Latest KFF Health News Stories
President Donald Trump is offering support of the idea of importing drugs from other countries to cut costs even though HHS Secretary Alex Azar and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) have both questioned the safety of such a plan.
About one in seven patients wind up with surprise bills — some of them sky-high — and the issue is routinely ranked as an important one for voters. President Donald Trump on Thursday urged Congress to send him legislation to protect patients from those nasty surprises, while lawmakers promised they would deliver soon. But the question remains: who gets stuck with the costs?
Media outlets report health care news from Florida, California, Iowa, Wyoming, Texas, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio, Arizona, North Carolina and Minnesota.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers weigh in on these health care topics and others.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
News out of state legislatures comes from New Hampshire, California, Missouri, Texas and North Carolina.
Last year stood as the best financially for insurers in the individual market since 2011, with monthly average individual market gross margins per member more than doubling from $78 in 2017 to $167 in 2018. In other health industry news: the Elizabeth Holmes trial, health care claims, the False Claims Act, public health and TV shows, apps and more.
White Patients 35 Times More Likely To Receive Addiction Medication Than African-American Ones
The findings on the racial disparity of treatment are critical as research revealed earlier this year showed a spike in the number of African-American deaths tied to fentanyl. Other news reports on the epidemic looks at needle exchanges and safety concerns for police, as well.
Studying genome and molecular activities in patients is better than conventional medicine when it comes to detecting potential health problems, according to Michael Snyder, chair of the genetics department at Stanford University. But other researchers express doubts about costs and other issues. Public health news also looks at disaster preparedness, antibiotic resistant infections, drug safety in pregnant women, weedkiller and cancer, obesity and diabetes.
Stories Of Student Heroes Taking Down Mass Shooters Shines Light On Grim Reality Young People Face
The most recent school shooting was marked by a story of how teenager Kendrick Castillo lunged at the gunman and helped thwart the attack. He was killed in the process, a story that is becoming more common as students are faced with their new normal. Other gun safety news comes out of Florida and New Hampshire.
Walmart will also no longer sell “fruit- and dessert-flavored electronic nicotine delivery systems” and other devices for vaping. The decision comes amid a national push by states and federal officials, as well as Congress, to curb teens’ consumption of tobacco products.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s sister, brother and niece wrote an op-ed piece that denounces Kennedy’s stance on immunizations. “On this issue, Bobby is an outlier in the Kennedy family,” they wrote. Kennedy is chairman of the board of Children’s Health Defense, a groups that’s website links to information and videos that blame vaccines for food allergies and claim that vaccines against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus are killing people. Other news on vaccinations comes out of California, Kentucky, Texas and Oregon.
Mississippi vowed to take steps to help prisoners better prepare for life outside bars, send offenders to drug courts for treatment rather than to prison, and to help keep offenders guilty of technical probation violations from returning to prison, among other things. But none of that has happened.
Media outlets report on news from New York, California, Missouri, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Florida and Maine.
Research Roundup: Short-Term Insurance Plans; Antibiotics; And The Individual Market
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Trump Administration’s Focus On Quality Of Primary Care Gets Bipartisan Backing From Lawmakers
And most of the witnesses at the Senate Finance Committee hearing to discuss the Primary Care First policy largely supported the push, as well.
Republican leadership blocked legislation that would have extended health insurance coverage to an estimated 90,000 low-income adults and 40,000 children in Kansas, despite majority support in both the House and Senate. “We need to remember the people who died last year, the people who are going to die because just a few people decided to bully others,” state resident Marsha Cox told The Topeka Capital-Journal. Medicaid news comes out of Wisconsin, Iowa, Georgia and New Hampshire.
The sweeping ban is a departure from more incremental measures other conservatives states have taken. The legislation stands in direct opposition to Roe v. Wade and seems designed to land in the Supreme Court to challenge the white whale of the anti-abortion movement.
“Even as hundreds of thousands of Americans died. And how did the Sackler family react? They tried to increase their profits,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a 2020 presidential candidate. Warren’s plan calls for $100 billion in federal funding over 10 years to combat the national drug epidemic, including changes to Medicaid and expanded access to medication-assisted treatment. The White House hopeful also urged Harvard to strip the Sackler name from its museum.
