Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Reversing An Overdose Isn’t Complicated, But Getting The Antidote Can Be
Last month, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams urged more Americans to carry and learn to use naloxone, which can save someone from an opioid overdose. But the drug, brand-name Narcan, can be difficult to get and expensive.
California Hospital Giant Sutter Health Faces Heavy Backlash On Prices
In a case with possible national repercussions, the state’s attorney general has sued over alleged price gouging, and other legal and legislative challenges are afoot. Sutter is pushing back hard, denying anticompetitive behavior.
¿Seguiremos siendo relevantes cuando tengamos 64 años?
El nido vacío, el retiro, son factores de cambio que hacen que muchas personas ya no se sientan relevantes. Qué hacer para vivir los 60 a pleno.
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Media outlets report on news from California, Texas, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Georgia, Missouri, Minnesota, Florida and New Hampshire.
Do-It-Yourself Gene-Editing Revolution Poised To Go Catastrophically Wrong
The most pressing worry is that someone could use the budding technology to create a bioweapon. But experts are also concerned about the safety of so-called biohackers with altered genes that they brewed at home. In other public health news: fertility advances, LGBTQ teens, immunotherapy, PTSD, strokes, and more.
Melania Trump’s Embolization Procedure Explained
First lady Melania Trump underwent the procedure and will remain in the hospital for the week. The purpose of an embolization is to cut off the blood supply to a lesion to cause it to shrink and ultimately die off.
Maryland’s current model, which was approved in 2014, doesn’t provide comprehensive coordination across the entire health care system, so the federal government required the state to develop a new model to include health care that patients receive in the hospital and in the community.
Virginia’s budget has been held up by a fight over whether to expand the state’s Medicaid program. Meanwhile, activists stage a “die-in” at the state’s Capitol over the debate.
Providers Eager For Amazon To Expand Into Medical Supply Space, Disrupt Prices
But it remains to be seen whether Amazon will expand beyond commodities and target more specialized medical devices and equipment that physicians prefer.
Doctors Who Receive Freebies From Drug Companies Tend To Prescribe More Opioids
And the ones who didn’t, cut back on their prescription practices. The freebies most often came in the form of meals. In other news on the crisis: the Justice Department is joining a kickback case; hospitals are experiencing an opioid shortage; Delaware officials are releasing strategies on combating the epidemic; and more.
The Trump administration is considering reinstating back Reagan-era regulations that banned organizations receiving Title X funding from promoting or referring patients for abortions. But if Planned Parenthood is cut off from that funding, other Title X providers would not be able to absorb the patients, more than 200 Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to HHS.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are unifying behind a strategy that capitalizes on the health law’s rising popularity and points fingers at the Republicans for high premiums.
HHS Secretary Alex Azar blasted a long-standing Democratic idea for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, saying it would deny access to medicines “through rationing or setting prices,” which he called a “move toward socialized medicine.” However, Azar did promise to upend Medicare Part B’s payment structure.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Lack Of Insurance Exposes Blind Spots In Vision Care
As many as 16 million people in the United States have undiagnosed or uncorrected vision problems that could be fixed with eyeglasses, contact lenses or surgery.
Will We Still Be Relevant ‘When We’re 64’?
Older adults often feel invisible as their interactions with younger people dwindle and hardly anyone seems to seek their advice. To make matters worse, studies link loneliness to weaker immune systems and poorer physical health.
Primero fue la marihuana… ¿y ahora los hongos alucinógenos?
Siguiendo los pasos de la marihuana, Oregon y Colorado impulsan la legalización de hongos alucinógenos cuya sustancia activa, la psilocibina, podría ayudar a superar la depresión y la ansiedad.