Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
A Bullying Management Style Doesn’t Pay Off In Long Run, So Why Do So Many Leaders Fit That Mold?
Stories of 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s alleged harsh management style put a spotlight on bosses bullying their workers. Those who study management say it’s not an effective strategy, but many successful people exhibit the tendency. So what’s going on? In other public health news, gender and science, gene-editing, cancer, exercise, and organ donations.
Medicaid news comes out of Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
Susan Bodine, assistant administrator of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, said that EPA is achieving results by focusing on compliance over enforcement, encouraging companies to self-report violations and make compliance and enforcement processes more efficient. Meanwhile, regulators testified that they are leaving intact an air quality standard for power plant pollution that can worsen asthma in children, despite calls by health advocates for a tougher rule.
The hospital has been the center of an investigation from ProPublica and the Houston Chronicle that has found major lapses in patient care. St. Luke’s released the CMS report along with plans to improve safety at its facility. St. Luke’s CEO Doug Lawson called the government’s findings “deeply disappointing,” and wrote that he expects regulators to find additional problems when they return to the hospital for a comprehensive audit of patient care practices in the coming weeks.
One step the FDA plans for 2019 is requiring the packaging of pills in small amounts, such as for a day or two of medication following surgery, as well as instituting new steps to promote nonaddictive pain medicines and to issue new guidelines for clinical studies of such new therapies. Other news on the epidemic focuses on safe injection sites, treatment services, and predicting addiction.
Rhetoric over abortions that happen near enough to birth that infants could survive has heated up in recent days with President Donald Trump tweeting that Democrats want to “execute babies after birth.” However, what usually happens when an infant survives an abortion procedure its because the health of the mother was endanger and the baby won’t live long outside the womb. In those instances, “comfort care” is provided, but the recent legislation Democrats voted down would have required the doctor to resuscitate the infant. Abortion news comes out of Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Wyoming and Connecticut.
Through Feb. 1, the cost of treating troops with the diagnosis of gender dysphoria included 22,992 psychotherapy visits, 9,321 prescriptions for hormones and 161 surgical procedures. Surgeries performed included 103 breast reductions or mastectomies, 37 hysterectomies, 17 “male reproductive” procedures and four breast augmentations. Psychotherapy sessions cost nearly $5.8 million and surgery cost more than $2 million, according to the data.
House Poised To Pass First Major Gun Control Legislation In Over Two Decades. Here’s What’s In It.
The legislation focuses on background checks, closing a loophole for online and gun-show buyers and extending the initial background check review period to 10 days from three. Although it is the first major legislation to get this far in Congress in decades, critics say it is unlikely to prevent the mass shootings that have sparked a push for more controls because the weapons used in many of incidents were obtained legally and after the shooter passed a background check.
