Latest KFF Health News Stories
HHS is planning a series of listening sessions with groups that officials consider to be important stakeholders in the discussion on fetal tissue research. At stake is more than $100 million for projects. The sessions are part of a larger audit that started back in September after HHS abruptly terminated one longstanding contract with a fetal tissue provider.
The company’s move gets ahead of the FDA, which is expected later this week to announce a ban on sales of flavored e-cigarettes in convenience stores and gas stations and strengthen the requirements for age verification of online sales of e-cigarettes. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has taken a forceful stance against what he calls an epidemic of teenage vaping.
With Congressional Gridlock Expected For Foreseeable Future, Look To States For Health Care Action
While Medicaid expansion was the big winner in the midterms, states have been taking up the reins on other issues such as prescription drug prices, as well. With a split Congress, that might be where most of the movement is in the next two year. Meanwhile, Gov.-elect Laura Kelly’s decisive five-point win in Kansas has made longtime Medicaid expansion advocates optimistic that they can get it signed into law during the 2019 legislative session after years of opposition from Kelly’s Republican predecessors. News comes out of Louisiana, as well.
Health Industry Groups Eye Narrow Window Of Lame Duck Session To Try To Rack Up Wins
The industry is hopeful lawmakers might be open to some changes in the last few weeks of the year, including an effort to repeal or further delay the implementation of certain taxes on medical device companies and health insurers, as well as a tax on high-cost health plans known as the “Cadillac” tax.
Lawmakers Campaigned On Promises To Curb High Drug Prices. Now This Coalition Is Holding Them To It.
The initial ads from Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing will focus on insulin costs, and feature a man with diabetes penning a letter pleading with his congressman to follow through on a pledge to lower drug costs. “In your campaign, you said you would act,” the man reads aloud to an unspecified lawmaker. “You said you would do something about drug prices. Keep your commitment: hold Big Pharma accountable.”
In America, Demand For Organ Donations Will Likely Always Outpace Supply. So Are Pigs The Answer?
It turns out that a 150-pound pig is uncannily humanlike in organ size and function. In other public health news: the future of medical treatments, the placebo effect, exercise, suicide and more.
First Edition: November 14, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages focus on these health topics and others.
Opinion pages focus on how to help bring about an end to gun violence.
Media outlets report on news from Texas, New York, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri and Ohio.
Cancer Is On Cusp Of Overtaking Heart Disease As America’s No. 1 Killer
Scientists are warning that Americans should undergo all recommended cancer screenings and adopt lifestyle prevention practices, such as healthy diet and exercise, which are beneficial in lowering both cancer and heart disease mortality. In other public health news: fecal transplants, a rare polio-like illness, concussions, microbes, contraception, and conversion camps.
“One kid in every classroom has some sort of food allergy,” said Dr. Scott Commins, an allergist and immunologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “You put it on that sort of scale, you realize that we’re dealing with a huge issue that doesn’t seem to be going away.” Meanwhile, the FDA is considering adding sesame to the list of possible allergens that labels have to carry.
Insiders have long worried privately about the lifestyle of people who work in the restaurant industry, which has one of the highest rates of illicit drug use and alcoholism and a tradition of masking mental-health struggles. In other news on mental health: farmers devastated by Florence are especially vulnerable to depression and judges are starting to favor outpatient treatment over hospitalization.
One NFL player, Mike Pouncey, complained to Aaron Hernandez, who was serving a life sentence for murder, that “they don’t even want to give me my Toradol shots anymore.” In another call, former Patriot Brandon Spikes recalled “how they used to pass [painkillers] out on planes.”
Getting a sedentary nation off the sofa — only 20 percent of us get the recommended amount of exercise a day — is a big concern for the government, which updated its guidelines Monday for the first time in 10 years. Since the first guidelines were issued, research has expanded the recognized benefits of movement, including reducing the risk of cancer, anxiety and depression and improving cognitive function and sleep.
Athenahealth has rejected the hedge fund’s attempts to push it into a sale previously. The all-cash deal between the companies values the medical billing software maker at $135 per share.
Search Teams Scour For Human Remains As Camp Fire Becomes Deadliest In California’s History
The death toll climbed over the past day to 42, surpassing the previous record. Hundreds still remain missing, and officials expect more grim news.
Advocates Want To Make Sure Veterans’ Unique Needs Aren’t Lost As Congress Addresses Opioid Crisis
Veterans can have chronic pain and wounds from the war that need to be treated by opioids, but they are also twice as likely as nonveterans to die from an accidental opioid overdose. Advocates see Congress’ efforts to address the crisis as a good start, but warn that lawmakers still have blind spots when it comes to treating veterans. In other news, a program that allows veterans to seek care outside the VA, which President Donald Trump and other Republicans have championed, is falling behind in its implementation.
One of the concerns of the next leaders of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are reports about three members of President Donald Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort — Bruce Moskowitz, Ike Perlmutter and Marc Sherman — steering VA policy and personnel decisions. Meanwhile, the likely new chairwoman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee is emphasizing the importance of respecting science as she seeks the position.
Rising health care costs are forcing otherwise financially secure Americans to make tough decisions about who in their family gets coverage. David and Maribel Maldonado’s struggles are highlighted in a Bloomberg series looking at the painful financial and medical trade-offs Americans are making just to get care.
