Latest KFF Health News Stories
Only Democrat In Kentucky’s Congressional Delegation Demands Answers Over Cuts To Medicaid Benefits
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) had announced that, in response to a judge’s ruling on the state’s request to add work requirements to its Medicaid program, he was canceling dental and vision coverage for almost 500,000 enrollees. Medicaid news also comes out of Arkansas and Kansas.
Nominee For VA Secretary Chief Sails Through Committee And Is Headed For Full Senate Confirmation
Robert Wilkie was grilled during his confirmation hearing about whether he will seek to privatize the troubled Veterans Affairs Department. He promised that he won’t. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was the only lawmaker on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee to vote against Wilkie.
Pfizer To Temporarily Roll Back Drug Price Increases Following Talk With Trump
The company came under fire from President Donald Trump and others when it announced steep price hikes on many of their drugs. “Pfizer & others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason,” Trump said in a tweet prior to the company’s about-face. “They are merely taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves, while at the same time giving bargain basement prices to other countries in Europe & elsewhere. We will respond!”
Government officials defended the process, pointing to safety concerns as to why it shouldn’t be rushed. Meanwhile, as the reunions slowly begin, there’s relief, joy and heartbreak as some children don’t recognize their parents.
In states where the upcoming battle over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court could help Senate Republican candidates, it could also hurt the party’s chances in the House. Unlike in the upper chamber, where the vulnerable seats are mostly Democrats in red-state districts, the fight for control of the House is taking place in swing-districts across the country.
Ten Democrats face re-election this year in states that President Donald Trump won in 2016, and four of those battlegrounds lean against abortion rights. So instead of making abortion their key issue in the Supreme Court nomination fight, Democratic leadership is focusing on the broader threat to health care access in general. Meanwhile, outlets take a look at where Brett Kavanaugh stands on various other health care issues.
The Trump administration is also directing the insurance counselors, for the first time, to help people enroll in health plans that do not comply with the consumer protection standards and other requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The move comes just days after CMS froze a program that gave money to insurers to help stabilize the marketplace.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Why The Trump Administration Fought For The Infant Formula Industry Over Breast-Feeding
Opinion writers express views on this and other health topics.
Different Takes: What Brett Kavanaugh Could Mean To The Future Of The Health Law, Abortion Rights
Editorial pages express views about the nomination to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
Media outlets report on news from Maryland, Ohio, California, Arkansas, New Jersey, Kansas, Ohio, Oregon, North Carolina, Minnesota, Missouri, Florida, Washington, Massachusetts and Louisiana.
There’s a growing field of conflicting data on the benefits and harms of the products. In other public health news: organs, cancer patients’ end-of-life plans, Lyme disease, suicide, police violence and more.
First In A Flood Of Cases Over Roundup Weed Killer’s Possible Link To Cancer Goes To Trial
Dewayne Johnson, who used the product in his job as a pest control manager at a San Francisco Bay Area school district, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2014 at the age of 42. He read the label carefully and even contacted the company over a rash he developed, but he says that he was never warned about the possibility it could cause cancer.
Maine House Falls Short Of Overriding Governor’s Veto Of Bill To Help Pay For Medicaid Expansion
The bill provided state funding that would be supplemented by more than $500 million in federal funds to expand Medicaid to between 70,000 and 80,000 more Mainers.
Trump Lashes Out At Pfizer Over Its Price Hikes, But Latest Round Of Posturing Earns Mostly A Shrug
Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Alex Azar also promised change was coming to the industry “whether it’s painful or not for pharmaceutical companies.” But the daunting reality of overhauling the drug pricing system may stand in the way of that message.
Judge Deals Administration Legal Setback, Ruling It Can’t Indefinitely Detain Immigrant Children
The Justice Department had made a request to modify a 1997 legal settlement that set rules for how the government can deal with immigrant children in its custody. But Judge Dolly M. Gee says there’s no basis to amend the consent decree.
“The U.S. strongly supports breast feeding but we don’t believe women should be denied access to formula. Many women need this option because of malnutrition and poverty,” President Donald Trump tweeted. Meanwhile, experts criticized any attempts to undermine breast-feeding.
Under the payment program, the federal government each year collects money from insurers in the health law marketplaces who had healthier customers and redistributes the funding to insurers with sicker, more expensive customers. The administration over the weekend suspended the payments, citing a judge’s ruling that the program was flawed.
One Thing Both Sides Can Agree On: With Kavanaugh Nomination Abortion Rights Are Clearly On The Line
Anti-abortion advocates see the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as the closest they’ve come to overturning Roe v. Wade in years, and both sides are braced for a fight.
There’s No Margin For Error As Republicans Gear Up For Brutal Nomination Battle
All eyes are on a handful of senators who could steer the direction of the fight. On the Republican side, there’s Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who have a history of supporting abortion rights, as well as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has thrown a wrench in leadership’s proceedings before. On the Democrats’ side, there are a red-state lawmakers who are up for re-election and are stuck between a rock and a hard place with the upcoming vote. Meanwhile, outside groups are hitting the ground running almost as soon as Kavanaugh’s name left President Donald Trump’s lips.
