Latest KFF Health News Stories
Black Public Health Leaders Condemn Medical College Decision To Accept Juul’s $7.5M Funding
The grant from the e-cigarette company set off a debate about the challenges of taking corporate money and not becoming biased in the funder’s favor. Leaders of Meharry Medical College in Tennessee said the grant allows them to open a public health center to study issues impacting African Americans. Opponents argue that African Americans are targeted with menthol cigarettes and have a higher death rate from smoking. In other news on vaping, a pen exploded and fractured a teen’s jaw.
By contracting directly with health plans and employers, Amazon-PillPack would essentially become its own pharmacy benefit manager, which, given Amazon’s distribution capabilities, could quickly shake up the nation’s prescription drug market. Court documents in a case about personnel revealed the strategy that many in the industry fear. In other pharmaceutical news: a drug-price watchdog group with ties to pharma; Merck’s expansion into cancer treatments; and more.
Philanthropists Bernard and Lisa Selz pumped millions into the anti-vaccination movement in recent years. The Washington Post looks at how the couple plays an outsized role in the debate. Meanwhile, a new report finds that mistrust of vaccinations around the world grows at the same time that government confidence declines.
Medicaid Work Mandate In Arkansas Didn’t Boost Employment And Left Thousands Dropped From Insurance
A new study may undercut one of the Trump administration’s key arguments that work requirements would cut unemployment rates. “It should certainly be a warning sign that there’s potential for large coverage losses, potential for significant confusion,” said Benjamin Sommers, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and the study’s lead author. Arkansas’s results are closely watched as other conservative states consider more restrictions to their Medicaid programs.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs Diane Foley defended the Trump administration’s recent changes to the Title X family planning funding in front of Congress. But when asked about their “grave concerns” that money was going toward abortions, Foley was unable to cite instances when it occurred. The rule change set off a firestorm, and has been blocked for now by the courts.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) previously held his tongue on the issue, saying he was going to wait for a formal proposal from the White House. But now he says he’s “studied it long enough” to think that the plan will hurt innovation.
Under the revised bill from Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), when a patient is seen by a doctor who isn’t in their network, insurance would pay them the “median in-network rate,” meaning the rate would be similar to what the plan charges other doctors in the area for the same procedure. The health committee had presented three options on the surprise billing front in its discussion draft, including an arbitration arrangement that’s favored by other lawmakers.
The measure far exceeds President Donald Trump’s budget request for domestic programs, attracting a White House veto threat, and denies him his full Pentagon budget increase. It also contains policy “riders” related to abortion and other hot-button issues that drove away potential GOP supporters. Lawmakers face a series of deadlines this fall, the first of which is to avert a repeat of this year’s partial government shutdown.
It’s Easy To Promise To Cure Cancer On The Campaign Trail, But Actually Doing It Is Not
Both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have said in recent days that if they’re president, they will cure cancer. Although the pledges may seem like any other campaign trail boast, experts say it can give the public false hope that hurts the path toward cures in the long run. Meanwhile, ethical questions are being raised about Biden’s cancer-fighting organization.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Long-Term Use Of Opioids To Address Chronic Pain More Common Among People Who Are Obese
People in higher BMI categories were also more likely to use stronger opioids that were similar to morphine, a new study finds. News on the opioid epidemic comes out of Oklahoma, New Hampshire and California, as well.
Could Alexa Be Trained To Recognize Gasping Sounds Associated With A Cardiac Event?
During cardiac events, minutes can make a difference between life and death. Can there be an upside found to the fact that Alexa and other digital assistants are always listening? Meanwhile, one expert wonders if artificial intelligence will become the asbestos of health care.
Lawyers for patients who are fighting the cutoff are skeptical that renewal notices really went out to 99% of the people as state officials said. Medicaid news comes out of Oklahoma and Montana, as well.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and the last-remaining abortion clinic in the state are in a court battle over the facility’s license. The state provided details about its claims that three procedures done there required additional surgeries and another led to life-threatening complications. Jesse Lawder, a spokesman for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, said the state violated patient-privacy laws by releasing the records.
For girls and young women, suicide rates have mostly followed a steady upward trajectory since 2000, but for boys it turned up sharply starting three to four years ago. Not since 1980 — when the HIV/AIDS epidemic touched off widespread despair among young gay males across the United States — has the suicide rate for this group been so high.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had hinted that he had qualms about the plan authored by state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) designed to cut down on fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations. Pan’s original plan gave the final authority to a state official instead of a doctor. Pan and Newsom worked together to find a compromise.
Although many lawmakers agree that patients need to be protected from surprise medical bills, there are different ways that could go and many stakeholders who have strong opinions on what the solution should be. At a hearing on Wednesday, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said that requiring hospitals to guarantee that any doctor a patient sees is in-network is the strategy he “intrinsically liked the best.” But the future of any legislation is still unclear.
Media outlets report on news from New York, Florida, California, Iowa, New Hampshire, D.C., Minnesota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, Oregon and Wyoming.
A new study on metformin provides researchers with reason to think more cautiously about its use for healthy people looking for ways to reduce inflammation and other changes that can take place during aging. Certain benefits of aerobic exercise, a key to healthy aging, were halted when the Type-2 diabetes drug was prescribed with exercise in a controlled study. More public health news reports are on lower obesity rates for children on WIC, a potential new deadly flu, liquid cancer screenings, a crackdown on support animals, marijuana and pregnancy, another carcinogen detected in blood pressure pills, and why your doctors notes on you matter, as well.
