Latest KFF Health News Stories
And huge disparities persist in maternal death rates for African-American, Native American and Alaska Native women. “The bottom line is that too many women are dying largely preventable deaths associated with their pregnancy,” Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, told The New York Times.
Heartbeat bills are popular in the anti-abortion movement despite the fact that they’ve been repeatedly knocked down in court. Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) said he approved the bill “to ensure that all Georgians have the opportunity to live, grow, learn and prosper in our great state.” Abortion news comes out of Wisconsin, Virginia, Texas and Pennsylvania, as well.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday lawmakers discussed ideas to curb high drug prices, such as the international price index and using the patent system to increase competition in the marketplace. “I think we’re dangerously close to building a bipartisanship consensus around change,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said during the hearing.
Judge Stops Short Of Permanent Injunction Of 340B Medicare Rate Cuts, But Halts Them For Now
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras is ordering the government the deficiencies in the rule. HHS Secretary Alex Azar “patently violated the Medicare Act’s text,” the judge wrote. “Unlike cases in which the agency’s decision may have been lawful, but was inadequately explained … no amount of reasoning on remand will allow the secretary to re-implement the 340B rates in the same manner.”
Lawmakers Raise Red Flags About How Health Apps Use, Share Data Of Patients
Guidelines might be necessary, says Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) as federal agencies push for a free exchange of information. News on technology and health focuses on price comparing on smartphones, interoperability, Google’s health leaders and more.
EPA Disregarded Its Own Scientists’ Warnings When It Issued Restrictions But Not A Ban On Asbestos
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said when the rule was issued that it would significantly strengthen public health protections. But in the memos dated Aug. 10, more than a dozen of the agency’s own experts urged the EPA to ban asbestos outright, as do most other industrialized nations.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A Plan To Cover Immigrants Would Divert Public Health Dollars
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to provide health coverage to unauthorized immigrants ages 19 to 25 would siphon money that four counties currently use for public health efforts such as battling contagious diseases.
The Money And Politics Of Prescription Drugs: What You Need To Know
America spends about as much on prescription drugs as all the revenues of the three big car makers combined. Tracking where the money goes is hard. PolitiFact has some charts to help.
Effects Of Surgery On A Warming Planet: Can Anesthesia Go Green?
Two of the most commonly used anesthesia gases are similar medically but worlds apart when it comes to their impact on the planet.
Drug Industry Patents Go Under Senate Judiciary Committee’s Microscope
During a hearing Tuesday, panel members focused on how drug companies have used patents to allegedly protect their competitive edge and profits.
Feds Want To Show Health Care Costs On Your Phone, But That Could Take Years
Giving consumers more knowledge about the costs of care has long been desired, but administration officials cautioned it could take two years or more for useful data to appear in a phone app.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts and Maryland.
Major Mental Health And Addiction Treatment Center To Settle Allegations It Defrauded Medicaid
The company is accused of billing Medicaid for marked up costs for blood and urine tests.
New Hampshire Health Care Professionals Want Lawmakers To Unfreeze Medicaid Reimbursement Rates
The rates have remained mostly stagnant for the past 13 years. Other Medicaid news comes from Oregon, California and Georgia, as well.
Measles Tally Continues To Climb While More States Scramble To Tighten Vaccination Exemption Laws
There have been 60 new cases of measles reported in the U.S. in the past week, CDC officials say. Meanwhile, lawmakers in states from Maine to Oregon are taking steps to try to curtail the spread of the disease. In other news on the outbreak: Instagram joins other social media platforms in cracking down on misinformation; parents of babies too young for vaccinations are speaking out against the anti-vaccination movement; and pediatricians take tough stances on accepting patients who refuse shots.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) says his opponents need to tell Americans the truth about the negative sides of “Medicare for All.” Bennet and Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) rolled out their “Medicare X” plan last month that would allow for a public health care option, modeled after Medicare, to be made available alongside private insurance. Politico looks at where all the candidates stand on universal health care, among other things.
The new treatment that has a potential $2 million price tag can cure spinal muscular atrophy, an inherited disease that typically kills babies before they turn two. But as more gene therapies hit the marketplace, insurers balk at the expense. Meanwhile, the FDA takes an unexpected step to introduce competition into the marketplace for an extremely pricey drug that treats a rare disease.
In Nursing, Experiencing Trauma And The Resulting PTSD Is A Fact Of Life
As many as one in four nurses experience PTSD at some point in their careers. The stressful environment of nursing can support many the “triggers and traumas of PTSD,” Meredith Mealer, an associate professor at the Anschutz Medical Campus at the University of Colorado, Denver, tells The New York Times. “Nurses see people die. They work on resuscitating patients. They try to control bleeding. They have end-of-life discussions. And sometimes they are verbally or physically abused by patients or visiting family members.”