Latest KFF Health News Stories
Scientists Always Knew Gene-Editing Wreaked Havoc. They Didn’t Know Just How Much.
The DNA damage found in the new study included deletions of thousands of DNA bases, including at spots far from the edit. Shares of the companies involved in the editing fell on the news.
There’s a growing threat of superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics, and overprescribing is one area that is being looked at. Meanwhile, doctors are having to think creatively as bacteria evolves to elude traditional treatment.
Rural Hospitals Closing At Dangerous Rate For Pregnant Women Stuck Hundreds Of Miles From Care
Researchers estimate that fewer than half of the country’s rural counties still have a hospital that offers obstetric care. “We can’t keep a hospital. What is our community coming to?” Kela Abernathy said. In other women’s health news, a judge rules in favor of the Trump administration over its proposed funding rules for the family-planning program, and many women treated for early-stage breast cancer aren’t getting the recommended follow-up care.
The case was closely watched because it pitted the traditional method of punishment versus the new thinking that treatment is best for drug addiction. Justice David A. Lowy wrote that a judge has the power and discretion to determine probation requirements tailored to an individual and that further probation’s twin goals: rehabilitation and public safety. Judges, he said, “stand on the front lines of the opioid epidemic” and are “faced with difficult decisions that are especially unpalatable.”
Juul Hopes To Replicate Success From America By Launching E-Cigarettes In U.K.
Juul products have become a focus of public health advocates who worry about kids smoking e-cigarettes in schools.
The health insurance industry has been collecting personal data on Americans, from your educational background to things you post on social media. Then they feed this information into complicated computer algorithms that spit out predictions about how much your health care could cost them.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court, abortion rights could go back to the states. Democrats are trying to impress upon voters just how much of a difference they would make if that scenario were to occur. Meanwhile, other Democratic candidates are talking up the health law as a campaign issue.
Kavanaugh Took Swipe At Administration Just Days Before Nomination With Ruling On Medicare Payments
The hospitals that brought the suit said Medicare had been using the flawed data since 1983. The federal government tried to bar their claims, saying hospitals should not be able to challenge factual determinations made many years ago. “Saving money is a laudable goal,” Judge Brett Kavanaugh said, “but not one that may be pursued by using phony facts to shift costs onto the backs of hospitals.”
Judge Grants Request To Temporarily Halt Deportations Of Families That Have Been Reunited
“Persistent rumors” of mass deportations had advocates worried that immigrants were giving up their right to pursue an asylum claim as the price for recovering their children.
House Ways And Means Chairman Working With Trump To Figure Out Ways To Unfreeze Insurer Payments
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) left open the possibility of legislative action to restore the payments that are made to insurers to help stabilize the marketplaces. The administration had frozen the program off of a judge’s order from earlier in the year. Democrats also chimed in, asking for the funds to be unfrozen.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Lessons From The Administration’s Spin On War On Poverty and Medicaid Work Requirements
Editorial pages look at these and other health issues.
Different Takes: Why We’re Standing Up For The Right To Abortion; What’s With All The Cheerleading?
Opinion writers focus on the health issue of abortion.
Media outlets report on news from New Jersey, Oregon, New York, New Hampshire, Kansas, Vermont, North Carolina, Ohio, California, Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Virginia.
America Has A Long And Complicated Relationship With Infant Feeding And Formula
Infant formula is a $70 billion industry today. But that wasn’t always the case. In other public health news: mobile food banks, medical records, heat waves, plastic straws, blood pressure, bone density, trauma victims, and more.
This year, outbreaks have dominated headlines, but experts say that’s just because there’s better technology to track them. Meanwhile, McDonald’s has pulled salads from certain places after customers were infected with a parasite.
FDA Approves Drug That Could Be Used To Treat Smallpox In Case Of A Bioterrorism Attack
Smallpox was eradicated decades ago but public health officials have feared the virus could be used in an attack against people born since then who haven’t been vaccinated.
New York Health Officials Point To Reduction In Opioid Deaths As Reason To Legalize Marijuana
“Studies have found notable associations of reductions in opioid prescribing and opioid deaths with the availability of marijuana products,” the report from New York’s Health Department found. “States with medical marijuana programs have been found to have lower rates of opioid overdose deaths than other states.” More news on the crisis also comes out of Canada, Colorado, New Hampshire and Ohio.
New CMS Pay Proposals Could Undermine Shift Toward A Value-Based System, Doctors Say
Doctors say that the agency’s attempt to reduce burden on providers may have gone too far. Meanwhile, some health systems are countering the thinking that doctors are a drain on hospitals’ finances.
Critics worry that there are people within that group who are working but haven’t been able to report it due to lack of internet access. Medicaid news also comes out of Maine, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Florida.
