Latest KFF Health News Stories
California Hospitals And Nursing Homes Brace For Wildfire Blackouts
Facing billions of dollars in legal claims for the role its equipment has played in a spate of deadly wildfires, California utility giant Pacific Gas & Electric plans to step up efforts to cut power to broad regions of the state during high-risk weather conditions. The potential for prolonged blackouts has prompted disaster preparations by hospitals, nursing homes and home care providers.
Investors’ Deep-Pocket Push To Defend Surprise Medical Bills
As lobbyists purporting to represent doctors and hospitals fight attempts to control surprise medical bills, it has become increasingly clear that the force behind the effort is not just medical professionals, but also investors from private equity firms.
Virginia Governor And UVA Vow To Revamp Practice Of Suing Patients As CEO Exits
A Kaiser Health News investigation, which first appeared in The Washington Post, showed that the University of Virginia Health System has sued patients 36,000 times for more than $106 million.
Breaking A 10-Year Streak, The Number Of Uninsured Americans Rises
Census officials said most of the drop in health coverage was related to a 0.7% decline in Medicaid. The number of people with private insurance remained steady.
Por primera vez en una década, aumenta el número de personas sin seguro médico
El Censo halló que el 8.5% de la población se quedó sin seguro médico el año pasado, en comparación con el 7.9% en 2017. Nuevas reglas han impactado en la comunidad hispana.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from Florida, California, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas and Massachusetts.
Opinion writers weigh in on how to stop mass shootings in the U.S.
Men Do Get Breast Cancer, But There’s Little Research To Show What Treatments Are Safe, Effective
Often times it’s women who get cut out of clinical trials for innovative drugs, but when it comes to breast cancer it’s men who are getting the short shrift. In other public health news: obesity, malaria, snacking, the siblings of sick kids, and a fungal disease.
Depression Drug Spravato Reduces Symptoms In 24 Hours For People Considering Suicide, Studies Find
The trials, done by the drug’s maker Johnson & Johnson, might yield important treatment information for severely depressed patients because other treatments can take weeks to go into effect. Mental health news looks at suicide rates, telemedicine, positive relationships early in life, and first responders, as well.
Public Citizen says the agency displayed “dangerously deficient oversight” when it approved opioids during a growing crisis. The FDA denied the request for a moratorium, pointing to the framework and guidance it has developed in the years since. In addition, the FDA argued that it is not permitted under federal law to impose a moratorium on approving new medicines. In other news: a judge knocks down Purdue Pharma’s efforts to dismiss public nuisance claims and the AMA is urging states to be proactive on opioid abuse treatment.
“I’ve been telling folks, if you want to see the future, we’ve been living that since 2012,” said Denise Rodriguez of the Dallas-based Texas Equal Access Fund. Many women in the state need at least two days to obtain the procedure with just how far they have to drive to their nearest clinic. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood has announced that due to lack of state and federal funding, two of its Ohio clinics will be closing later this month.
But despite some 11th-hour hesitations over the past week, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the legislation cracking down on medical exemptions into law. Protesters forced delays in both the Assembly and Senate. They unfurled an upside-down American flag from the Senate’s public gallery in a traditional signal of distress and chanted “My kids, my choice” and “We will not comply.”
Dr. Stephen Hahn, one of the frontrunners for the top FDA position, has been in the middle and on the fringes of multiple high-profile controversies throughout his career. But what they’ve revealed is a knack for operating within highly rigid and institutionalized environments, his supporters say.
Decades before “Medicare for All” became the buzzword du jour for the elections, Sen. Bernie Sanders, frustrated with how his family struggled to pay for his mother’s care when she was dying, made a trip to Canada. He walked away from that “thrilled” with the prospect of something better than the U.S. health care system. Meanwhile, where do the candidates stand on the proposal? Reuters takes a look ahead of the Democratic debate this week.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s long-awaited plan to reduce drug prices is far more ambitious than what was expected, and experts say that reveals an attitude on the Hill that a serious bipartisan proposal is not in the cards for this particular Congress.
Playing Both Sides? Corporations Straddle Lines Of Gun Debate With Open-Carry Requests
The decision by Walmart and other stores to “request” that their customers don’t openly carry weapons into the stores is being lauded by gun control activists. But legal experts say they could go further and haven’t. Meanwhile, psychologists are alarmed that sources say the White House is considering a controversial plan that would utilize technology to prevent mass shootings. And polls show that, political narrative aside, Republican voters want tighter gun laws, too.
“Regardless of where products like e-cigarettes fall on the continuum of tobacco product risk, the law is clear that, before marketing tobacco products for reduced risk, companies must demonstrate with scientific evidence that their specific product does in fact pose less risk or is less harmful,” said acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless. The public rebuke came amid a burgeoning epidemic of vaping-related lung illnesses across the country.
‘UVA Has Ruined Us’: Health System Sues Thousands Of Patients, Seizing Paychecks And Claiming Homes
Over six years, the state institution filed 36,000 lawsuits against patients seeking a total of more than $106 million in unpaid bills, a KHN analysis finds.
First Edition: September 10, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.