Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Washington Insider Kavanaugh Has Been A Conservative Powerhouse As A Judge
Media outlets take a look at Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s history and his views on hot-button topics. “If there has been a partisan political fight that needed a good lawyer in the last decade, Brett Kavanaugh was probably there,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at Kavanaugh’s first confirmation hearing, in 2004.
Trump Nominates Brett Kavanaugh For Kennedy’s Open Seat, Despite Ties To The Bush White House
At the nomination ceremony, Judge Brett Kavanaugh said that his “judicial philosophy is straightforward. A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. And a judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent.”
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial writers look at these and other health issues.
Different Takes: Many Individual Liberties Rest With Roe V. Wade, Not Just Abortion Rights
Opinion writers express views about how overturning Roe V. Wade could impact the nation.
Media outlets report on news from Washington, Vermont, Ohio, California, Texas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Arizona, Oregon and Colorado.
A case study of a man who traveled to Thailand and picked up a strain paints a grim picture of what lays ahead in terms of treatment. The only drugs that worked were expensive and intensive to administer. In other public health news: egg freezing, relationships and health, nutrition, aphasia, Zika, retirement communities, and more.
Although a large number of people who have a substance abuse disorder are in the system, most jails and prisons don’t offer medication-assisted treatment. The study’s author urges alternatives to incarceration for people with addictions. “We need a response that will ideally prevent people from entering the criminal justice system,” he says. News on the epidemic comes out of Tennessee and Massachusetts, as well.
Brothers Claim Small Contracting Firm Let Them Go Because Of Their Expensive Blood Disorder
Signature Industrial Services, however, says the decision was nonmedical and a part of a larger reduction in workforce. As bigger companies start relying on smaller firms to fill in worker gaps, issues over expensive health care coverage can become a flash point.
Medicaid Expansion Poised To Go Before Nebraska Voters In November
Advocates have been working in several states on the new strategy of taking expansion right to the voters with ballot initiatives. News on Medicaid comes out of Kentucky, Connecticut and Iowa, as well.
Critics, however, say that Planned Parenthood receives less than $100,000 from what was cut. Even some Republicans called the move shortsighted since so little goes to the organization in the first place and removing it from the spending plan could mean less money for things like law enforcement or help for families with children with autism.
Biogen and Eisai announced that the drug slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and reduced the amount of clumps of a protein called beta amyloid that build up in the brains of patients. The data cheered even skeptics that have been burned by decades of failed Alzheimer’s drugs. But they did warn about getting too excited, as the study is preliminary.
Daunting Realities Of Reuniting Young Children With Parents An Obstacle As Deadline Ticks Closer
Government attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw to grant them more time to bring together about 100 toddlers with parents who may be scattered across the country or the world.
