Latest KFF Health News Stories
Foreign Medicine Sales Help Johnson & Johnson Blow By Wall Street Expectations For 2Q Profit
But the company’s legal challenges loom like a dark cloud over the good news. Other news from the health industry focuses on telemedicine, value-based care and glucose monitors.
Public access to border patrol agents is typically controlled, and it’s rare to hear about their personal experiences despite the national attention on the crisis. ProPublica, however, spoke to one who talks about what it’s like working for the agency.
Negotiations About Overhaul Of VA Health System Stand In Way Of Debt-Limit Deal
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requesting $22 billion over two years to cover the cost of a revamp of the VA health-care program signed into law last year. She said that the funding for the program should be in addition to the equal increases she is seeking for nonmilitary and military funding. Lawmakers are trying to get an overall deal done before the House leaves for August recess.
The vote on the amendment, confirmed to Modern Healthcare by three sources close to discussions, will take place Wednesday along with a swath of health care measures including a two-year delay to the disproportionate share hospital cuts. Meanwhile, the CBO projected on Tuesday that the Senate’s surprise medical bill legislation would save $7.6 billion over a decade.
The tax, which has been repeatedly delayed, would have been on the most generous and expensive employer health-insurance plans. But lawmakers are under pressure from labor unions to kill it.
The Trump administration has not spoken about whether it will add more funds to the fight. The grants have been especially crucial in Republican-led states that decided not to expand Medicaid. “When we first heard the money was coming, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, that’s a lot,’” said Nora Bock, who helps oversee addiction treatment programs for the Missouri Department of Mental Health. “Now it’s like, ‘Oh my God, it’s nowhere near enough.’” News on the crisis comes out of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma as well.
The new details come from a database maintained by the Drug Enforcement Administration that tracks the path of every single pain pill sold in the United States. They show that just six companies distributed 75 percent of the pills during this period. The companies say they were working to supply the needs of patients with legitimate prescriptions desperate for pain relief, but they are now facing thousands of suits over their actions. The information was released following a yearlong legal battle by The Washington Post and HD Media, publisher of the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia.
2020 Democratic Candidates Focus On Health Care Issues As They Make A Play For Aging Voters
AARP is hosting the candidates at forums this week, and health care has taken center stage at the events. While the candidates have been divided over “Medicare for All,” they share similar focus on other issues, like high drug costs. Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden introduced a plan to help rural Americans, including a promise to help hospitals, which have been closing in alarming rates in isolated areas.
Trump Readies Another Executive Order, This Time With A Focus On Creating Better Flu Vaccine
According to Politico’s reporting, President Donald Trump’s executive order would also encourage more Americans to get vaccinated. The move reflects growing concern about the state of U.S. emergency preparedness. The flu vaccine during the vicious 2017-18 season was only 40 percent effective. The current year’s vaccine was even less effective, at 29 percent, but the disease was less virulent.
Leana Wen Ousted From Planned Parenthood As Organization Faces Ever-Increasing Political Threats
Dr. Leana Wen said her fate as head of the organization had been decided at a “secret meeting,” which Planned Parenthood disputed. She later issued a statement saying she was “leaving because the new board chairs and I have philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood.” Wen had stressed in her tenure that abortion was a health issue, not a political topic for debate. But those familiar with the board’s decision say the group wanted a more aggressively political leader in the current time of crisis. The move coincides with the Trump administration’s decision to begin enforcing Title X funding changes as the court challenge proceeds.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care issues and others.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said Monday the higher award was “constitutionally impermissible” because it was nearly 15 times the compensatory damages award. He denied Bayer’s request for a new trial. Edwin Hardeman used Roundup for many years starting in the 1980s to treat poison oak and weeds on his property. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014. The company is fighting thousands of lawsuits.
Media outlets report on news from Rhode Island, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Georgia, Connecticut, Nevada, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and California.
Scientists at the University of Arizona examined a tissue sample that dates back to the 1960s, the oldest sample of HIV to date, and concluded the virus jumped from primates earlier than expected. The researchers tested 1,652 pathology samples and found the HIV sequence in one. Public health news also looks at: CRISPR baby editing guidelines, gun violence, paramedics’ mental health, shootings in health care clinics, diagnostic errors, global immunizations gaps, benefits of cutting calories, and heat-related illnesses.
Doctors want a test that they can order during a routine exam to help catch Alzheimer’s early. “In the past year we’ve seen a dramatic acceleration in progress” on these tests, said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging.
Uptick In Wildfires, Flooding Contributing To A ‘Toxic Gumbo’ Of Chemicals In Survivors’ Daily Lives
The toxic substances displaced during disasters “are much more long-lasting and ubiquitous than I think people realize,” said Gina McCarthy, who ran the EPA during the Obama administration. “And we clearly haven’t caught up in terms of our laws and regulations, and the process of disaster response.”
‘Dope Refugees’ Flock To New York City’s Transit Hubs In Search Of A Better Life
Experts say the swelling number of users around the transit hubs is in part because they can find more tolerance and support in New York City than in their hometowns, as well as greater access to services such as syringe exchanges. Meanwhile, the country’s foster system is being strained beneath the weight of the drug epidemic. Other news on the opioid crisis comes out of Maryland and California.
There are concerns from experts who say patients may not fully understand the privacy implications of new records apps and end up signing a lot of their information away without realizing it. Other news at the intersection of technology and health care: artificial intelligence and dental bills, telemedicine in rural areas, wireless health hazards and more.
How The Department Of Homeland Security Found Itself At The Heart Of Deep Moral Dilemmas
The New York Times takes a look inside the agency that so often is the face of President Donald Trump’s immigration strategy that has led to national outrage over how it is being implemented. Meanwhile, Border Patrol is investigating those involved with a secret Facebook group that included posts joking about migrant deaths. Other news from the border crisis focuses on the companies running the shelters, pediatricians’ concerns over the health of children, and the conditions at the facilities.
