Latest KFF Health News Stories
The state’s expanded Medicaid program would have ended this summer had lawmakers not reached a compromise to extend it. Included in the bill is a provision that requires the state to reevaluate the work requirements if a certain percentage of people get dropped for not reporting their hours. Medicaid news comes out of Kansas, as well.
Financially Crippled Hospitals In Rural America Are Fending Off Closure Hour-By-Hour
More than 100 of the country’s remote hospitals went broke and then closed in the past decade, turning some of the most impoverished parts of the United States into what experts now call “health-hazard zones.” “If we aren’t open, where do these people go?” asked one physician assistant at a troubled hospital. “They’ll go to the cemetery,” another employee said. “If we’re not here, these people don’t have time. They’ll die along with this hospital.”
Washington will dictate the terms of the public option plans but hire private insurance companies to administer them, saving the state from having to create a new bureaucracy — and guaranteeing a role for the insurance industry in managing the new public options. The plan is a more incremental approach than some others that would get rid of private insurers. Meanwhile, a battle is brewing in Connecticut over a public option for small businesses.
President Donald Trump added fuel to the fire over surprise medical bills last week when he called on Congress to take action on the issue, which has become a top concern for voters. Lawmakers are fully on board, but the question remains about who will pick up the extra costs if not patients. The powerful industries that any legislation could impact are gearing up for a battle. Other news from Capitol Hill focuses on a single-payer hearing and site-neutral pay regulation.
What Are 2020 Candidates Being Asked About On The Trail? Health Care, Health Care, Health Care
The Des Moines Register analyzed the questions Iowan voters were asking visiting candidates and found that health care ranks as a top concern. Meanwhile, The Washington Post fact checks Cory Booker’s statements on guns and KHN looks at how health issues are muddying Democrats’ campaigns.
The FDA released guidelines on the studies companies need to conduct to show their biosimilar is interchangeable with a biologic. Right now, biosimilars can’t automatically be substituted by a pharmacy for a brand product without the FDA’s interchangeability designation, and there are no FDA-approved interchangeable biosimilars on the market. Advocates hope this move will change that.
In court documents, the state prosecutors lay out a brazen price-fixing scheme involving more than a dozen generic drug companies, including Teva, Pfizer, Novartis and Mylan. A key element of the scheme was an agreement among competitors to cooperate on pricing so each company could maintain a “fair share” of the generic drug markets, the complaint alleges.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Longer Looks: Faking Cancer Online; The Anti-Vaccination Movement; And Lessons From A Reporter
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the web.
Editorials and columns look at these health care issues and more.
Advocates Aren’t Satisfied With Juul’s New Marketing Campaign That Shifts Away Targeting Teens
Juul instead is selling itself as the way for adult smokers to finally quit traditional cigarettes. But advocates say those claims haven’t been proven.
The increase in complaints shouldn’t be taken as a sign of a deep shift in the country, some say, but as a result of the Trump administration’s willingness to hear them.
Teacher Has To Pay For Substitute To Cover For Her While She’s Getting Treated For Breast Cancer
Teachers in California are allotted 10 sick days per year which roll over if they aren’t used, and then an additional 100 days of extended sick leave during which their pay is docked to pay for a substitute.
Experts Want States To Pump The Brakes On Labeling Porn A Public Health Crisis
Some experts argue that state resolutions to label pornography as a public health risk create a stigma for marginalized groups like LGBTQ people and miss a key piece of the puzzle by leaving out calls for more robust sex education for teens. In other public health news: gonorrhea, anxiety, Huntington’s disease, sex after menopause, school shootings, children’s safety and more.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced a plan this week that would funnel $100 billion toward combatting the opioid epidemic. She’s on the road to talk about it, stopping in states that have been deeply impacted by the drug crisis. In other news: a Trump administration official talks about boosting funding; prescription opioid use plummets; spending on the epidemic sky-rockets; and more.
The majority of the dozens of New York City schools that had less than 90 percent of their children vaccinated for measles in the last school year were not ultra-Orthodox Jewish. Meanwhile, a look into history shows that vaccination resistance is nothing new in the U.S., and it tends to be tied tumultuous times of social upheaval and distrust in our institutions.
“It’s eye-opening, really, not just for the employers,” said Gloria Sachdev, the chief executive of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana, a coalition that helped with the study. “It’s eye-opening for the hospitals.”
Alabama lawmakers are poised to pass legislation that would effectively ban all abortions and criminalize the procedure in the state — a move that is all but guaranteed to end the case in front of the Supreme Court to challenge Roe v. Wade. But a verbal scuffle delayed the bill on Thursday. Meanwhile, outlets take a look at what some of abortion measures moving through many state capitols mean for women.
The high cost of the drug has been cited as a barrier to bringing HIV transmissions down to zero. While many advocates cheered the news, others warn that the donation only covers about a fifth of what the country needs.
With Coverage Rules Vote, House Democrats Drop First Bomb In Expected Blitz To Defend The Health Law
The House voted 230-183 on a measure to bar the Trump administration from granting states waivers that would ease health law requirements. The bill is one in a series of steps Democrats plan to take in the upcoming weeks. The votes come as President Donald Trump recently renewed his vow to repeal the 2010 law and directed the Justice Department to support a lawsuit aimed at invalidating the law entirely.
