Latest KFF Health News Stories
The Senate Finance Committee is hauling pharmaceutical executives to testify today in a hearing likened to the Big Tobacco and Big Banks reckonings of years past. The drug companies are expected to blame pharmacy benefits managers and the rebate system that they say rewards companies for jacking up list prices and then offering deep discounts.
First Edition: February 26, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages focus on these health topics and others.
Media outlets report on news from California, Texas, South Carolina, Washington, Arizona, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia and Maryland.
Colorado ranks lowest among the states for vaccinations. State Rep. Kyle Mullica wants to change that. News on measles outbreaks comes out of Oregon, Japan and South Carolina, as well.
The FDA, which has been cracking down on fraudulent health claims in recent months, offers a website that tracks the more pervasive scams. In other public health news, neonatal care, suicide, social media and rage, parenting, blood transfusions, and more.
Five Victims Given Excessive Doses Of Opioids May Have Had Chance To Improve, Hospital Reports
The Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System now faces at least 19 related wrongful-death lawsuits alleging patients were negligently or intentionally given too much pain medication. News on the epidemic looks at treatments for recovery; states getting tougher on sellers; mobile opioid response teams and safe consumption sites, as well.
States, Federal Officials And Other Experts Attempt To Map Out Strategies To Address Veteran Suicide
In 2016, the most recent year for which the VA has reported data, veterans were committing suicide at a rate of 30.1 deaths per 100,000 vets, compared to an overall national rate of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 people. Experts and veterans groups came together to discuss what can be done about the ever-worsening problem.
Wyoming’s Efforts To Add Work Requirements To Medicaid Program Take Step Forward
Although it appeared doomed to fail moments before the vote, the bill to add work requirements to Wyoming’s Medicaid program passed a vote in the state’s House. The legislation has to go through two more votes before it heads to the governor. Medicaid news comes out of Michigan, as well.
Apps Have Been Sharing Sensitive Health Data With Facebook Unbeknownst To Their Users
The Wall Street Journal’s investigation revealed that apps tracking information as sensitive as when a user is ovulating are sending that information back to Facebook unbeknownst to the people using them. Following the revelations, some apps cut off the transmissions and Facebook itself contacted some large advertisers and developers to tell them it prohibits partners from sending Facebook any sensitive information about users.
House Democrats’ Quick Action On Gun Control Highlights Sharp Tone Shift From Years Past
House Democrats are poised to pass gun control legislation this week dealing with background checks. Although the measures are likely to be blocked by the Republican-controlled Senate, the fact that they’ve moved so fast through the lower chamber seems to be a sign of the changing times. News on gun control legislation comes out of Georgia, as well.
A new analysis shows that hospitals earn about $700 more on each elective admission than on each patient admitted through the emergency department. Other news on health care costs and the industry focuses on value-based efforts, mergers and acquisitions, and a court clash between insurance giants.
U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf said the unnamed venture launched by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase does not offer products that compete with Optum, and said while it might do so someday, the startup could become a potential Optum customer instead of its rival. The case has been closely watched by an industry hungry for details about the secretive initiative.
The lobbyists are pushing the message that the health law is working for the most part and that Americans like their private insurance plans and want to keep them. The health groups are nervous that the “Medicare for All” movement could upend their industry. Meanwhile, in a crowd of progressives, how do candidates stand out from the pack on health care? And Democrats on Capitol Hill struggle to find common ground on big problems.
Skyrocketing Insulin Prices Prompt Senators To Launch Bipartisan Investigation
“We are concerned that the substantial increases in the price of insulin over the past several years will continue their upward drive and pose increasingly severe hardships not only on patients that require access to the drug in order to stay alive but also on the taxpayer,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote in three letters sent to the insulin makers. In other pharmaceutical news: capping out-of-pocket costs on prescription drugs; FDA’s habit of bucking the deregulation trend; a reported biotech acquisition; and more.
The Senate Finance Committee has called Big Pharma to Capitol Hill this week to answer questions on high drug prices. Experts are calling the grilling a reckoning similar to what Big Tobacco and Big Banks faced in years passed. But the pharmaceutical execs have no interest in being turned into a soundbite, so they’ve lawyered up and hired communications consultants to prep. They’re expected to shift the blame and tout the life-saving properties of their drugs.
The rule announced Friday is not a wholesale defunding of Planned Parenthood — organizations receiving money through the federal family planning program, called Title X, will still be able to perform abortions. But they will have to do so in a separate facility from their other operations and adhere to the new requirement that they not refer patients to it. Critics say it effectively amounts to a domestic gag rule, and the move is expected to redirect tens of millions of dollars from the women’s health provider to faith-based groups.
First Edition: February 25, 2019
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Longer Looks: A $27,660 Hospital Bill; Hasan Minhaj On Drug Pricing; And Opioid Deaths
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
