Latest KFF Health News Content

Latest KFF Health News Stories

First In A Flood Of Cases Over Roundup Weed Killer’s Possible Link To Cancer Goes To Trial

Morning Briefing

Dewayne Johnson, who used the product in his job as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 at the age of 42. He read the label carefully and even contacted the company over a rash he developed, but he says that he was never warned about the possibility it could cause cancer.

Trump Lashes Out At Pfizer Over Its Price Hikes, But Latest Round Of Posturing Earns Mostly A Shrug

Morning Briefing

Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Alex Azar also promised change was coming to the industry “whether it’s painful or not for pharmaceutical companies.” But the daunting reality of overhauling the drug pricing system may stand in the way of that message.

Judge Deals Administration Legal Setback, Ruling It Can’t Indefinitely Detain Immigrant Children

Morning Briefing

The Justice Department had made a request to modify a 1997 legal settlement that set rules for how the government can deal with immigrant children in its custody. But Judge Dolly M. Gee says there’s no basis to amend the consent decree.

Trump Claims U.S. Attempts To Water Down Breast-Feeding Resolution Was Due To Opposition To Formula Limits

Morning Briefing

“The U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don’t believe women should be denied access to formula. Many women need this option because of malnutrition and poverty,” President Donald Trump tweeted. Meanwhile, experts criticized any attempts to undermine breast-feeding.

Administration’s Freeze On Insurer Payments Rattles Some, But Experts Say Companies ‘Have Weathered Worse Storms’

Morning Briefing

Under the payment program, the federal government each year collects money from insurers in the health law marketplaces who had healthier customers and redistributes the funding to insurers with sicker, more expensive customers. The administration over the weekend suspended the payments, citing a judge’s ruling that the program was flawed.

There’s No Margin For Error As Republicans Gear Up For Brutal Nomination Battle

Morning Briefing

All eyes are on a handful of senators who could steer the direction of the fight. On the Republican side, there’s Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who have a history of supporting abortion rights, as well as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has thrown a wrench in leadership’s proceedings before. On the Democrats’ side, there are a red-state lawmakers who are up for re-election and are stuck between a rock and a hard place with the upcoming vote. Meanwhile, outside groups are hitting the ground running almost as soon as Kavanaugh’s name left President Donald Trump’s lips.

Washington Insider Kavanaugh Has Been A Conservative Powerhouse As A Judge

Morning Briefing

Media outlets take a look at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s history and his views on hot-button topics. “If there has been a partisan political fight that needed a good lawyer in the last decade, Brett Kavanaugh was probably there,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at Kavanaugh’s first confirmation hearing, in 2004.

Trump Nominates Brett Kavanaugh For Kennedy’s Open Seat, Despite Ties To The Bush White House

Morning Briefing

At the nomination ceremony, Judge Brett Kavanaugh said that his “judicial philosophy is straightforward. A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. And a judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent.”