Latest KFF Health News Stories
Google Leverages AI Tech To Help With Medicaid Reenrollments
As part of Google’s annual Check Up event this week, the tech giant revealed several health care initiatives, including a conversational AI tweak to its search product designed to support users who are trying to reenroll in Medicaid.
FDA Authorizes Pfizer Covid Booster For Kids As Young As 6 Months
The shot is for children who were previously vaccinated with three doses of the original vaccine. In other covid-related news, operators of an upscale Los Angeles care facility for dementia patients were charged Tuesday with felony elder abuse.
High-Stakes Hearing Today On Abortion Medication
The Texas judge’s decision could have huge implications for abortion care across the country. Abortion news from Ohio and Arkansas is also reported.
Biden Signs Executive Order To Close Gun-Buying Loopholes
Speaking with families in Monterey Park, California, who suffered a mass shooting in January, the president revealed the order directing the Department of Justice to ensure licensed gun dealers conduct required background checks before gun purchases. News outlets note Biden’s options to stop gun violence are limited.
EPA Proposes First Federal Limits On Forever Chemicals In Drinking Water
The Environmental Protection Agency said limits on toxic PFAS products would save thousands of lives and prevent serious illnesses, including cancer. Public water systems will be required to monitor supplies for six PFAS chemicals and alert the public if levels pass proposed standards.
Biden Wants To Fine Drugmakers Who Hike Prices
The federal government will fine companies who increase prices faster than the rate of inflation — but only for 27 specific medications, and it won’t happen until 2025.
Novo Nordisk Also Cutting Price Of Insulin
The giant drugmaker is following Eli Lilly’s lead by dropping the list price of several products, some as much as 75%. Sanofi, the other major insulin manufacturer, said that it is “continually listening to patients, patient advocates, caregivers, and others to better understand additional actions we could take to address access or affordability challenges.”
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Viewpoints: Abortion Foes Stoke Fear In Patients; Anti-Abortion Laws Creating Obstetric Deserts
Editorial writers discuss reproductive health care and more public health issues.
VA Promises To Cover Experimental Alzheimer’s Drug Leqembi
In what Stat describes as an “unexpected move,” the Veterans Health Administration has decided to “widely” cover the experimental Alzheimer’s treatment Leqembi, a drug that CMS has so far declined to cover. Separately, there’s a focus on how diet can impact cognitive health.
Lead Water Crisis In Jackson, Miss., Impacting Pregnancies, Parents, Kids
The 19th reminds us that Jackson’s water treatment facility failed in late August, with 150,000 people left without water and subsequent failures and water flow restoration has left certain people unable to rely on the water due to lead contamination. Other public health news is from Connecticut, Texas, and elsewhere.
Plan To Lower Sugar, Sodium In School Meals Causes Pushback
The Department of Agriculture’s plan to make school meals healthier is unsettling parents, cooks, and kids, Stat reports, with some feeling “the feds” are “targeting” kids by planning to limit chocolate milk and other food items.
Pfizer Buys Targeted Cancer Drugmaker Seagen For $43 Billion
News outlets cover the purchase, arguing the move helps Pfizer find potential new revenue sources now that covid treatment sales are declining. Separately, analysts try to identify which key drugs will be impacted by U.S. drug price negotiation rules in 2026.
Sleep Well Before Getting Vaccines — It May Alter The Shot’s Effectiveness
A study found startling implications concerning vaccine effectiveness, whether for covid or the flu: Sleeping less than six hours was found to limit the body’s response to the shot, reducing protection. Also: How little we still know about the coronavirus.
‘Havana Syndrome’ Experiments: Pentagon’s Use Of Animals Protested
The Department of Defense is performing radiation experiments on ferrets and monkeys even though the intelligence community recently rejected that theory behind the illness, Politico reports. Also in the news: Mitch McConnell, Patricia Schroeder, and Marilyn Goldwater.
Justice Department Sues Rite Aid For Dispensing Opioids Despite ‘Red Flags’
Pharmacy giant Rite Aid is charged with filling thousands of unlawful prescriptions of drugs like oxycodone and fentanyl, as well as “trinities” — a combination of an opioid, benzodiazepine, and muscle relaxant — while ignoring or deleting data on suspicious prescribers.
Biden To Sign Executive Order On Gun Control During California Trip Today
AP reports that the order will aim to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage, and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a gun control law enacted last summer. President Joe Biden will speak from Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people at a dance studio in January.
GOP Bill In South Carolina Would Make Abortions Punishable By Death
So far, 21 Republicans have co-sponsored the legislation, which would redefine “person” under state law to include a fertilized egg, giving it equal protection under the state’s homicide laws. Meanwhile in Ohio, abortion rights supporters are collecting voter signatures ahead of a November ballot push.
Abortion Pill Hearing Is Wednesday; Providers Brace For Disruptions
Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a Trump appointee from Texas, had initially tried to keep the proceedings secret until the last minute because of security fears. If Kacsmaryk rules that the FDA must rescind its approval of mifepristone, patients seeking to end a pregnancy would still would be able to use misoprostol alone.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
