Latest KFF Health News Stories
CMS Designates $100M For Navigators To Aid 2025 Open Enrollment
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will distribute the money to 44 organizations in 28 states that work on outreach and help people to sign up for health insurance during open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
Planned Parenthood Files Complaints Against Missouri’s Medicaid Law
Missouri Planned Parenthoods are challenging a new law in Missouri that bans any funding — including for preventive care like cancer screenings or pap smears — from going to the reproductive health care organization. Related news comes from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and elsewhere.
Eli Lilly To Offer Lower Cost, Low-Dose Zepbound; It Comes With Conditions
Patients will have to fill their own vials before they give themselves shots. They also will have to order supplies directly from the company, and they’ll have to pay in cash. Separately, researchers find GLP-1 drugs may work differently than they thought.
2,325 People Died From Heat Last Year, Mostly In The Desert Southwest
The lead author of the report, which was published Monday in JAMA, told USA Today that the deaths were overwhelmingly concentrated in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas. The death toll is likely an undercount.
First Edition: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations. Note to readers: KFF Health News’ First Edition will not be published for the rest of the week. Look for it again in your inbox on Tuesday. Have a nice Labor Day weekend!
Harris-Walz Platform Includes Effort To Wipe Out Americans’ Medical Debt
Details about how the plan would work are few, and bringing it to fruition would require Congress and the states to work together. Also in the news from the Capitol: FDA delves deeper into Ecstasy studies; a judge blocks an EPA pollution effort; and more.
Trump-Vance Ticket Expresses A More Moderate Note On Abortion
While the Republican presidential nominee pledges to be “great for women and their reproductive rights,” his running mate indicates a federal ban on abortion isn’t their goal. Democrats are skeptical: “American women are not stupid,” said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Walmart Great Value Apple Juice Recalled For High Arsenic Levels
Also in public health news: a diarrhea-causing parasite in Yellowstone County, Montana; a wildlife biologist contracts tularemia; the challenges of tracking heat-related deaths; and more.
Researchers Raise Alarm Over Levels Of Plastic Found In Human Brains
Samples of brain tissue collected early this year contain more shards of plastic than samples collected eight years ago, a study found. Also in the news: a possible microbiota-based treatment for recurrent C Diff.
Editorial writers discuss these public health issues.
J&J’s New Move Against Drug Discounts Is Charging Hospitals Full Price
The Wall Street Journal reports Johnson & Johnson informed certain hospitals that they’ll now have to pay full price for two drugs that were previously sold at discount rates — then claim a rebate. But the government is already said to have described the plan as “inconsistent” with the law.
Steward Health Care Closures To Hit Over 900 Hospital Staff In Ohio
In other news from across the country, UNC Health tries a new “transparent” PBM system for employers; essential health information sharing in North Carolina through barbershops and beauty salons; gun laws in California; and more.
Fauci Still Recuperating After Bout With West Nile Virus
“By far, this is the worst I’ve ever been with an illness,” the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said. Separately, some Massachusetts communities are closing outdoor areas after dusk in hopes of halting the spread of eastern equine encephalitis.
Fresh Round Of Free Covid Tests, Treatments Coming This Fall
In response to the latest covid wave, the federal government will reopen in late September its order-by-mail program for four free covid tests. Supplies of the antiviral drug Paxlovid also will be available at no charge for people with Medicare or Medicaid as well as those who are uninsured.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers discuss these public health topics.
EU Countries Scolded, Urged To Share Mpox Stockpiles With Africa Now
A WHO official said if countries are “not willing to share, then we are not going to be able to stop the next pandemic.” France has already pledged 100,000 vaccines. Also, an infection in Thailand was confirmed as clade 1b — the new deadly mpox strain.
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Each week, KFF Health News finds longer stories for you to enjoy. Today’s selections are about total knee replacement, Matthew Perry, Pfizer, haute cuisine, and more.
Updated Covid Vaccines Will Be Here In Days. Will People Line Up?
The FDA on Thursday gave the green light for Pfizer and Moderna’s updated shots, which target a strain of omicron called KP.2. It’s unclear whether the shots will help with this summer’s covid wave because it takes about two weeks after vaccination for an immune response to kick in.
Arkansas Supreme Court Ruling Keeps Abortion Initiative Off The Ballot
The state’s Supreme Court justices decided 4-3 to uphold Republican Secretary of State John Thurston’s rejection of a ballot measure — saying that paperwork was not submitted on time — that would have put the question of expanding abortion access before voters this November.