Latest KFF Health News Stories
Primary Care Docs, Anesthesiologists Face Tough Questions Over Their Roles
Will machines replace anesthesiologists? Should primary care physicians do more or less? These are among the serious issues being confronted by these specialties.
WHO Needs Radical Changes To Cope With Health Emergencies, Preliminary Report Finds
The report was critical of the agency’s reaction to the Ebola crisis. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization also offered best-practices recommendations last week about how to name newly identified human infectious diseases.
17 House Democrats Press For Repeal Of Medical Device Tax
Also in the news from Capitol Hill, House Republicans advance a bill related to fetus survival and late-term abortions.
Florida’s Public Hospitals Brace For Cuts Amid Budget Stalemate
Hospital officials say they will be hurt if a special Medicaid program to help cover the costs of treating the poor ends in June. Meanwhile, groups lobby central Florida lawmakers to expand Medicaid under the health law, which would bring billions of additional federal dollars into the state.
Lawmakers Mull Options In Case Health Law Subsidies Are Struck Down
Congress and state officials face possible chaos if the Supreme Court rules next month that health insurance subsidies are illegal, but the alternatives are complex and require political will. WNPR offers stories from Louisiana of people who are helped by the benefit. Meanwhile, the financial health of the state marketplaces is under scrutiny.
HHS Tells Insurers To Close Gaps In Contraceptive Coverage
The administration says plans must cover at least one form of all types of women’s contraceptives — including the patch and intrauterine devices — without cost to the beneficiary. Recent reports had shown a number of insurers were not adhering to that health law provision.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Probe Of Mass. Connector; Concerns About Narrow Networks; Debate Over Medicaid
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
News outlets examine health care issues in California, Florida, Arizona, Connecticut, North Carolina, Massachusetts, New York and Illinois.
Change In Kansas Medicaid Coverage Of Mental Health Drugs Faces Last Legislative Step
Meanwhile, in California, a study found that dental-related emergency room visits went up after dental benefits were removed from the state’s Medicaid program.
Ga. State Audit: Easier To Get A Bed In A Nursing Home Than Home Care
In other news regarding the nursing home industry, regulators in Wyoming and Nebraska take action to assume control of troubled facilities in their states.
Riding The Digital Wave To Health And Wellness
The Washington Post reports on how the business of new, high-tech efforts to quantify the healthiness of consumers’ lifestyles is evolving into big business with immense health and privacy ramifications. In other news, USA Today offers an update regarding federal regulations of wellness plans.
Medical School Students Get International Experience — In The U.S.
A program in Colorado helps students serve immigrants,, and gain valuable insight into how they navigate the U.S. health care system. Elsewhere, a decline in medical research could lead to fewer new therapies and a decline in the quality of health care, some worry.
Congressman Faults FDA’s Response To Calif. Superbug Outbreak
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., says the agency was slow to answer a letter from members of Congress on the problem.
Cancer Care’s New Therapies: Personalized Care, Blood Tests, Liquid Biopsies
New ways to treat cancer are emerging, including using personalized ways of treating patients using their own genetic code. And genetic testing is growing as the industry expects sales to grow to $25 billion in six years.
Vertex Cystic-Fibrosis Drug Slated For FDA Advisory Panel Consideration
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is scheduled this week to consider whether to recommend this new drug for approval. Also in the news, GlaxoSmithKline joins with American researchers in the push to find a cure for AIDS.
Huckabee Defends Paid Appearance For Company Selling Diabetes ‘Cure’
Meanwhile, Jeb Bush delivered a commencement address at Liberty University in which he criticized the health law’s contraception mandate.
Kentucky Hospitals Say Obamacare Not Helping Them Thrive
Meanwhile, a report by the New York City comptroller warns that the public hospital system could confront a major cash squeeze within four years if federal cuts to hospitals that treat large numbers of poor and uninsured patients go into effect as scheduled.
Fla. Governor’s Medicaid Reversal Complicates State’s Budget Progress
Elsewhere, Georgia’s governor outlines a plan to seek a Medicaid waiver proposed by a hospital to cover more state residents. And Alaska lawmakers continue to work on expansion in that state.
Feds To Tighten Rules For ACA Health Plans’ Provider Directories
Officials plan to require insurers to update provider directories at least once a month, with financial penalties for those who don’t. They are also looking at creating an “out-of-pocket cost calculator” to help consumers estimate their total annual costs under a given plan, not just their premiums. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department’s Inspector General faults the IRS for not making its own subsidy calculator tool available to the public, and some states scramble to make health coverage plans to protect residents getting federal exchange subsidies in case the Supreme Court invalidates them.
