be left flummoxed by symptoms they’ve never seen before. That’s where artificial intelligence can step in and offer cases that might hold key answers for those racing to save lives. In other public health news: vaccines, precision medicine, baby powder and cancer, the social effects of TV, robotic hands, and more.
Media outlets report on news from Oregon, Texas, New Hampshire, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, Maryland, California and North Carolina.
Among the men in the survey, PrEP use rose steeply from 2014 to 2017, from 6 percent to 35 percent, but large racial disparities still persist.
The Cost Of Unwarranted ER Visits: $32 Billion A Year
A trip to the emergency room is on average 12 times higher than being treated at a physician’s office for common ailments, an analysis from UnitedHealth Group found. The claims data showed ailments frequently treated in the emergency room include cough, bronchitis, headache, sore throat, nausea and upper respiratory infection, which may not actually need emergency care.