Latest KFF Health News Stories
First Edition: October 17, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
States Act To Safeguard Young Cancer Patients’ Chances To Have Children
Fighting cancer often involves toxic therapies that can cause infertility. In the past couple of years, five states have moved to require that plans pay for services such as egg removal and storage.
Medicare For All? CMS Chief Warns Program Has Enough Problems Already
Seema Verma, who heads the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, tells private insurance officials that a push by some Democrats to expand Medicare would only increase troubles the program already faces.
FDA Allows Food Makers To Fortify Corn Masa To Halt Birth Defects, But Few Do
The decision aimed at adding folic acid — a vitamin that can prevent devastating defects of the brain, spine or spinal cord — to flours, chips and tortillas hasn’t caught on with many makers of widely used corn products.
Editorial pages focus on these and other health care issues.
Media outlets report on news from South Dakota, California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Kansas, New Hampshire and Minnesota.
The genome itself doesn’t change, but research about mutations and diseases linked to certain genes does update. And when that happens, there’s no good way to inform people who think they’re in the clear.
First Flu Death Of The Season Is An Unvaccinated Child From Florida
Florida health officials have not revealed the name of the child or where the child lived, but they are saying he or she was healthy before getting the flu. The CDC — which has reported almost 200 children were listed among last year’s 80,000 flu fatalities — is urging everyone to get a flu shot.
The success of a therapy technique that injects viruses into bacteria and lets them reproduce like crazy until the germs explode was great news for Dr. Carl Merril — and convinced him to return to work as a government scientist, starting a new company. Other public health news includes: babies’ sleep, depression, maternal death rates, caregivers, medical data profits, mental health and surgery center ratings.
Dr. Piero Anversa popularized the idea of stem cell treatment for damaged hearts, prompting the formation of start-up companies to develop new treatments for heart attacks and stroke. Harvard has called for the studies to be retracted.
“The flu season is just upon us, and we are seeing that we are having difficulty getting our immigrant children and adults in for flu shots,” said Dr. Lisa Ward, president of the board of the California Association of Family Physicians. “It is quite likely that one of the reasons is that they are too afraid not only to get health care for the adult parents but for their U.S.-born children as well, and that’s just one tiny bit of health care.” News on the policy comes out of Texas and Massachusetts, as well.
No matter the outcome, the massive $69 billion deal between the pharmacy chain and the health insurer will likely transform the health care landscape if it gets final approval from state regulators.
The Anthem settlement is nearly three times larger than the previous highest amount paid to the government in a privacy case. In other health industry news: telemedicine fraud, tariffs and health care construction, and electronic health records.
Mary Mayhew, who was announced as the deputy administrator and director of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, worked previously as Maine’s health commissioner under Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican known as a fierce opponent to Medicaid expansion.
Another 4,100 Dropped From Arkansas’ Medicaid Rolls After Failing To Properly Report Work Hours
And the report found that another 4,800 people are at risk at losing coverage if they don’t meet the work requirement by the end of this month. For critics of the requirements, it’s their worst fears realized. “This is an absolute train wreck, and it is a slow-moving train wreck that the state can stop at any time,” said Sam Brooke, deputy legal counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of three groups that had sued Arkansas over the mandate.
Democrats have been sounding warnings about the potential threat to preexisting conditions coverage on the trail for months. Now some Republicans are trying to get ahead of the issue through ads including family members with health problems. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump goes after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare For All” plan.
The rule, which is part of President Donald Trump’s blueprint to rein in high drug costs, sparked immediate push back from pharmaceutical companies. Beyond the industry, experts are skeptical that the regulation would do anything to bring down prices and may confuse patients because consumers often don’t pay the list price for medications.
First Edition: October 16, 2018
DON’T MISS: It’s bad enough that a patient has a health emergency so dire that it requires a helicopter ride to make it to the hospital in time. But then comes the bill. Tune in to the next KHN Facebook Live – on Friday, Oct. 19 at 12:30 p.m. – when KHN senior editor Diane Webber outlines the factors that allow air ambulance costs to be so high.
Influential Leapfrog Group Jumps In To Rate 5,600 Surgery Centers
In the wake of a KHN/USA Today Network investigation, Leapfrog will check the safety and quality of outpatient centers.
Drugmakers Funnel Millions To Lawmakers; A Few Dozen Get $100,000-Plus
Drugmakers’ contributions to lawmakers have peaked as surging drug prices emerge as a hot-button political issue. In the past decade, Congress has received nearly $79 million from 68 pharma PACs, run by employees of companies that make drugs treating everything from cancer to erectile dysfunction.