Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pharma Pushes Patients To Take Their Medicine
Stat reports that worldwide the pharmaceutical industry loses tens of billions of dollars each year because patients don’t comply with their drug regimens.
After Posting Declining Profits, Merck Looks To Make Gains In 2016 With Cancer, Hep C Drugs
The company’s treatment for hepatitis C was approved by the FDA last week. In other news, GlaxoSmithKline says it will probably not spin off or sell its consumer health business.
New Study Questions Price Tag On Sanders’ ‘Medicare For All’ Plan
An analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget projects the candidate’s health care plans could add $3 trillion or more to the national debt over the next 10 years.
Slower Health Care Inflation Helps U.S. Debt Outlook, But Medicare Looms In Background
Lower interest rates have postponed the day of reckoning, but entitlements still need long-term solutions to stave off financial doomsday — a problem that the next person in the White House will face.
Ryan Urges GOP To Stop Over-Promising, Citing Health Law Repeal Attempts
“We can’t promise that we can repeal Obamacare when a guy with the last name Obama is president,” the speaker said. In other news from Capitol Hill, a health law dispute could hold up the OPM director’s confirmation; lawmakers hold a hearing on the heath care service deficiencies reported on Indian reservations; and a congressional panel takes up the Flint water crisis.
At House Hearing, Pharma Execs Expected To Argue Price Hikes Affect Hospitals, Not Patients
But Martin Shkreli is expected to remain silent on the topic by pleading the Fifth at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Valeant’s interim CEO, though, will urge the lawmakers to rewrite rules regulating how drug companies help Medicare patients with out-of-pocket costs.
As Governor Seeks To Revamp Health Policies, Survey Shows Ky. Leads On Reducing Uninsured Rate
A new Gallup-Healthways survey shows that Kentucky and Arkansas had the largest drops in the rate of uninsured residents. This comes as the new Republican governor is seeking to pull back Kentucky’s aggressive program. Also in the news, a lawsuit by Alaska legislators seeking to roll back the Medicaid expansion program there heads to court today, and a Democratic lawmaker in Utah is seeking a state vote on the issue.
Obama To Propose Changes In Health Law’s Cadillac Tax In His Budget, Aide Says
Jason Furman, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, writes in the New England Journal of Medicine that the change would reduce the effect of the tax in some regions of the country. Also in health law news, reports about new grants to study the link between social issues and health, concerns about how the insurance industry is reacting to transitions caused by Obamacare, the effects on small businesses and enrollment numbers in Colorado.
First Edition: February 4, 2016
Kaiser Health News is now producing California Healthline, with the goal of bringing you the best coverage of health policy news in California. Click here to learn more about the site and its staff. If you would like to receive the free California Healthline daily or weekly emails, you can adjust your email preferences here.
Viewpoints: President Obama On Curbing Opioid Abuse; Is This The End Of Entitlement Reform?
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
News outlets report on health care issues in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Florida and Wyoming.
Health Officials Confirm Sexually Transmitted Zika Case In Texas
Meanwhile, a pharmaceutical company hopes to build off its work with dengue fever in the race to create a vaccine. And states are stepping up to offer prevention measures.
Study: Allowing Surgeons-In-Training To Work Longer Hours Doesn’t Affect Patient Safety
The study comes as the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education is reassessing strict rules that were put in place to combat any issues brought on by fatigue. Some resident directors are pushing back against the restrictions.
Insurers Face Lawsuits Alleging They’re Unfairly Rationing Expensive Hep C Drugs
A handful of cases nationwide are aimed at forcing insurers to provide the necessary drugs to patients regardless of the high cost. Elsewhere, in Montana, a woman is suing her health care providers because she says they failed to diagnose her unborn child’s cystic fibrosis.
High Costs After Treatment Blindside Patients
An Ohio woman becomes a victim of a practice called provider-based billing and a woman in California gets a surprise “paramedic response” bill.
In other marketplace news, shares of the wunderkind Axovant Sciences were down 40 percent Tuesday from the post-IPO peak, and the trial begins regarding a lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson alleging a link between its talcum powder and ovarian cancer.
After Drug Makers, Insurers Could Be Next Target Of Clinton’s Attacks Over Health Costs
“People may remember that I took on the health insurance industry back in the nineties,” Hillary Clinton said at a recent event in Iowa. In other 2016 election news, a bipartisan group examines Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan to pay for universal health care and reports that it falls far short of estimates and The Washington Post’s Fact Checker calls out Sen. Ted Cruz’s premium claims.
Obama Will Ask For More Than $1 Billion To Combat Opioid Epidemic
The administration’s proposal focuses on expanding treatment for abuse and providing access to the so-called overdose antidote naloxone.
Hundreds Jam First Idaho Legislative Hearing On Medicaid Expansion
The Senate committee hears a handful of residents testify but takes no action on the Democratic bill since the governor also is expected to make a proposal soon. In New Hampshire, a House committee advances a bill that would continue that state’s expansion.
Leader Of Calif. Marketplace Faults Insurer For Blaming Health Law For Internal Problems
Peter Lee said UnitedHealth Group made mistakes but failed to acknowledge them. Also in health law news is a report on how small-business owners are dealing with provisions about insuring workers and a look at how the insurance business is changing.
