Latest KFF Health News Stories
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.
Bills To Clarify Medical Privacy Rules, Speed Medicare Appeals, Move Forward
Lawmakers are mulling an overhaul of medical privacy rules at a time when health data is increasingly shared, reports CQ Healthbeat. Meanwhile, bipartisan bills on speeding Medicare appeals, patent trolls and approval of new antibiotics advance. A Senate bill would give greater independence to nurse practitioners working in the VA health system.
New Medicare Payment Data Expose Doctors And Hospital Reimbursement Patterns
The Wall Street Journal digs into the trove of Medicare billing data just released by CMS and in a variety of stories reports on a California doctor’s heavy billing for an unusual procedure, a “self-referral” loophole, a Florida oncology group that submitted high bills for a discredited cancer drug, and a Virginia lab that pays doctors per blood test submitted. A Bloomberg report focuses on the high rate of bacterial infection billed by hospitals to Medicare.
Fla. Senate Approves Medicaid Expansion But Adds Provisions Seeking To Gain House Support
The measure, prompted by a cut in federal funding to hospitals that serve large numbers of poor and uninsured patients, would allow up to 800,000 people to gain coverage. The House and governor remain opposed.
House Conservatives Hint They Might Agree To Extending Subsidies Temporarily
With the Supreme Court set to rule later this month on a challenge that could invalidate health insurance subsidies for millions of people, conservative Republicans are hinting they might support a short-term extension as part of a contingency plan. Other stories look at how the justices might weigh the loss of insurance to so many people.
Pennsylvania, Delaware Take Steps Toward Running Their Own Health Exchanges
Both states are using the Obamacare federal marketplace and their actions are viewed as “contingency” plans that would shield residents from potential loss of insurance subsidies if the Supreme Court strikes them down in the upcoming King V. Burwell decision.
Sticker Shock: Insurers Lay Out Obamacare Rate Request Increases For The Coming Year
Under the health law, insurance companies are required to make public their plans for rate increases that exceed 10 percent. News outlets in New York, Montana, Minnesota and Missouri report on possible rate changes.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Assessing Rate Increase Requests; GOP’s Lack Of Contingency On Subsidies
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
News outlets report on health issues from West Virginia, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Connecticut, Florida, California, New Hampshire, Kansas, Indiana, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming and Pennsylvania.
New Rule Makes States, Local Governments Show Retiree Costs On Books
New rules approved by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board will require states and municipalities to disclose the cost of health insurance and other benefits, besides pensions, in their financial statements, rather than in the footnotes.
Calif. Senate OKs Measure To Ease Undocumented Immigrants’ Access To Health Insurance
The hotly debated measure, which will now be considered by the state assembly, would allow — pending a federal waiver — undocumented immigrants to purchase health insurance on the state exchange.
Screenings Suggest Rising Drug Use Among U.S. Workers
The share of employees testing positive for drug traces from marijuana to prescription opiates is increasing, according to screening data from Quest Diagnostics Inc. Meanwhile, the nation’s biggest tobacco companies drop their lawsuit against the FDA over a labeling dispute after the agency agrees to review its policy.
