Latest KFF Health News Stories
Sign-ups tend to dip over the holidays, so it’s likely that next week the reported numbers that include Thanksgiving, will be lagging behind once more. Sign-ups overall are expected to be slightly lower this year.
About half of women over 40 have dense breasts and about 10% have very dense ones. That raises their risk of developing cancer and makes it harder to spot on mammograms if they do. But, like in other sectors of health care, the dilemma remains about whether the extra screening is worth the false alarms it brings. In other women’s health news: postpartum care, depression, asthma during pregnancy, and violence against girls.
The New York Times digs into a fractured abortion rights movement that’s reckoning with its own stumbles over the past few years. Meanwhile, strict abortion bills are being considered in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), known for having a plan for everything, started the race by signing onto Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) “Medicare for All” proposal. That decision has left her entangled with an issue that seems to be sinking her polling numbers and leaving both progressives and moderates unsatisfied, even though it wasn’t her policy to start with.
First Edition: December 2, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Maryland, New Hampshire, Minnesota, District of Columbia, Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, Ohio and California.
The patient was given the kidney on Nov. 18, Virtua Health reported, because the individual who was supposed to get the kidney has the same name. Both patients have received successful transplants now. News on hospitals is from Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington and California, as well.
Memories and environmental cues can trigger a relapse in someone struggling with alcoholism. Researchers have started playing with the idea of tinkering those memories and cues to prevent that very thing from happening. In other public health news: Eastern equine encephalitis cases, gene editing, psychological growth, caregiving, probiotics, and more.
On Tuesday, the CDC reported 67 people in 19 states have been sickened. “It’s heartbreaking and frustrating,” said Dan Sutton, a lettuce grower in San Luis Obispo, Calif. “We will have to change how we farm leafy greens.” Ahead of Thanksgiving, news focuses on eating disorders, allergies, being “hangry,” exercising, and fresh food vending machines, as well.
Before schools weren’t allowed to bill Medicaid, but that changed in 2014. By billing the program, schools say they will be able to help students manage chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and food allergies; offer mental health and addiction treatment; and provide dental, vision, hearing and speech services more effectively. Medicaid news comes out of Louisiana, New Hampshire and Idaho, as well.
Veteran Health Care ‘Whenever, Wherever They Need It’: Use Of Telemedicine Spikes 17%
Veterans Affairs has rolled out a telemedicine app, offers services online and in rural areas is opening telehealth clinics at VFWs. State restrictions were dropped for the VA, allowing VA physicians and nurses to administer care to veterans via telemedicine across state borders, regardless of state licensing. Other news on veterans is on treatment for toxic exposures and a tragic discovery.
Is Committing A $1 Billion Health Tech Fraud As Easy As New Indictment Makes It Seem?
Former executives from Outcome Health, a firm that displays health ads in doctors’ offices, are facing federal fraud charges. Stat takes a look at what exactly the feds say the executives did.
Researchers say the grim new reality isn’t just limited to rural deaths of despair, but rather the numbers reflect that many different people living in all areas of the U.S. are struggling. “We need to look at root causes,” said Dr. Steven Woolf, the author’s lead study. “Something changed in the 1980s, which is when the growth in our life expectancy began to slow down compared to other wealthy nations.”
Prosecutors are examining whether the companies violated the federal Controlled Substances Act, which requires companies to report orders of controlled substances that are unusually large or frequent, or that substantially deviate from norm. The probe is in its early stages.
Trump Signs Order Creating Task Force To Comb Chronic Violence Against Native American Women
On some reservations, federal studies show women are killed at a rate over 10 times the national average. “We will leverage every resource we have to bring safety to our tribal communities, and we will not waver in this mission,” President Donald Trump said. “We’re taking this very seriously.” The new task force will be overseen by Attorney General William Barr and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt.
A look at news across the country that focuses on the vaping epidemic and the mysterious illness linked to e-cigarettes.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon said there was no national security or foreign relations justification for the sweeping change in immigration law, and thus the policy violated the Constitution’s separation of powers.
Arguments will be heard March 4. The Louisiana case deals with abortion providers having admitting privileges in hospitals, but it stands as a larger bellwether to how restrictive the Supreme Court — which has two new conservatives — will lean in this era of fierce battles of abortion rights. A similar case was ruled as unconstitutional before the new justices on the bench.
Politico reports on the escalating feud between HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma and the disruptions people close to the situation say it has caused. Privately, Azar’s and Verma’s camps are pointing the finger at one another, and disclosures about Verma’s use of highly paid consultants to raise her personal profile exacerbated the tensions.
