Latest KFF Health News Stories
“We shouldn’t be criticizing people who get this information that’s false because they may not know it’s false,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health, during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Experts testifying stressed the importance of public health officials and doctors combating that false information and said outbreaks such as the one in the Northwest are “really unacceptable.”
CDC Finds That Progress Against HIV Epidemic Plateaued In Recent Years
The report comes just weeks after President Donald Trump announced an ambitious plan to end the crisis. “Now is the time for our Nation to take bold action. We strongly support President Trump’s plan to end the HIV epidemic in America,” CDC Director Robert Redfield said in a statement. “We must move beyond the status quo to end the HIV epidemic in America.”
The legislation also includes a strict ban on abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, a measure that’s been struck down in courts multiple times. While supporters tout the measure, critics say they’re “terrified” of the draconian restrictions.
Patient At VA Hospital Shoots Doctor While Undergoing A Psychological Evaluation
According to investigators, Lawrence Bon, 59, had been in the West Palm Beach V.A. Medical Center since early morning and had been deemed “combative.” The doctor’s injury was not life-threatening.
At a closely watched Senate Finance hearing this week on high drug prices, pharma executives were asked if they’ve ever withheld samples from generic rivals to try to stave off competition. All of them said no, but two of the companies have made FDA’s list of drugmakers that have complaints of withholding against them. So what’s going on? Meanwhile, Novartis can’t quite shake its Michael Cohen connection.
From 2014 to 2016, the federal government picked up the full cost of a state’s Medicaid expansion. After 2016, the contribution started to decline. But a state that expanded Medicaid after 2014 doesn’t get the same matching rate. A proposed bill would change that. Medicaid news comes out of Texas, New Hampshire and Georgia, as well.
The Democratic lawmakers who are a part of the Affordable and Accessible Healthcare Task Force want to bring back efforts to stabilize the health law marketplaces–work that fell by the wayside due to political bickering. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is considering action on health savings accounts.
During her time in the Senate, presidential hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) advanced proposals that consumer advocates claim would put patients’ safety at risk, such as pushing the FDA to approve medical devices faster and calling for a greater presence of industry-backed experts at the agency.
Transgender Troops Argue That Transitioning Made Them Better, More Effective Soldiers
Service members went before the House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on military personnel to talk about their experience with gender dysphoria and the military. The hearing comes at a time when the Trump administration is fighting in federal court to put in place a new policy that will limit many transgender people from serving in their preferred sex. Meanwhile, a new poll shows that the majority of Americans support the right for transgender people to serve in the armed forces.
The House passed legislation on Wednesday that would expand background checks to all gun sales, a bill that’s gone further on gun control than any other in decades. But despite the apparent willingness to take on some proposals, Democrats, who have been hard-charging on other liberal issues, are aiming at low-hanging fruit — such as the “boyfriend loophole” that allows some domestic abusers to own guns. And passage in the Senate is unlikely.
More than 100 Democrats unveiled their new “Medicare for All” plan Wednesday, a proposal that would move every American onto a government insurer in the span of two years. Almost immediately, moderate Democrats started distancing themselves, offering more incremental improvements to the current health system. The topic is driving a wedge into the party and reveals a fault line between broad ideologies on how to move the country forward. Meanwhile, health insurers’ stocks are not faring well on the news.
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
First Edition: February 28, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages focus on these health issues and others.
Opinion writers weigh in the recent decision by the Trump Administration and other women’s health topics.
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
Could A Netflix-Like Subscription Service Be The Answer To Curbing High Drug Prices?
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Media outlets report on news from California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, Maryland and North Carolina.
State legislature news comes from Iowa, California, Georgia and New Hampshire.
Selma Blair appeared at an Oscar party and talked to ABC’s Robin Roberts about the diagnosis she got in October. “It was a relief,” she said. Nearly one million people in the United States have multiple sclerosis, a disease of the central nervous system.
