KFFHN Weekly Edition: May 10, 2024
Three People Shot at Super Bowl Parade Grapple With Bullets Left in Their Bodies
By Bram Sable-Smith and Peggy Lowe, KCUR
Despite the rise of gun violence in America, few medical guidelines exist on removing bullets from survivors’ bodies. In the second installment of our series “The Injured,” we meet three people shot at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade who are dealing with the bullets inside them in different ways.
Their First Baby Came With Medical Debt. These Illinois Parents Won’t Have Another.
By Noam N. Levey
Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials.
Stranded in the ER, Seniors Await Hospital Care and Suffer Avoidable Harm
By Judith Graham
Many older adults who need hospital care are getting stuck in emergency room limbo — sometimes for more than a day. The long ER waits for seniors who are frail, with multiple medical issues, lead to a host of additional medical problems.
Forget Ringing the Button for the Nurse. Patients Now Stay Connected by Wearing One.
By Phil Galewitz
Dozens of hospitals have deployed a device that uses artificial intelligence to monitor patients remotely. One hospital says it reduces nurses’ workloads — but some nurses fear the technology could replace them.
Amgen Plows Ahead With Costly, Highly Toxic Cancer Dosing Despite FDA Challenge
By Arthur Allen
The FDA told Amgen to test whether a quarter-dose of its lung cancer drug worked as well as the amount recommended on the product label. It did and with fewer side effects. But Amgen is sticking to the higher dose — which earns it an additional $180,000 a year per patient.
What’s Keeping the US From Allowing Better Sunscreens?
By Michael Scaturro
Illustration by Lydia Zuraw
A decade after Congress told the FDA to expedite the approval of more effective sunscreens, the federal government still has not approved sunscreen ingredients that are safely being used around the world. Meanwhile, skin cancer is the nation’s most common cancer.
Democrats Seek To Make GOP Pay for Threats to Reproductive Rights
By Samantha Liss
Democrats running for office are using abortion rollbacks to galvanize voters, with abortion rights ballot initiatives amplifying their lines of attack. In Missouri, the leading Democratic candidate for the Senate also blames Republican Sen. Josh Hawley for threatening access to IVF.
Medical Residents Are Increasingly Avoiding States With Abortion Restrictions
By Julie Rovner and Rachana Pradhan
A new analysis shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residency positions in states with abortion bans and other significant abortion restrictions.
Biden Team’s Tightrope: Reining In Rogue Obamacare Agents Without Slowing Enrollment
By Julie Appleby
Federal regulators face a growing challenge — how to prevent rogue health insurance agents from switching unknowing consumers’ Obamacare coverage without making the enrollment process so cumbersome that enrollment declines.
Could Better Inhalers Help Patients, and the Planet?
By Martha Bebinger, WBUR
Puff inhalers can be lifesavers for people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but some types release potent greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. That, in turn, worsens wildfires, contributes to air pollution, and intensifies allergy seasons — which can increase the need for inhalers. Some doctors are helping patients switch to more eco-sensitive inhalers.
Paid Sick Leave Sticks After Many Pandemic Protections Vanish
By Zach Dyer
The U.S. is one of nine countries that do not guarantee paid sick leave. Since the covid pandemic, advocates in states including Missouri, Alaska, and Nebraska are organizing to take the issue to voters with ballot initiatives this November.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Newly Minted Doctors Are Avoiding Abortion Ban States
For the second year in a row, medical school graduates across specialties are shying away from applying for residency training in states with abortion bans or significant restrictions, according to a new study. Meanwhile, Medicare’s trustees report that the program will be able to pay its bills longer than expected — which could discourage Congress from acting to address the program’s long-term financial woes. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University schools of nursing and public health and Politico Magazine, and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
Listen to the Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week.
Journalists Delve Into Climate Change, Medicaid ‘Unwinding,’ and the Gap in Mortality Rates
KFF Health News and California Healthline staffers made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
