Latest KFF Health News Stories
Planned Parenthood Sues Arizona Over Abortion Law
A provision of the law requires doctors to tell patients that drug-induced abortions are reversible, which the group says “writes junk science into law.” In Texas, state lawmakers adjourn after delivering mixed results for anti-abortion advocates. Elsewhere, GOP presidential-hopeful Scott Walker’s comments on abortion and ultrasounds are scrutinized, and Iowa lawmakers pass a bill that requires providers to offer women seeking abortions an ultrasound image of their fetus.
Mass. Hospital Cutting Jobs After $22M Budget Gap
In other hospital news: A N.C. hospital closes down. In Ohio, a children’s hospital gets $10 million to study genomics, which examines tailored genetic treatments for diseases. And protesters are arrested at a Chicago trauma center.
VA Workers Could Lose Due Process Protections Under Proposal
A Florida Republican’s attempts to reform the VA might have repercussions for other federal workers. Meanwhile, a Massachusetts congressman and former Marine Corps officer is using his own experience with the VA as a guide.
Drug Companies Trying To Press Monopoly Pricing Power Into Trade Deal
The drugs in question include costly and revolutionary drugs to treat cancer and other intractable diseases, Politico reports. In other pharmaceutical news, CMS allows drug and medical device companies access to Medicare data, and a new HPV-vaccine shows greater cancer protection.
Medicare Gives ACOs More Options, Greater Flexibility In Bid To Keep Them
A final rule published Thursday attempts to strike a balance between maintaining the program’s demands on participating health providers while making sure they continue to participate.
House GOP Group Offers Its Obamacare Replacement Plan, But Intraparty Divisions Persist
The Republican Study Group plan would repeal the existing health law and replace its subsidies for low- and middle-income Americans with tax breaks, among other changes. However, GOP lawmakers are divided about how to proceed if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law’s subsidies, which are a target of the pending challenge in King V. Burwell.
Status Check: How Are State-Run Health Exchanges Holding Up?
KHN examines the growing pains being experienced in certain states that are running their own online insurance marketplaces. Meanwhile, the Seattle Times offers an update in action from Washington.
Still No Plan B From White House If Supreme Court Strikes Down Obamacare Subsidies
With a decision expected in just a few days from the high court, many wonder why the Obama administration has not offered a backup plan, even as HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell warns that the number of uninsured could spike if the subsidies are struck down. Delaware joins Pennsylvania, however, in moving to save the health coverage subsidies if they are ruled out.
HHS Head: Final Obamacare Premium Increases Will Be Lower
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell says state regulators can lower the proposed increases. Insurers, in the meantime, are defending their requested premium cost increases in Minnesota, Ohio and New Hampshire. In Washington state, however, health coverage prices are dropping for some.
States Are The Audience For White House Analysis About Medicaid Expansion
While the new report provides individual state statistics about the benefits of expansion, politics is likely to keep many of those states from accepting the option.
White House Report Notes Financial Effects When States Don’t Expand Medicaid
The analysis by the Council of Economic Advisers finds that hospitals in states that have not expanded the program would have $4.5 billion less uncompensated care if they accepted the health law provision to offer coverage to more low-income residents. Also, federal officials release new figures about the growth in Medicaid and a related program for children.
Fla. House Appears Unlikely To Accept Medicaid Expansion In Vote Today
House members sharply questioned expansion supporters yesterday, and the speaker, who opposes the effort to provide coverage to low-income residents, said proponents have not made sufficient inroads in his caucus to get the measure through.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Rep. Price’s Plan To Replace Subsidies; High Cost Cancer Drugs; Biolab Safety
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Each week, KHN’s Alana Pockros finds interesting reads from around the Web.
News outlets report on health issues from Connecticut, Colorado, Michigan, Texas, California, Rhode Island, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland and Louisiana.
Bills To Expand Birth Control Access Move Forward In Oregon, D.C.
Meanwhile, Texas lawmakers slow down their campaign to curb abortions, passing only one such measure in the 2015 session. In North Carolina, lawmakers passed an abortion bill mandating a 72-hour waiting period. The legislation will now go to the governor’s desk.
Panel: Mammograms Are Of Most Benefit To Women In Their 50s And 60s
A World Health Organization panel concludes that the evidence that screening helps women in their 40s is “limited” — similar to recent findings by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Diabetics Encounter Obstacles To Obtaining ‘Breakthrough’ Inhaled Insulin Option
Early sales of MannKind Corp.’s new insulin drug Afrezza, that is delivered through an inhalation device, are disappointing as patient adoption has been slow due to factors like doctor reluctance to prescribe and an FDA-mandated lung test. In other pharma news, a provision of the health law establishing a pathway for biosimilars may save patients as much as $800 a month in co-pays.
Hospitals Work To Manage Their Online Reputations
The Washington Post looks at how hospitals try to improve their reviews on Yelp and other websites. Meanwhile, USA Today reports on why big business supports telemedicine.
