Latest KFF Health News Stories
Cassidy Says He Plans To Modify Bill To Replace Health Law And That CBO Will Issue Full Analysis
Despite the push by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to revive the stalled Republican Graham-Cassidy legislation, Senate leaders and committees have not given any hints that they expect the measure to come up again soon.
“It’s very hard for a regulator to deny those rate increases when we can take a look at their bottom line and can tell they can’t continue if they can’t keep their head above water,” said Mike Kreidler, Washington State’s insurance commissioner and a supporter of the health law. Meanwhile, lawmakers are moving forward with bipartisan talks to try to stabilize the marketplace.
First Edition: October 4, 2017
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Media outlets report on news from Maryland, Florida, Texas and Georgia.
New York Governor, NYC Mayor Bicker Publicly Over Hospital Funding
Congress let payments to Disproportionate Share Hospital expire on Sunday, which results in about a $1.1 billion loss for New York’s neediest hospitals. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office took to Twitter to air grievances over funding for the city’s municipal public hospital system.
Supporters Of Medicaid Expansion In Utah File Initial Paperwork To Get It On The 2018 Ballot
If the wording for the referendum passes muster, the supporters must still hold public hearings and gather 113,000 signatures to put the measure before the voters.
Republicans Say That Planned Parenthood Clinics Are Mostly In Urban Areas. That’s Not Quite True.
Roughly half of the organization’s clinics are located in areas that are rural, or are federally designated as medically underserved or health professional shortage areas. In other women’s health news: a conservative group urges Congress to vote on a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, an appeals court has a change of heart about Missouri abortion restrictions, and more.
Worried About CHIP Funding Stalled In Congress, State Officials Start Drawing Up Plan Bs
Although Congress missed a deadline to renew funding for the popular program that provides health care for children, money won’t run out for the states until the end of the year. Officials, however, are already concerned about the impact the uncertainty of it all will have.
Shire Files Anti-Trust Suit Against Allergan: ‘There Was Not A Level Playing Field’
Shire says it offered discounts to Medicare Part D plans, but the program refused due to Allergan’s “bundled discounts, exclusive dealing” and other tactics.
Gottlieb Says FDA Is Encouraging Production Of Complex Generic Drugs To Bring Down Prices
The head of the Food and Drug Administration says in a blog post that his agency will provide guidance to drugmakers on how to win approvals for these medications that are especially hard to make. In congressional testimony, he also says the agency supports “right-to-try” legislation that allows people with serious illnesses access to experimental drugs, but he would like the measure to apply only to people with terminal diseases.
Chatter Over Next HHS Chief Includes A Strident Opponent Of ACA, A Pragmatist And An Obama Holdover
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Chief Seema Verma and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb are two of the top names that keep coming up. But others — like Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — are also in the mix.
Big Tobacco To Begin Running Court-Mandated Mea Culpa Ads
“Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive,” one ad will say. Another reads: “More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.” In other public health news: the importance of body clocks, help getting sober and children with anxiety.
Congress Asked To Overrule Outdated Medicaid Regulation On Funding For Opioid Treatment Centers
Only smaller facilities qualify for Medicaid payments under a 1965 law that was intended to break up large, state-run mental asylums, but state attorneys general are asking Congress, in the midst of a crisis, to expand that. In other news, the National Institutes of Health, noting a lack of evidence on the issue, will begin to study opioids’ effects on babies.
In 2016 Election, Communities With Poor Public Health Tended To Shift Vote To Trump
Some experts warn not to read too much into the study, which could be a result of too much data dredging. But the authors say it makes sense.
Mass Shootings Are A ‘Serious Public Health Issue,’ Doctors Group Says
The American College of Physicians is calling on Congress to address the issue immediately. But while Democrats are calling for gun control action in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, Republicans have been quiet on the issue.
For Hospitals Tending To Onslaught Of Shooting Victims It Was ‘Worst Moment And Proudest Moment’
Las Vegas-area hospitals are prepared and well equipped to deal with traumas, but Sunday’s mass shooting was unlike any they’d seen before.
First Edition: October 3, 2017
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Opinion writers detail the prospects for bipartisanship to offer “a more productive path” for Congress to find a way to preserve what’s working in the Affordable Care Act and to adjust the trouble spots. But others note the steps quietly being taken to undermine the ACA.
