Latest KFF Health News Stories
Advocates Worried About Upcoming Rollout Of VA’s Private Care Call For Delay
As the Department of Veterans Affairs gets ready to expand private medical care for veterans, some worry that the change could threaten the quality of care for the 9.2 million vets with eligibility for the program.
Although the training landscape for the medical field is starting to shift with the rest of the country, many women say there’s more that should be done to address the crippling issue.
Editorial pages focus on the national conversation about health insurance.
In A Crowded Field, Health Care Opinions Set 2020 Democratic Hopefuls Apart
Although the 2020 Democratic candidates share similar stances on many issues, there is a wide divide between the more moderates, who want to make incremental changes to the current system, and the progressives who want a sweeping overhaul. Former Vice President Joe Biden was the most recent to get behind a Medicare buy-in plan. Also, take a look at why Vermont’s single-payer system almost succeeded but was blocked in the end.
Around the country, there have been 13 individual outbreaks in 22 states in 2019, CDC reported in its latest update on the crisis. In other news on the disease’s spread: HHS Alex Azar praises President Donald Trump’s support of vaccinations, New York officials issue fines over missed shots, Los Angeles students are cleared from quarantine, and more.
A look at what a common, basic metabolic blood test costs in different cities reveals huge differences between costs that far outpace other commercial goods, like grocery store items.
The Trump administration’s changes to the Title X family planning grant program, which banned participating providers from referring women for abortions, has sparked a pushback both through the courts and in Congress. Critics call the changes a “gag rule” and say they are meant to target Planned Parenthood specifically. House Democrats have included language blocking the rule in their latest spending measure. Meanwhile, two separate judges have now ordered injunctions against the changes.
A Spending Bill Could Include Money For Gun Violence Research For First Time In More Than 20 Years
The Democrat-controlled House Appropriations Committee unveiled a draft spending bill late Monday that includes $50 million for the federal government to study “firearm injury and mortality prevention.” While the legislation is a long way from becoming law, gun safety advocates cheered the news anyway as forward progress after too many years of nothing. The bill would also provide $189.8 billion for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education in fiscal 2020.
The lawsuit has to do with a treatment called proton beam therapy, which UnitedHealth declined to cover on the grounds that it is unproven and experimental. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, who has personal experience with cancer treatments, derided this stance. “It is undisputed among legitimate medical experts that proton radiation therapy is not experimental and causes much less collateral damage than traditional radiation,” Scola wrote.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Summer Bummer: A Young Camper’s $142,938 Snakebite
The snake struck a 9-year-old hiker at dusk on a nature trail. The outrageous bills struck her parents a few weeks later.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health issues and others.
Three Weeks Pass And Boston Panel Still Has No Verdict In Insys Opioid Trial
The lengthy deliberations of the 12-person jury focus on a scam prosecutors say funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars to doctors nationwide to prescribe highly addictive Subsys more often and at higher doses. News on the opioid epidemic comes from Massachusetts, Ohio, New Hampshire and California, as well.
Media outlets report on news from Maryland, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington, Missouri, Arizona, Puerto Rico and Delaware.
Companies Flooding Into Cancer-Drug Market, Threatening Roche’s Well-Established Throne
The cancer drug market is the hot new place to be, and Roche, a company that has long-dominated the field, is now finding itself with competition. Other pharmaceutical news focuses on dementia and improper billing.
Glimmers Of Stability Emerge For Not-For-Profit, Public Hospitals, But They’re Not Out Of The Woods
“That’s still an anemic margin overall,” said Christopher Kerns, executive director at the Advisory Board. But mergers and acquisitions, steady patient volumes and revenue cycle improvements fueled rising revenue while cost-cutting initiatives. In other industry news: mandatory payment models, HIPAA fines, private-equity and physicians’ practices, and more.
Editorial pages focus on health insurance.
The provision would prohibit any state or local government unit or tax-supported district from providing sex reassignment surgery. The move follows a ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court that struck down a ban on Medicaid payments for “surgeries for the purpose of sex reassignment.” Medicaid news comes out of Georgia, Wisconsin and Arkansas, as well.
President Donald Trump at a rally this weekend once again brought up the accusation that doctors are “executing babies” following failed abortion procedures. The talk comes amid a push among conservative states to introduce legislation to stop the practice. But not only is it extremely rare for a baby to be born alive after a failed abortion, there are already laws in place that keep doctors from then killing them if they do survive. Meanwhile, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that the state’s constitution protects a woman’s right to an abortion.
Public health advocates had criticized President Donald Trump’s silence in the midst of one of the country’s worst measles outbreaks in decades. Others worried that if he did speak out he’d recommend against vaccinations. Trump on Friday, however, came down adamantly in favor of kids getting their shots. In other news: hundreds of students at Los Angeles universities are quarantined over exposure fears; religious leaders urge their followers to get vaccinations; outbreaks raise questions about adult immunity; and more.