Latest KFF Health News Stories
Simply housing more than 2,500 children separated from their families by the Trump administration has cost more than $30 million in the past two months, not to mention other costs. As the price tag continues to tick up, HHS scrambles to figure out ways to pay for the migrant crisis.
Chief Justice John Roberts has previously joined the four liberal justices to preserve the health law, so it is less likely that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s vote would be the one that sways any related decision. Meanwhile, an assessment finds that states’ efforts to protect consumers from high costs after the government ended certain health law subsidies last year is working.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Hurricane Maria Still Taking A Toll On Puerto Rico’s Seniors
KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney reports on the challenges of providing health care to older people on the island.
Viewpoints: Time To See Child Abuse As Public Health Crisis; Find A Solution To VA Job Vacancies
Editorial pages focus on these and other health topics.
Perspectives: Heartless Policies At The Border? Zero-Tolerance, Zero Asylum
Opinion writers weigh in on health impacts of the Trump administration’s policies at the border.
Media outlets report on news from Maryland, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, California, New Hampshire, Connecticut, North Carolina, Colorado and Ohio.
Texas Judge Mentions Possible Supreme Court Abortion Shift During Start Of Fetal Burial Trial
The state argues that required fetal burial will ensure the dignity of the unborn by treating the fetal tissue differently from other medical waste that is incinerated and spread in sanitary landfills.
Field Of Psychology Self-Evaluates As Foundational Experiments Keep Getting Overturned
There have been several attacks recently on the “classic” experiments that help make up the way we think about human behavior. In other news: cognitive tests, cancer treatments, eye infections, prion disease, ICUs and more.
Scientists Always Knew Gene-Editing Wreaked Havoc. They Didn’t Know Just How Much.
The DNA damage found in the new study included deletions of thousands of DNA bases, including at spots far from the edit. Shares of the companies involved in the editing fell on the news.
There’s a growing threat of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics, and overprescribing is one area that is being looked at. Meanwhile, doctors are having to think creatively as bacteria evolves to elude traditional treatment.
Rural Hospitals Closing At Dangerous Rate For Pregnant Women Stuck Hundreds Of Miles From Care
Researchers estimate that fewer than half of the country’s rural counties still have a hospital that offers obstetric care. “We can’t keep a hospital. What is our community coming to?” Kela Abernathy said. In other women’s health news, a judge rules in favor of the Trump administration over its proposed funding rules for the family-planning program, and many women treated for early-stage breast cancer aren’t getting the recommended follow-up care.
The case was closely watched because it pitted the traditional method of punishment versus the new thinking that treatment is best for drug addiction. Justice David A. Lowy wrote that a judge has the power and discretion to determine probation requirements tailored to an individual and that further probation’s twin goals: rehabilitation and public safety. Judges, he said, “stand on the front lines of the opioid epidemic” and are “faced with difficult decisions that are especially unpalatable.”
Juul Hopes To Replicate Success From America By Launching E-Cigarettes In U.K.
Juul products have become a focus of public health advocates who worry about kids smoking e-cigarettes in schools.
The health insurance industry has been collecting personal data on Americans, from your educational background to things you post on social media. Then they feed this information into complicated computer algorithms that spit out predictions about how much your health care could cost them.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court, abortion rights could go back to the states. Democrats are trying to impress upon voters just how much of a difference they would make if that scenario were to occur. Meanwhile, other Democratic candidates are talking up the health law as a campaign issue.
Kavanaugh Took Swipe At Administration Just Days Before Nomination With Ruling On Medicare Payments
The hospitals that brought the suit said Medicare had been using the flawed data since 1983. The federal government tried to bar their claims, saying hospitals should not be able to challenge factual determinations made many years ago. “Saving money is a laudable goal,” Judge Brett Kavanaugh said, “but not one that may be pursued by using phony facts to shift costs onto the backs of hospitals.”
Judge Grants Request To Temporarily Halt Deportations Of Families That Have Been Reunited
“Persistent rumors” of mass deportations had advocates worried that immigrants were giving up their right to pursue an asylum claim as the price for recovering their children.
House Ways And Means Chairman Working With Trump To Figure Out Ways To Unfreeze Insurer Payments
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) left open the possibility of legislative action to restore the payments that are made to insurers to help stabilize the marketplaces. The administration had frozen the program off of a judge’s order from earlier in the year. Democrats also chimed in, asking for the funds to be unfrozen.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.