Latest KFF Health News Stories
Twenty Democratic presidential hopefuls are slated to take the stage in Miami for highly anticipated debates that will stretch over Wednesday and Thursday. Health care, an emerging dividing issue for the candidates, is expected to feature prominently during the nights’ arguments. In other 2020 election news, Maine’s House speaker, Sara Gideon, announces her candidacy against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who received criticism over her stance on then-nominee Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And Beto O’Rourke proposes a war tax to fund veterans’ health care.
The health care law established so-called risk corridors meant to help insurance companies cope with the risks they took on when they decided to participate in the marketplaces. The law’s drafters hoped that payments into the program would offset payments out. However, losses substantially outpaced gains. The government was supposed to make up much of the difference, but Congress later enacted a series of appropriation riders that seemed to bar the promised payments.
President Donald Trump released an executive order on Monday that would compel insurers, doctors and hospitals to be more transparent about health care costs, which have always been a closely guarded secret in the industry. But, because of the peculiarities of health care, it’s not clear that the move will have the intended effect. What could happen is that once companies know what their competitors are charging, they could all raise their prices in concert.
The children had been detained for weeks without access to soap, clean clothes or adequate food, The Associated Press found in a damning investigation. “There is a stench that emanates from some of the children because they haven’t had an opportunity to put on clean clothes and to take a shower,” said Elora Mukherjee, the director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. It is not clear where the children have been moved, and some attorneys say the possibilities may not be an improvement. In related news, HHS Secretary Alex Azar says the rhetoric surrounding the issue is “outrageous” while Democrats’ infighting is threatening to derail emergency funding to the border.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
In Secret, Seniors Discuss ‘Rational Suicide’
Running counter to the efforts of suicide prevention experts and many religious and social norms, some seniors are quietly exploring the option of turning to suicide when they feel they’ve lived long enough.
Fuzzy Math Fuels Sanders’ Claim That Cost Barriers To Health Care Kill 30,000 A Year
There’s a lack of confidence in the number.
New Budget Boosts Health Coverage For Low-Income Californians
California lawmakers spent big on Medi-Cal in the 2019-20 state budget, voting to cover more older residents and people with disabilities, restore benefits cut during the recession and open the program to eligible young adults who are in the country illegally.
Trump Administration Seeks More Health Care Cost Details For Consumers
President Donald Trump ordered the federal government to help consumers benefit from gaining fuller estimates about their health care costs. But whether it will be a game changer depends on the details.
KHN’s ‘What The Health’: Politics Heading Into 2020: Live From Aspen!
How big an issue will health really be in the 2020 election? Will the Republicans find their political footing on the issue? In this episode of KHN’s “What the Health?” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times report from the Aspen Ideas: Health festival in Aspen, Colo. Joining them are Chris Jennings, who advised Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama on health policy, and Lanhee Chen, who advised GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio.
Personas que no hablan inglés enfrentan revés de salud si Trump suaviza regla sobre idiomas
Estos cambios son parte de una regulación propuesta más amplia, que también revertiría las protecciones que prohíben la discriminación basada en la identidad de género.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Cerner System Malfunction Leads To Two-Hour Outage Of Medical Records At Dozens Of Hospitals
Universal Health Services said read-only versions were available during the time, but declined to say how many patients’ records were affected. Other technology news: A period-tracking app might hold clues to fertility.
The Oregonian/OregonLive launched an investigation into the Oregon Health Authority’s management of moving patients out of specialized care. Chris Bouneff, director of Oregon’s branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the newsroom’s findings are “disturbing.” “We don’t have many others who look after us,” Bouneff said of people with severe mental illness. “And if that state agency can’t do it, and it didn’t do it in this instance, who can we trust?”
The closings continue a trend for the state that has lost 30 nursing homes in the past 18 months. The attorney general is investigating the recent closings that are forcing hundreds of vulnerable Medicaid patients to be uprooted. News on nursing homes comes from Connecticut, Ohio and Michigan, as well.
The rounds from that style of weapon are three times faster and strike with more than twice the force of other bullets. “Organs aren’t just going to tear or have bruises on them, they’re going to be, parts of them are going to be destroyed,” says Cynthia Bir. In other public health news: gene-edited babies, alcohol, vitiligo, the cautious generation, cancer, CBD, and more.
“It is long past time to recognize and apologize for our role in the discrimination and trauma caused by our profession and say, ‘We are sorry,'” said American Psychoanalytic Association President Dr. Lee Jaffe. Other news on the LGBTQ community focuses on transgender health and safety.
Rollout Of New Complex Medicaid Plan In Nebraska Keeps Many From Getting Medical Care, Advocates Say
“They’re grudgingly implementing the policy — and I think ‘grudgingly’ is the operative word,” said state Sen. John McCollister. News on Medicaid is also from Georgia.
The federal government now estimates that a record 50 million rural Americans live in what it calls “health care shortage areas,” where the number of hospitals, family doctors, surgeons and paramedics has declined to 20-year lows. A look at a pop-up clinic in Tennessee shows just how bad that reality is for the people living it.
While experts say a prominent legal expert’s warnings over the constitutionality of legislation address surprise medical bills are weak, it is still unlikely that any new regulations will skate through without being challenged in court.