Latest KFF Health News Stories
Utah Man Who Allegedly Helped Run Million-Dollar Drug Ring Details Operations At Partner’s Trial
The operation based out of a suburban Salt Lake City basement became one of the most prominent dark web drug operations in 2016, prosecutors have said. Also, other news about drug abuse issues in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Also, Mayor Bill de Blasio reached out by talking about his father’s suicide and encouraging officers to get help. In related news, suicides among TSA workers and a push for a three-digit prevention hotline.
FDA Readies 13 Graphic Health Warning Labels To Replace Text-Only Ones On Cigarette Packs
Images of blackened lungs, bloody urine, missing toes would be among those used in the biggest overhaul of cigarette-health warnings in more than three decades, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The cigarette industry is expected to try to block the effort. Tobacco use is still the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma says that her agency will move forward with plans to tie the prices of certain drugs bought by Medicare to lower prices paid in other countries, known as the International Price Index. Some Republican lawmakers oppose the idea, as does the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry. In other drug pricing news; Democrats push for more negotiating power for Medicare; Sen. Martha McSally listens to constituent complaints; and CVS is slammed online by consumers for its new reimbursement rates for home-delivered birth control.
Officials In New York Subpoena Financial Records From Firms Tied To Sacklers
New York and some other states have alleged that as reports grew about Purdue Pharma’s marketing of OxyContin, the Sackler family began transferring money out of Purdue into a far-flung network of surrogate companies and foundations.
Alleging Anti-Competitive Actions, Pharmacies File Suit Against Supplier Of Radiology Medicines
These pharmacies purchase radiology medicines that arrive in powder form and then add a solution before filling orders from hospital radiology departments. But the independent pharmacies grew angry in 2014 and claimed Jubilant DraxImage, a big supplier, raised prices on two nuclear medicines between 500 percent and nearly 1,800 percent. Also news on a new cancer-fighting drug and a non-compete dispute in Michigan.
Verma Says Administration Is ‘Working On’ Plan To Replace Obamacare
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma declined to give a timeline for the release of the plan when speaking to reporters. Other marketplace news includes estimates of the uninsured, enrollment figures from Florida and a look at where the Cadillac tax stands.
American Medical Association Exits Industry Coalition Opposed To Progressive Health Plans
This move by the nation’s main physician organization is a blow to health industry’s fight against the Democratic candidates’ proposals for “Medicare for All,” other expansions of Medicare and public options.
News on migrant health focuses on harms done by cutting legal immigration and placing children in foster care. Also, a federal appeals court rules that detained children must be placed in safe and sanitary conditions.
With Title X Deadline Monday, Planned Parenthood, Administration Tensely Await News From Courts
Planned Parenthood has asked a federal court to stop new regulations that bar groups getting federal reproductive health funding from referring patients seeking to end a pregnancy to an abortion provider. The government says midnight on Monday is the deadline for providers to prove they’re following the rule or be thrown out of the program.
Trump Backs Away From Background Checks As A Means To Curb Gun Violence
President Donald Trump made the argument that more attention should be paid to people with mental illness and more institutions for their care are necessary. His comments came at his first campaign rally since mass shootings took place in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
First Edition, August 16, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages focus on a range of health care topics.
Opinion writers weigh in on these public health issues and others.
New York Aims To Give Medicaid To Some Inmates Suffering From Substance Abuse Before Jail Release
CMS would have to grant the first-of-a-kind waiver designed to save lives and keep inmates out of ERs soon after release. Other news on Medicaid looks at a failure to follow up on children who receive ADHD drugs.
Media outlets report on news about health issues around the country, including in Maine, Indiana, Arkansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Montana, New York, Florida, New Hampshire, California and Massachusetts.
And the Connecticut Mirror pulls from a database obtained by The Washington Post that offers an up-close look at the rates of opioid-pill dispensing by the state’s pharmacies between 2006 and 2012.
Experts Urge Stronger Policies To Address Legionnaires’ Disease
This roundup of public health news also includes reports that the club drug MDMA is showing promise as a treatment for PTSD and how caring for chronically ill kids inspires special treatment strategies.
Push To Hold Public Vote On Missouri’s Abortion Law Faces Uphill Climb
Abortion-rights advocates have a very short window of time in which to gather the signatures necessary to secure a public vote on the state’s new restrictive abortion law. In Wisconsin, state GOP lawmakers broke with anti-abortion forces to advocate for a measure that broadens birth control access.
FDA Approves Lifesaving Treatment For Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, Hard-To-Cure Patients
Pretomanid, approved for use with two other antibiotics, will be used for the toughest cases. Tuberculosis has surpassed AIDS as the world’s leading cause of infectious death. The drug was developed by a nonprofit group called TB Alliance at a time when few companies are investing in creating next-generation antibiotics.
