Latest KFF Health News Stories
Medicare Delays Enforcement Of Key Nursing Home Rules For 18 Months
The nursing home industry asked for the delay to have more time to implement changes, but consumer advocates are criticizing the decision.
Medicaid’s Challenge: Coupling Enrollees’ Interest In Health With Coordinated Care
A survey for The Associated Press finds that “Medicaid recipients are invested in their health, with 4 out of 5 saying they have a personal doctor, 3 out of 5 saying they eat healthy, and nearly half saying they exercise frequently.” In other Medicaid news, New Mexico has submitted a waiver request but officials pulled back on some of the costs they were hoping to pass along to enrollees, and Louisiana reports its program is not spending as much as anticipated.
Following on the heels of the announcement of the proposed CVS-Aetna merger, the deal is the latest to show how health care companies are adapting to an increasingly uncertain industry.
Pace Of Overall Health Spending Slows As Growth From ACA Coverage Gains Normalizes
“Costs remain reasonably under control but are still [rising] at a rate that is too rapid to be affordable for society,” said Paul Ginsburg, a health policy professor at the University of Southern California.
Calling Health Care Entitlements A Driving Force Of Debt, Ryan Vows To Rein In Medicare Next
President Donald Trump promised repeatedly on the campaign trail that he wouldn’t touch Medicare, but House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is confident he can make his case for cutting the program.
Despite Brisk Pace Of ACA Sign-Ups, Final Numbers Will Likely Lag Due To Shorter Enrollment Period
About 3.6 million people have signed up through Dec. 2, but barring an unusually strong final surge, experts say it’s unlikely that enrollment for 2018 will match the initial 12.2 million who signed up for this year’s coverage because of a shorter enrollment period.
Repeal Of Individual Mandate Will Likely Make It To Final Version Of Tax Bill, GOP Says
The Senate and House must reconcile their two versions, but it looks like the long-held Republican goal of repealing the health law’s individual mandate will make it into the final legislation. Meanwhile, a study finds that bipartisan Affordable Care Act fixes that were part of the lure to get Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to support the tax bill would cut premiums by about 18 percent in 2019.
First Edition: December 7, 2017
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Argument For Individual Mandate Repeal; CHIP Stalemate Highlights Senate Dysfunction
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Perspectives: It’s Past Time For The Government To Intervene Over High Drug Prices
Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.
CVS-Aetna Is Talk Of Town, But UnitedHealth Has Already Been There, Done That. (Sort Of)
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Media outlets report on news from Maryland, Iowa, Florida, Illinois, New York, California, Oklahoma and Ohio.
Official Struggles To Defend NYC’s Lapses On Lead Inspections, Concedes More Could Have Been Done
The City Council grilled New York City Housing Authority Chairwoman Shola Olatoye over the lead inspection problems, focusing on the long delay between when officials learned of the lapses and when City Hall and the agency acknowledged them publicly for the first time
Ban Over Discussing Public Figures’ Mental Health ‘Scientifically Indefensible,’ Experts Argue
The Goldwater Rule has long-banned mental health professionals from weighing in on public figures. But experts say the evidence they can gather through public speeches, behavior and tweets is actually more reliable than in-person evaluations. In other news: asthma hot spots, temporary doctors, the ethics of uterine transplants, germs in the International Space Station, and more.
D.C. Latest To Try To Preemptively Protect Women’s Health Benefits In Case ACA Is Rolled Back
The legislation will ultimately be subject to congressional review, but council members say that any lawmaker who opposes it can expect a strong fight. In other women’s health news: the ACLU pushes back against claims that it acted improperly during a case over a pregnant teenage immigrant, and a new study questions the benefits of mammograms.
States Report Savings In Medicaid Test Coordinating Health, Social Services
Ten states and Puerto Rico are part of the national pilot project. A report by the National Governors Association finds that Alaska and Puerto Rico are already seeing substantial improvements. News outlets report on other Medicaid developments from Iowa, Connecticut, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Shortening Drug Approval Times Is A Rallying Cry For Administration. But It Was Already Happening.
Programs that were put into place before the Trump administration have been cutting times by sometimes more than a year. In other pharmaceutical news: problems with AstraZeneca’s blockbuster drug; the Food and Drug Administration requests that a pharma company recall a product that may cause liver injury; sexual harassment allegations involving the founder of biotech’s largest hedge fund, and more.
Experts Predict FTC Will Be More Lenient Of CVS-Aetna Deal Than Justice Department
But they also say CVS’s plan to buy Aetna is “eminently approvable” by either agency because critics would be unable to come up with a convincing theory to show the deal will harm consumers. Meanwhile, a House Democrat is already calling for a probe of the merger.
Democrats Want To See Funding To Fight Opioid Epidemic In Spending Bill
But Republicans haven’t been as vocal about allocating more money for the crisis, so it’s unclear how much will make it into the final legislation.
For Many It’s ‘Beyond Belief’ That Funding For Wildly Popular CHIP Program Is In Limbo
“It crushes me to think we’re in an environment where kids’ health is up for debate,” said Dr. Todd Wolynn, a pediatrician in Pittsburgh. Although the program has enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the past, Congress has been dawdling on renewing funding for the program.
