Latest KFF Health News Stories
Cuban Scientists Dismiss Claims That Mysterious Symptoms In Diplomats Were The Result Of An Attack
American and Cuban officials gathered to discuss the illness that U.S. scientists theorize was a result of a microwave weapon. “If you’re going to try to explain why donkeys fly, you’re first going to have to see a flying donkey,” said Dr. Mitchell Joseph Valdés Sosa, the director general of the Cuban Center for Neurosciences. “And we haven’t seen a flying donkey.”
Chronic pain patients worried the guidelines would impede their access to needed medication. Two years later the rules have seemed to make a dent in overall prescription practices, though some caution that it’s hard to attribute the decrease to any one thing. Meanwhile, lawmakers ask CMS to include substance disorder patients in the Medicare Advantage value-based insurance design model.
Cancer Doctor Resigns From Sloan Kettering Over Financial Disclosure Controversy
Dr. José Baselga’s resignation comes as top officials at Memorial Sloan Kettering struggle to contain the fallout from an investigation into Baselga’s financial ties to companies like the Swiss drugmaker Roche and several small biotech startups. Meanwhile, the controversy shines a light on the need for transparency when it comes to experts who contribute to medical journals.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) turned the letter over to the FBI after much internal debate between Democrats, but that doesn’t mean it will impact the vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, which Senate Republican leaders pushed to next week.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh wants the U.S. District Court of Maryland to make a declaratory judgment that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional and issue an order barring the U.S. from taking any action inconsistent with that conclusion. The move comes just a little more than a week after oral arguments kicked off in a massive lawsuit in Texas seeking to invalidate the health law. News about the marketplaces comes out of Illinois, California, Massachusetts, Georgia and Connecticut, as well.
Congressional lawmakers will vote on a two-bill spending package that funds the Pentagon as well as health, labor and education programs, with the bundle also including temporary funding for every other agency facing a lapse on Sept. 30. If President Donald Trump balks at the measures, it would effectively shut down the government right before the contentious midterm elections.
President Donald Trump sparked a firestorm on Thursday when he tweeted that the death toll estimate of nearly 3,000 in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria was inflated by Democrats to make him look bad. The numbers have been widely accepted as accurate by Puerto Rico, Republicans and researchers, among other experts.
Experts give tips on what aging and infirm residents who decide to stay in their homes can do to prepare for worst-case scenarios. Residents on the coast of the Carolinas are facing hurricane winds and rain as Florence makes landfall.
First Edition: September 14, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health issues and others.
Longer Looks: Single-Payer In Taiwan; Medicare For Shoes; And Cancer Patients
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
Media outlets report on news from D.C., Massachusetts, Louisiana, Maryland, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, New York, Delaware, Alabama and Wisconsin.
“This flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that has driven mergers,” said Jeff Goldsmith, a national adviser for Navigant, which released the new data.
The results of Quest Diagnostics’ analysis of nearly 4 million lab reports also had evidence of patients combining a prescribed medicine with one or more other drugs, including ones that are illicit. Other news on the epidemic includes insurers dropping coverage of OxyContin, schools stocking antidotes, and technology to fight opioid use.
National Obesity Rates Continue To Climb, Tipping Over 35 Percent In Seven States
Hawaii and Washington, D.C., were the only other places where fewer than 1 in 4 adults were obese, while the South and Midwest had the highest prevalence. In other public health news: pandemics, the mystery diplomat attacks, sperm donors, gene mutations, and more.
Global Cancer Deaths, New Cases Expected To Jump As Populations Age, Lifestyles Change
“These new figures highlight that much remains to be done to address the alarming rise in the cancer burden globally and that prevention has a key role to play,” said Christopher Wild, director of WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. In other news on cancer, researchers unlock the mysteries of the BRCA1 gene variants.
Evacuations pose a number of dangers for fragile patients, some of whom may need oxygen or intravenous medications, and it can be hard for caretakers to decide whether it is more beneficial to leave or stay.
Just 23 percent approve of steps President Donald Trump has taken to lower high drug costs, but only 20 percent approve of what Democrats in Congress are doing and 16 percent approve of how Republicans are handling the problem. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Alex Azar promises the administration has “disruptive” changes coming.
Number Of Detained Immigrant Children Has Ballooned To Highest Ever Recorded
Meanwhile, the number of families that have been arrested crossing the border illegally in the last 11 months is the highest in five years.
The package includes a $5.1 billion increase for the Department of Veterans Affairs, including $1.1 billion to pay for a law President Donald Trump signed in June to give veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the troubled VA system.
