Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pharma Has Always Had A Stronghold In Maryland’s Capitol, But Recent Loss Reveals New Weaknesses
Maryland lawmakers have passed a first-of-its kind law to create a state board that could cap payments for ultra-expensive prescription drugs, a victory advocates were thrilled to achieve. Pharma has been fighting tooth-and-nail against the legislation, yet still was handed a loss. In other pharmaceutical news: the Medicare drug rebate rule, Gilead’s workforce, and cancer drug shortages.
The virus has a frustratingly effective way at hiding from our immune systems, but a new discovery may give scientists the upper hand on it for once. In other public health news: medical errors, the microbiome field, health monitoring apps, heart health and marathons, cholesterol and more.
Scientists Take Step Toward Being Able To Identify CTE In Football Players While They’re Still Alive
Thus far, pathologists have been able to confirm the diagnosis only posthumously, but new research offers hints that a diagnosis before then might be possible.
Spate Of Bills That All But Ban Abortions Highlights Activists’ Confidence In Roe V. Wade Battle
Abortion advocates say that lawmakers are passing the near-bans despite the fact that they’ve been found to be unconstitutional time and again by the courts because they want a challenge to Roe v. Wade to make it to the Supreme Court. In recent weeks there’s been movement on fetal heartbeat bills in Ohio, Mississippi and Kentucky, and similar bills have been filed in at least seven other states with anti-abortion GOP majorities in their legislatures.
Advocates Frustrated CDC Is Squandering Opportunity To Collect Royalties On HIV Prevention Drug
Negotiations with Gilead over royalties for the drug — the research and development of which was funded by taxpayers — are stalled. Advocates blast the CDC’s inaction because they see that money as potentially going toward efforts to eradicate HIV. In other news from the Trump administration: a deadly drug-resistant fungus and an interview with the nation’s top infectious disease doctor.
The measure has long odds in the Republican-controlled Senate, but it gives Democrat an entry into the national immigration conversation, as the topic of family separations once again comes to the forefront during a period of upheaval in the Trump administration over border policy.
Trump Administration Moves Forward With Appeal Of Court Rulings To Block Medicaid Work Requirements
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg blocked both Kentucky’s and Arkansas’ plans to add work requirements to the states’ Medicaid program, saying the top health officials in the government had been “arbitrary and capricious” in allowing the new rules.
The fifth iteration of the plan from presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sander (I-Vt.) would replace job-based and individual private health insurance with a government-run plan that guarantees coverage for all with no premiums, deductibles and only minimal copays for certain services. In this latest version, Sanders added coverage for long-term care. The push for “Medicare for All” highlights the divide between Democrats who want to take a more cost-effective, incremental approach and progressives who see the need for sweeping changes. Meanwhile, Republicans are pouncing on the issue — and its potential price tag — seeing it as a winning talking point for their party.
The House hearing came a day after a Senate one where pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen who have shouldered much of the blame for high drug prices recently, emerged largely unscathed after facing lawmakers. But at Wednesday’s hearing, the anticipated anger was unleashed on insulin drugmakers. “I don’t know how you people sleep at night,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said to both the PBMs and the insulin makers. “You’re in trouble … if you think you can just out talk us without any transparency, without any accountability, I just want you to know your days are numbered.” The drugmakers defended themselves by blaming “the system” and things like expected rebates for the high list prices. Meanwhile, some companies have been making moves to offer insulin to patients at cheaper costs, but lawmakers say it shouldn’t take bad press to get them to take action.
A Court Case From The Early 1900s Gives New York Legal Precedent For Requiring Measles Vaccinations
In the case that revolved around smallpox vaccinations, the Supreme Court ruled that individual rights must at times give way to the common good. “On any other basis, organized society could not exist with safety to its members,” the court decreed. “Society based on the rule that each one is a law unto himself would soon be confronted with disorder and anarchy.” As the measles outbreak continues to spread, states and cities are taking more drastic steps to control it.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on health care industry topics and health topics.
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Media outlets report on news from Massachusetts, New York, D.C., Kansas, Georgia, Connecticut, Minnesota, Illinois, California, Texas, Ohio and Missouri.
But the same panel did advance a separate anti-abortion bill — known as the Human Life Protection Act — that would ensure most abortions would be outlawed should the Supreme Court overturn Roe. News on abortion comes from Ohio and Massachusetts as well.
The NC Health Care for Working Families Act would help low-income people get coverage through the state’s Medicaid program, but it wouldn’t technically be “expanding” Medicaid. It’s estimated that about 543,000 people would end up gaining coverage through the proposal. Medicaid news comes out of North Dakota, Illinois and Ohio, as well.
The pressure from the Education Department on the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock is part of a broader push to roll back affirmative action policies. The school said in a letter to the department in February that it “is committed to exploring race-neutral alternatives to enhancing diversity and fully and completely evaluating its current admissions policies and practices.”
Feds Charge 24 People In $1.2B Medicare Scam Involving Prescriptions For Unnecessary Orthotic Braces
Among those charged in what authorities say is one of the largest health care fraud schemes in history are doctors, call centers and medical equipment companies.
According to internal company documents, Johnson & Johnson distributed baby powder samples through churches and beauty salons in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods, ran digital and print promotions with weight-loss and wellness company Weight Watchers and launched a $300,000 radio advertising campaign in a half-dozen markets aiming to reach “curvy Southern women 18-49 skewing African American.”
