Latest KFF Health News Stories
Media outlets report on news from Alaska, Iowa, New York, West Virginia, Kansas, California, Ohio, New Hampshire, Oregon, Texas, Maryland, and Illinois.
Amid Surging Trend Of Hospital Mergers, Research Shows Quality Doesn’t Improve And Can Even Worsen
The study is one of the first large-scale efforts to examine whether hospital combinations deliver benefits to offset higher prices associated with the sector’s consolidation. Other hospital news looks at lawsuits over unpaid bills, violations at psychiatric facilities, hospital infections, and more.
New laws in some states require health care providers to inform women how to stop medical abortions, a safe way to end pregnancies. But a new report discusses how a study on the reversals had to be cut short because of life-threatening consequences. Abortion news is from Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana and Texas, as well.
These Christian nonprofit groups offer far lower rates because they are not classified as insurance and are under no legal obligation to pay medical claims. But many of those who buy into them don’t fully realize that their claims don’t have to be met and are left facing sky-high medical bills alone. In other health care cost and insurance news: geographical disparities in prices and medical debt.
The rule that insurers have to provide a separate bill to show the amount being spent on the abortion coverage they provide is deeply unpopular outside of the antiabortion movement due to the administrative burden it’s expected to cause. Abortion rights groups also condemn the rule, saying it will cause confusion and further stigmatize a legal form of health care. In other news on the health law: after three years in office President Donald Trump still hasn’t delivered a “replacement” law; and more.
Recent advances in medical treatment have given hope to some patients fighting the cancer, which is known for its grim survival rates. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) says he is “clear eyed” about the prognosis, though. “I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the beloved community,” Lewis said. “We still have many bridges to cross.”
Advocates and lawmakers are gearing up for another contentious year ahead of the 2020 elections.
A look at what happened over the holidays as the 2020 candidates gear up for the Iowa caucuses.
First Edition: January 2, 2020
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
President Donald Trump in the fall promised a total ban on all flavors except tobacco, but has since walked that back following pressure from the industry and some consumers. Public health experts say the government would be making a good start with the decision but that it doesn’t go far enough. “Flavors attract kids, and menthol is a flavor,” said Erika Sward, a spokeswoman for the American Lung Association. “It really helps to numb the senses and makes the poison go down easier.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s plan calls for the screenings to be rolled out in three phases, one of which will include “health interviews” for migrants under the age of 18. The spotlight was thrown on the agency’s failure to properly monitor young detainees health after several children and teens died in custody. Doctors, however, say the plan doesn’t go far enough. “This agency is responsible for people’s lives and should act like it is,” Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells CNN.
In the upcoming new year, states’ outside-the-box experiments to control drug prices will be put to the test. In other pharmaceutical news: an antibiotics crisis, price hikes from the past year, an uncommon form of dementia, the biopharma flops from 2019, and more.
Delivering the vaccine through an IV and upping the dose better protected monkeys. But doing the same for humans could prove to be tricky.
Dr. He Jiankui’s work was “in the pursuit of fame and profit, deliberately violated the relevant national regulations on scientific and medical research and crossed the bottom line on scientific and medical ethics,” the Shenzhen court said.
As Federal Government Grapples With Missing Native American Women, Another Crisis Looms On Horizon
States and the federal government are just starting to address chronic violence against and disappearances of indigenous women. But what happens afterwards? There are few resources available to help the women and their families heal from the trauma. Meanwhile, the Indian Health Service agency faces growing pressure following a series of reports on the problems that plague the understaffed and overwhelmed system.
Google AI System Proves As Good At Detecting Breast Cancer As Expert Radiologists–Sometimes
Even though the promising results excited many experts, there were still times when doctors beat the machine. “I think this is a testament to how difficult the task is and how weirdly good humans are at it, even with some of the best data in the world,” said Ziad Obermeyer, of the University of California, Berkeley. In other health technology news: smart watches, a reality check on the potential of artificial intelligence, misleading ads about an HIV prevention drug, and more.
In 2011, the FDA asked opioid-makers to pay for safety training for more than half the physicians prescribing the drugs, and to track the effectiveness of that training, as well as other measures, to reduce addiction, overdoses and deaths. But even when deficiencies in these efforts became obvious through the agency’s own review process, it failed to fix the flaws. Meanwhile, a new study finds opioid deaths rise when auto plants close.
Sheriff departments across America defend “medical bonds” because they help keep health costs under control. But an investigation in Alabama shows that even defendants who have been charged with serious crimes like murder are being put back on the streets because of the practice.
Editorial pages focus on public health topics and other health topics as well.
Opinion writers weigh in on the future of U.S. health care.
