Latest KFF Health News Stories
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers focus on these health topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Tennessee, Louisiana, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland, Ohio, Georgia, Virginia and Washington.
Texas Bill Over ‘Rights Of Living Child After An Abortion’ Provokes Boycott From Democrats
“While some members of the Texas Legislature insist on attacking as well as offending women directly and indirectly, we will not join this charade by participating in this political grandstanding on issues which are already codified in Texas and Federal law,” the Texas lawmakers said. The boycott came in response to legislation that would explicitly require doctors to care for a baby who survives an abortion procedure. Abortion news comes out of Kansas and Kentucky, as well.
Scientists Were Ready To Declare Measles All But Dead. Now, It’s Come Back With A Vengeance.
Experts are absolutely frustrated that a virus that was near extinction is gaining so much ground recently. The measles vaccine is enough to do the job to kill it completely for future generations, they believe, but the resistance movement is thwarting that progress. In other public health news: autism, asthma, sonic attacks, DNA and fast food, and heart attacks.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association said lawmakers should utilize taxes and warning labels to cut down on the prevalence of sugary drinks in U.S. culture.
A father’s suicide Monday more than six years after his young daughter was killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting and the recent suicides of two students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas School show the longterm consequences of gun violence, many say. Communities struggle about what to do next while vowing to support stronger gun laws.
False claims were submitted in connection with 30 grants, starting in 2006, causing agencies to award funds that they would not otherwise have paid, the Justice Department said. Duke has said it has added a number of quality-control initiatives in recent years to ensure research integrity and will introduce more in the wake of the settlement.
For years, the family was known primarily as a benefactor of the arts and sciences, with little attention paid to the key source of the family’s wealth, but that’s starting to change. The university is just the latest institution to distance itself from the Sackler family, which is drawing ever-intensifying scrutiny over its involvement with the opioid crisis.
The agreement that stemmed from patients who used the popular blood thinner Xarelto caps one of the more high-profile instances of product liability litigation facing the pharmaceutical industry in recent years.
As Products With Marijuana Extract Flood The Market, FDA Left Scrambling To Keep Up
Minutes after the farm bill, which legalized hemp in certain circumstances, was signed in December, the FDA asserted that it could police the market because it had already approved a CBD-based medicine — and could subject other products to the same strict standards. But lawmakers say the agency is just creating trouble for itself. Meanwhile, new research shows that edibles could be responsible for an increase in cannabis-triggered emergency room visits.
The agency has been grappling with how to manage emerging science that shows that implants can trigger a rare form of lymphoma with the fact that for most people silicon is fairly safe. At the end of the day, the FDA panel didn’t recommend any immediate restrictions on breast implants, but the issue is unlikely to disappear any time soon.
Experts say that not since Republican President Ronald Reagan, who tried unsuccessfully to cap Medicaid and effectively end its entitlement status, has an administration pushed so hard to shrink the Medicaid rolls. “Generally, when you reduced in one area, you added in others,” said Thomas Scully, who led the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Republican George W. Bush administration.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the measure, to be unveiled today, will “strengthen protections for pre-existing conditions, reverse the G.O.P.’s health care sabotage and lower Americans’ health costs.” The legislation is in contrast to the progressive push for a single-payer system. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama warns the new freshman class of lawmakers that they need to be cognizant of the price tag that comes with ambitious goals.
CMS Touts Stability Of Exchanges As Health Law Enrollment Dips Slightly To 11.4 Million For 2019
Average premiums dropped by 1.5 percent from the year before, as well. Most of the declines came in states that relied on platforms overseen by the federal government, which has cut most of its advertising and outreach budget.
The position is a change for the Justice Department after it argued last year that large parts of the 2010 law — but not all of it — should be struck in the case Texas v. U.S., which is pending before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats, who used attacks on health care as a winning issue for the 2018 midterms, are already seizing on the shift. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was quick to level accusations that the Trump administration is focusing on “taking away your health care.”
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care topics and others.
Editorial writers weigh in on issues surrounding women’s reproductive rights.
Media outlets report on news from California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Georgia and Washington.
