Latest KFF Health News Stories
Longer Looks: Forced To Divorce; 2020 Candidates On Measles Vaccines; And Health Costs
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
“I’m here today with a message for the people of Wisconsin: I’m going to fight like hell for Medicaid expansion and I need your help to get it done,” said Gov. Tony Evers (D-Wis.) Meanwhile, CMS finalizes a rule on union dues, Tennessee lawmakers are at an impasse over block grants, a nonprofit must return Medicaid funds to Delaware, and the number of uninsured kids is on the rise.
Trump’s Plan To Lower Drug Prices By Targeting Rebates Would Cost Taxpayers $177 Billion
The Congressional Budget Office concluded that a proposal to curtail rebates in the drug system is unlikely to force drug companies to lower list prices across the board. Instead, they would reimburse pharmacies for discounts provided to individual seniors as they fill their prescriptions. In other pharmaceutical news: an aspiring drugmaker’s battle with federal regulators, Cigna’s strong performance in the pharmacy-benefits business, and more.
Investigations into Catherine Pugh’s financial deals with health care entities like Kaiser Permanente and the University of Maryland Medical System will continue after she stepped down Thursday, saying she’s sorry for the harm she’s done and that Baltimore deserves a mayor who can lead the city forward. City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young takes over as mayor until 2020.
The international court making the decision that impacts the 800 meter runner Caster Semenya is trying to level the playing field in sports, but medical experts and others say testosterone levels vary naturally and some women have higher levels than men. Public health news looks at a shortage of primary care physicians, organ transplants, scooter injuries, Facebook’s cardiologist, gene editing, unqualified trainers of service dogs and more.
In the midst of the country’s largest measles outbreak in decades, parents with very young babies are stuck in limbo. “It’s just maddening, because I shouldn’t have to worry about measles,” one mother tells The New York Times. Meanwhile, public health officials say that stable vaccination rates over the past years have masked the fact that there’s an ever growing population of children and young adults who aren’t protected.
Texas Senate Moves Forward With Bill Requiring Women To Get Counseling Before An Abortion
Bill advocates say such counseling is necessary to inform pregnant women of all resources available to them, but opponents fear that the legislation lacks key protections, like a requirement for the counselor to be a licensed medical professional. Meanwhile, an Alabama lawmaker gets push back over the language he used while criticizing his antiabortion colleagues for not caring for children after they’re born.
There Isn’t Enough Data To Justify Banning Breast Implants Linked To Rare Cancer, FDA Decides
But the FDA is considering bold warnings for a type of textured breast implant. The agency’s announcement followed a two-day public hearing in March, in which researchers and implant makers presented data, and women described a number of illnesses they developed after getting implants, including lymphoma.
Media outlets report on news from Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, North Carolina, Arizona, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, California and Missouri.
One in six Americans who get insurance through their jobs say they’ve had to make “difficult sacrifices” to pay for healthcare in the last year, including cutting back on food and taking extra jobs. And it is feeding resentments and deepening inequalities, as healthier and wealthier Americans are able to save for unexpected medical bills while the less fortunate struggle to balance costly care with other necessities.
2020 presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduces a proposal to address three phases of substance abuse: prevention, treatment and recovery. The bill’s $100 billion cost would come largely from opioid manufacturers, with Klobuchar saying the companies should be held responsible for helping create the country’s opioid crisis. But Klobuchar includes a number of ideas that have previously failed to gain support in Congress, so the outlook for her plan is uncertain.
Boone County, W.Va. — with a population of fewer than 25,000 — received 1.2 million doses of hydrocodone and oxycodone between 2007 and 2012, the lawsuit claimed. West Virginia officials said that pharmaceutical distributor McKesson put profit over people when it failed to take proper action over the suspicious orders. The money will support state initiatives including rehabilitation, job training and mental health programs.
Prosecutors systematically built a case highlighting how John Kapoor, the founder of Insys Therapeutics, lured doctors into writing more Subsys prescriptions with sexy sales reps, lap dances and lavish dinners. The sensational details that emerged during the trial painted a picture of corporate greed at the heart of an epidemic that has held the country in its grips. The verdict comes as opioid makers, distributors and others involved in the supply chain are facing multiple court fights.
The HHS rule is designed to protect the religious rights of health care providers and religious institutions by allowing them to opt out of procedures such as abortions, sterilizations and assisted suicide. But critics say that the broad scope of the policy will allow for discrimination against women and members of the LGBTQ community.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages focus on the high cost of health care and ideas to lower them.
After several states have passed bills banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, Alabama’s House passed a bill outlawing abortions unless a woman’s health is at serious risk. In other states, legislation looks at late-term abortions, medical abortions, arming teachers, children’s mental health, sidelining bills and more.
The inherent nature of antibiotics — that they need to be used in limited quantities and they cure their patients — is anathema to an industry that prospers on expensive, pricey drugs for chronic diseases. But the need for someone to invest in new antibiotics becomes more dire by the day. In other pharmaceutical news: drug rebates and treatment for Dengue fever.
The Washington Post Fact Checker looks at President Donald Trump’s recent claims about his administration’s impact on the opioid epidemic are lacking in nuance. Meanwhile, state attorneys general worry about an updated version of the government’s prescribing guidelines.
Media outlets report on news from Florida, Texas, Oregon, Louisiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, District of Columbia, California, Massachusetts and New Mexico.
