Latest KFF Health News Stories
“My pain exceeded my ability to handle it,” Jon Fowlkes said after he was cut off from his opioid prescription. “We had a very frank discussion. … We even discussed what gun I would use.” Fowlkes is one of many chronic pain patients who feel angry and betrayed by the recent efforts to curb the opioid epidemic.
“We are arresting people who have no idea what the laws are or the rules are because they’re off their medications,” said Nashville Sheriff Daron Hall, a vice president of the National Sheriffs’ Association. “You’d never arrest someone for a heart attack, but you’re comfortable arresting someone who is diagnosed mentally ill. No other country in the world is doing it this way.” The Virginian-Pilot investigates the issue.
Toddler Died After Contracting Infection At ICE Detention Center, Law Firm Claims
The mother and her one-year-old daughter, Mariee, were held at a facility in Dilley, Texas in March, and the girl died of viral pneumonitis about six weeks after her release. “A mother lost her little girl because ICE and those running the Dilley immigration prison failed them inexcusably,” said R. Stanton Jones, a partner at the D.C. law firm representing the family.
Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong promised great improvements for the struggling Verity Health System when he took it over last year. Now it stands on the edge of bankruptcy.
Health Care Costs Among Hardships Weighing On Americans Even In Strong Economy
A surprising number of Americans are unable to pay for basic needs such as health care, a new survey finds. In other news on health care costs, a few employers are offering workers a unique benefit: help paying for stem cell storage.
GOP’s Proposed Bill To Protect Preexisting Conditions Opens Republican Candidates Up To Attack
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) says that with the legislation Republicans are admitting that patients would be harmed by the suit currently in the courts against the health law. Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) spoke out about the proposed bill, saying it doesn’t properly address essential benefits protections.
First Edition: August 28, 2018
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages weigh in on health care policies.
Opinion writers focus on these and other heath topics.
Media outlets report on news from Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Massachusetts.
Uganda Takes Steps To Prevent Deadly Illness From Crossing Border As Ebola Outbreak Spreads In Congo
Health officials in Uganda have put up screening devices at the border, including requiring temperature checks and chlorine baths for disinfecting shoes. So far, laboratory results cleared all six suspected cases. Meanwhile in the Congo, health officials’ worry about stopping the spread of the disease in war zones.
“The population has become more resilient to heat over time,” the Harvard authors reported in a recent study. They concluded more people are learning about the value of air conditioning and staying hydrated. Media outlets also report on surviving a high fall, measles vaccinations, college football and brain injuries, and food sickness.
The latest research seems to suggest that healthy people shouldn’t be taking an aspirin a day. In other heart health news: a weight-loss drug is shown to safely help people shed pounds without increasing their risk for heart problems; The New York Times offers a look at some of chain restaurants’ unhealthiest foods; and a study finds that Parkinson’s disease and cardiovascular health may be linked.
Players in the industry skirt around marketing regulations with their connections to “ambassadors” and other social media influencers who have a wide reach to younger generations. Meanwhile, the FDA investigates whether the company that makes Juul e-cigarettes deliberately targeted teenagers with its marketing.
The legal implications over what the would-be-parents are owed for the loss of their embryos could be huge, especially for abortion rights. In other women’s health news: marijuana and breast milk, a Kansas City clinic’s license, and abortion pills.
More and more, providers are looking beyond the immediate health problem for patients in order to improve care and to save money.
An official determines that there are enough valid signatures to add the measure to November’s ballot, but a judge is currently weighing a lawsuit that argues the proposal violates the Nebraska Constitution by including more than one subject: broadening eligibility for the state-federal health care program and asking state officials to seek federal approval of the expansion. Medicaid news comes out of Iowa and Oregon, as well.
The Associated Press fact checks Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s claim about how many North Dakotans were denied coverage pre-health law, and finds that she overstates the number of people who wouldn’t have been able to get coverage.
Former CDC Chief’s Arrest Over Groping Allegations May Derail Massive Public Health Initiative
Dr. Thomas Frieden surrendered himself to police on Friday and was charged with groping a woman in his apartment. The former head of the CDC has been raising hundreds of millions of dollars in private funds for an international campaign to address heart disease and epidemics. But his arrest may put his backers in an uncomfortable position.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) died Saturday, a little over a year after he’d been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a wildly aggressive form of brain cancer. Advocates have been frustrated for years about the lack of research about and progress being made against the disease. Meanwhile, though health care policy was not a primary focus for McCain, he’s remembered for casting the vote that saved the health law he hated.
