Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Anti-Abortion Ballot Measures Set Stage For Path Forward If Roe Is Overturned
Voters in West Virginia and Alabama will weigh in on initiatives this fall that would amend their respective state constitutions to declare that abortion rights are not protected. That would pave the way for conservative state legislatures to ban or restrict abortion if the Supreme Court acts.
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh said in 2011 that a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the ACA lacked standing until the tax penalty took effect. “When his decision came down, I remember thinking ‘Oh, well that’s savvy,’” said Orin Kerr, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.
Novartis Issued Misleading Statements About Duration Of Relationship With Michael Cohen, Emails Show
The existence of the agreement between the drugmaker and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen — whose consulting firm was paid $1.2 million from early 2017 through early 2018 — first became known months ago. At the time, Novartis portrayed the arrangement as a brief interaction. But emails and other documents show otherwise.
Out of 21 trips reviewed by the inspector general’s investigators, only one complied with all federal travel requirements. Former HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned last year after news of the high spending came out.
After Scolding From Judge, Government Provides Updated Plan To Reunite Families
The new HHS plan clarifies that the agency will use methods other than DNA testing to verify parentage for most older children. The government has drawn sharp words from U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw by suggesting officials couldn’t verify parentage properly within the court’s timeline.
