Latest KFF Health News Stories
A new analysis looks at the reasons FDA officials disregard advice from the expert panel — and much of the time there was a disagreement, the FDA took the more cautious route. Interestingly, the authors also found that disagreement was not more common when panel members had conflicts of interest or when there was more media coverage over the drug.
Medicare To Potentially Cover Acupuncture For Chronic-Lower Back Pain As Alternative To Opioids
Some medical experts see any success from the procedure as nothing more than a placebo effect. But as doctors seek different ways to address pain in the midst of an opioid crisis, HHS Secretary Alex Azar says acupuncture is worth exploring.
Trump Administration To Immediately Enforce Family Planning Funding Changes After Court’s Go-Ahead
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week rejected emergency petitions filed by Planned Parenthood and states seeking to block the rules while it rehears arguments over the case.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic candidate, helped bring national attention to a Philadelphia hospital that’s trying to close its doors. Sanders said he will be introducing a bill in the Senate to provide a $20 billion “emergency fund” that will allow states and communities to purchase financially struggling hospitals in order to keep them open. Meanwhile, planning for the potential closure of Hahnemann University Hospital shows how deeply intertwined a health institution can become with a city.
Reporting raised questions last month as to whether the Biden Cancer Initiative’s connections with for-profit health care companies would pose ethical issues for a possible Biden administration. Greg Simon, the organization’s president, promised that “we remain personally committed to the cause” while announcing the decision.
Former Vice President Joe Biden made a similar vow to voters at an AARP/Des Moines Register forum that then-President Barack Obama made as he was touting the health law. The echo from years past highlights Biden’s strategy of building upon the system already in place that has only grown in popularity in recent years. But it could put him out of step with the mood of the party. “Politically, Biden is trapped by his old job,” said Scott Jennings, an appointee in former President George W. Bush’s administration.
All four of the participants at the first of five presidential candidate forums that AARP and the Des Moines Register are sponsoring in Iowa favored a more moderate expansion of health care coverage over progressive “Medicare for All” proposals. Monday’s forum in Des Moines featured former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) also says she would work to close a tax loophole for pharmaceutical companies’ direct-to-consumer advertising expenses, and allow the importation of drugs from Canada.
Netflix Edits Out Graphic Suicide Scene From ’13 Reasons Why’ Over Two Years After First Aired
Before and after the controversial episode aired in 2017, health experts warned Netflix about the graphic scene. A later study found that there was a sharp uptick in teen suicides in the month after the show launched.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
As Temperatures Climb, A New Push To Keep Workers Safe
Over the past decade, more than 350 workers nationwide have died from heat-related illness, and tens of thousands have had heat-related problems serious enough that they missed at least one day of work. Proposed federal legislation, modeled on California regulations, would create the first national standards for protecting workers from heat-related stress.
Insurers Running Medicare Advantage Plans Overbill Taxpayers By Billions As Feds Struggle To Stop It
An enhanced government effort to catch insurers that overcharge Medicare faces resistance from the insurance industry.
Costos adicionales bloquean el tratamiento para prevenir el VIH
Aunque muchas aseguradoras cubren PrEP, los costos por las pruebas adicionales que hay que realizarse pueden bloquear el acceso a esta terapia preventiva.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care issues and others.
Media outlets focus on news from Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Hawaii, Tennessee, Virginia, Connecticut, California, North Carolina, District of Columbia, New Hampshire, Missouri, Georgia, Washington, Maryland, Oregon, Colorado, Ohio, Florida and West Virginia.
Editorial pages focus on some of the options being discussed to replace or modify the Health Law.
An appeals court in Missouri found that the trial of Michael Johnson was fundamentally unfair. Johnson was found guilty in 2015 of neglecting to tell sexual partners he had HIV. He denied those charges. Many laws on “HIV crimes,” were written in the 1980s. “We don’t charge people with other incurable diseases, like hepatitis, with a criminal offense for exposing others,” said Eric M. Selig, a lawyer who negotiated on Johnson’s behalf. On news on HIV is on unexpected costs associated with HIV prevention medicine.
While recent news about Alzheimer’s focused on disappointing failed drug trials, two new studies discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference look at how clean living helps lower the chances of developing wasting brain diseases by as much as 60%. Give up red meat, don’t smoke, exercise more, read more books and limit red wine to one glass a night. “This research is exciting in that it shows there are actionable things we can do to try to counteract genetic risk for dementia,” said Elzbieta Kuźma, a research fellow at the University of Exeter Medical School who worked on one the studies.
Babies As Young As 3 Months Old Are Being Held In U.S. Custody Without Any Parents At The Facilities
A Center for Investigative Reporting report finds that a dozen children arrived at Child Crisis Arizona starting in mid-June, after it garnered a $2.4 million contract to house unaccompanied children through January 2022. It’s unclear where the children’s parents are. In other news from the crisis at the border: a momentary reprieve in arrests, a commemorative coin’s connection to a toxic culture within Border Patrol, ICE raids, and more.
The Tennessean looks at the dramatic negative effects the paperwork system — which has now been replaced — had on the state’s children. Medicaid news comes out of Indiana, New York and Montana, as well.