Latest KFF Health News Stories
It ‘Smacks Of Corruption’: Warren Calls On Former FDA Chief Gottlieb To Resign From Pfizer’s Board
2020 hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said former FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb’s decision to join Pfizer’s board— less than three months after he left the agency —will make “the American people rightly cynical and distrustful about whether high-level Trump administration officials are working for them, or for their future corporate employers.”
GOP States’ Request To Delay Next Week’s Health Law Hearing Denied By Federal Appeals Court
The Democratic states and the House urged the court to deny the request, arguing that moving ahead with the case would reduce uncertainty in the health care industry. Arguments over the constitutionality of the health law remain set for next Tuesday afternoon at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Health experts say in the long run it’s better for people in the country regardless of immigration status to receive care, but the idea could be a hard political sell. Only 6 in 10 Democratic voters support the idea, and, more broadly, 60 percent of Americans oppose it. But, with all the news on immigration recently, it’s likely to play a leading role in the 2020 elections.
In a strongly worded report, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General said the prolonged detention of migrants without proper food, hygiene or laundry facilities — some for more than a month — requires “immediate attention and action.” Photos in the report show how extensive the problems at the facilities are.
A secret Facebook group revealed by ProPublica reporting featured jokes about migrant deaths, among other offensive content. Meanwhile, The Associated Press looks at how Facebook handles hate speech.
NOTE TO READERS: KHN’s First Edition will not be published July 4-5. Look for it again in your inbox July 8. Happy holidays!
Newly Blue Maine Expands Access To Abortion
After a wave of Democratic women were elected in 2018, Maine joins the handful of states that are shoring up the right to an abortion ahead of expected Supreme Court challenges.
American Medical Students Less Likely To Choose To Become Primary Care Doctors
Only 41.5% of internal medicine positions were filled by U.S.-trained fourth-year students getting traditional medical degrees, the lowest share on record. Similar trends were seen this year in family medicine and pediatrics.
Florida es el último estado republicano en adoptar programa de intercambio de jeringas
Un programa piloto en el condado de Miami-Dade demostró la efectividad de esta intervención de salud pública. Una nueva ley podría ampliarla a otros condados.
KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: All About ‘Medicare for All’
Need to know more about “Medicare for All?” It’s a top issue in the Democratic presidential primary campaign. This holiday week, we are rerunning our explainer on the subject. But first, KHN’s “What the Health?” host Julie Rovner talks to KHN’s Shefali Luthra about how health played out in the first Democratic candidate debates last week.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care topics and others.
Different Takes: Alabama’s Not Alone When It Comes To Punishing Pregnant Women
Editorial writers focus on the manslaughter charges against Marshae Jones.
Media outlets report on news from California, Mississippi, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Alabama, Florida, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Missouri, New Jersey and Ohio.
The state’s Medicaid agency will help by using new technology to ensure qualifying low-income women don’t experience a gap in health insurance coverage; working with the Department of Social Services to streamline enrollment; and launching an outreach campaign this fall to reach pregnant women and to connect those in need with substance abuse treatment.
“We didn’t think it was possible, but it happened and we have to deal with it,” NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill said last week after the department’s sixth suicide since January. Across the nation, more officers die by suicide than in the line of duty. Police are morely likely to suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome and depression. NYPD is adopting programs put in place by Chicago, including providing peer-to-peer counseling and additional mental health training.
Best Ways To Curb Teen Vaping? New State Laws Aimed At Raising Legal Age To 21 Won’t Do It Alone
Even as San Francisco has adopted a ban on e-cig sales and states have passed laws raising the purchasing age, the trend among teens to vape is on the upswing, health officials say, and threatens to undermine a decades-long decline in teen smoking. News on efforts to stem nicotine use comes from Vermont, Georgia and Massachusetts, as well.
New Transgender Guidelines From Physicians’ Group Expands Audience To Primary Family Care Doctors
According to the new guidelines, transgender medical care has been historically siloed to endocrinologists. In other public health news, overactive thyroids, medical myths, dead brains, MRIs and atoms, stem cells, and more.
Finance Committee Expands Investigation Into Tax-Exempt Organizations With Ties To Opioid-Makers
The move is the latest effort to peel back the curtain on the interplay between pharmaceutical manufacturers and various organizations, some of which have been accused of working harder on behalf of industry interests than patient concerns. Other news on the crisis deals with kratom and needle exchanges.
More than half of the facilities analyzed in a new report met the expected staffing level less than 20% of the time. In other news on nursing homes, a look at the poorest performing of Tennessee’s facilities.
Between Democratic Primary And Legal Battle Over ACA, Insurers Facing Precarious Second-Half Of Year
“You have these two very low-probability, but very negative events … that almost all investors think have a close to zero probability of actually happening but the time to get clarity on that is still quite extended. Time is the main issue here,” Evercore analyst Michael Newshel said.