Latest KFF Health News Stories
Rural Areas Face Health Challenges
A NewsHour report examines the difficulties in eastern Kentucky — ranging from limited access to care to poverty and unhealthy lifestyles — that add to the uphill nature of public health strategies to reverse a trend in which the region’s low life-expectancy is five years lower than the rest of the nation. Wisconsin’s rural counties, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, also fare poorly when compared with the rest of the state’s health statistics.
Report Links More Patients’ Illnesses, Deaths To Medical Scopes’ Contamination
A regulatory report by device manufacturer Olympus Corp. found that hospitals have continued to use the medical device that was recalled in January. Meanwhile, a lawsuit is filed against another company’s medical device used to treat aneurysms.
Studies Find High Rates Of Errors In Medical Billing
Some employers are offering advocacy services to help consumers monitor their bills and deal with mistakes. Also in the news, a look at the cost of a shingles vaccination and how that plays out for Medicare beneficiaries versus private insurance consumers.
Medicaid Safety Net, Family Dynamics Play Into Decline Of Long-Term Care Insurance
Only about 8 million Americans, of the almost 45 million who are 65 and older, have such long-term care insurance. Meanwhile, mental and emotional stumbling blocks may be preventing people from opening health savings accounts.
Physicians Concerned Indiana’s Fetal-Defect Abortion Ban Could Imperil Their Patients’ Lives
Last week, Gov. Mike Pence signed the bill, under which doctors could face a wrongful-death lawsuit if they grant an abortion to a woman after she’s heard about a health complication with the fetus. They say the legislation could lead to patients withholding information from their health care providers. In other news from the states, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a law that blocks funding to clinics for preventive services if they also provide abortion, and a federal judge strikes down Alabama’s admitting privileges law.
Scientists Worry Rising Tide Of State Anti-Abortion Laws Could Stymie Zika Research
They say the information they need to battle the outbreak is tied to fetal tissue, but the list continues to grow of states that are enacting restrictions on the donation of the tissue. In other Zika news, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issues new guidance on how long people should wait to try to conceive after they’ve been infected, Brazil is seizing abortion drugs meant for women who are at risk, and San Diego has its first case where the virus was transmitted sexually.
Synthetic Painkiller Fentanyl Is The Latest Wave In Drug Epidemic
The drug, which can be 50 times more powerful than heroin and up to 100 times more potent than morphine, is causing, in some places, more deaths than heroin. “For the cartels, it’s their drug of choice,” says Maura Healey, the attorney general of Massachusetts. “They have figured out a way to make fentanyl more cheaply and easily than heroin and are manufacturing it at a record pace.”
A Quiet Revolution: Arkansas Doctors Changing The Way They Look At Health Care
In a state-wide effort to improve health care quality, providers have begun concentrating on what happens after the patients leave the doctor’s office.
FDA Delays Calorie Labels Requirement For Restaurants Until 2017
Under the health law establishments that prepare and serve food and have 20 or more locations will be required to put calorie labels on their menus, but the Food and Drug Administration — after saying last year the rules would be in place at the end of 2016 — has put off the requirements until next year.
Questions Remain Over What Happens After Cruz’s Scorched-Earth Approach To Health Law
The Republican candidate has yet to lay out a health care insurance plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, and as he heads into Wisconsin, the land of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Gov. Scott Walker, some say he is missing an opportunity to capitalize on the issue. In other 2016 election news, Chelsea Clinton talks about the “crushing costs” of health care, but KHN’s Julie Rovner discusses how the issue has mostly faded into the background.
Idaho House Kills Senate Plan On Medicaid Expansion
The vote came shortly before the House adjourned for the year. Also, a look at the Medicaid expansion debate in Tennessee.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A selection of opinions from around the country.
Research Roundup: Young Adult Coverage; Medicaid Mentors; Getting Dental Care
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
News outlets report on health issues in Texas, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Colorado, Ohio, New Jersey, Minnesota, Virginia and Connecticut.
Miss. Senate Approves Bill On Medicaid Electronic Records
A Mississippi Senate panel considered a measure that would require electronic health records and regular audits for the state’s Medicaid program. In other news, the Vermont House defeats a narrow exemption for contraception coverage and supporters of a medical cannabis program rally on the Iowa state capitol’s steps.
N.M. University Health Center Rejected Request For $50M To Help Cover Medicaid Shortfall
The request came during the closing days of the legislature, the Albuquerque Journal reports. Also, under Iowa’s new Medicaid managed care program, enrollees will not be able to routinely use the Mayo Clinic because the private insurers running the program have not been able to negotiate a contract with the clinic.
Investigation: NFL’s Concussion Research Was Flawed
The New York Times investigated what and when the NFL knew about the link between football and degenerative brain disease. The NFL, however, responded by saying the piece is “contradicted by clear facts that refute both the thesis of the story and each of its allegations.”
Poll: Cancer ‘Moonshot’ Garners Sweeping, Bipartisan Support From Public
The STAT-Harvard poll found that 90 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Republicans support at least a 20 percent boost in cancer research spending. In other public health news, older Americans’ vitamins could be interacting with their medications with dangerous results, new evidence emerges that could help suss out where else in the world Zika is hiding and scientists create a cell with the smallest number of genomes possible.
Indiana Governor Signs Law Banning Abortions Motivated By Fetal Defects
The legislation also dictates how to dispose of an aborted fetus, and requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a hospital or to have an agreement with a doctor who does.
