Latest KFF Health News Stories
The memo, which was given to Politico, shows that Dr. Leana Wen called abortion “the fight of our time.” While explaining her departure, Wen said she and the board had philosophical differences over how aggressively political to be on the issue. A half-dozen current and former Planned Parenthood staff told politico that Wen’s departure was driven by internal criticism of her management. In other women’s health news: federally funded clinics that focus on abstinence and natural family planning; a fast-growing and controversial antiabortion program in Texas; and a possibility that another state could drop to only one abortion clinic.
Kamala Harris Proposes Clean Drinking Water Plan, With Special Focus On At-Risk Communities
The legislation from Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), a 2020 hopeful, would establish a $10 billion program to allow states to offset the cost of water bills in low-income communities and environmentally at-risk households. “Every American has the right to clean water, period,” Harris said. “We must take seriously the existential threat represented by future water shortages and acknowledge that communities across the country — particularly communities of color — already lack access to safe and affordable water.”
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Dr. Leana Wen speaks out about why she parted ways with Planned Parenthood. And other opinion writers talk about abortion and women’s health care.
Viewpoints: Progress Against Opioid Epidemic Is Encouraging, But We Must Not Rest On Our Laurels Now
Opinion writers talk about the opioid crisis and other health care topics.
Media outlets report on news from Pennsylvania, Georgia, California, Minnesota, Florida, New Hampshire, Texas, Virginia, Iowa, Ohio and Massachusetts.
News from across the country focuses on young people’s mental health issues, the psychological toll of racism, bed shortages, prison care, and more.
“We can’t continue to be all things for all people,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in June, “we don’t have the money to do that.” But advocates say preventive dental care saves money because it catches problems before they become more costly. Medicaid news comes out of Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
It isn’t clear yet what kind of policies Congress is considering that could hurt the pharmaceutical industry’s bottom line, but it has been reported that the reforms could cost the industry $115 billion. In other pharmaceutical news: the CVS-Aetna merger, hep C treatment and prisoners, biotech, and President Donald Trump’s drug pricing strategy.
Following a large conference last week, there was a sense that disappointing failure after disappointing failure has left the field desperate and in need of new ideas. But there’s reason to hope. Not only is there plenty of money out there to support research, there’s also a movement to include players who have been previously cast aside in the conversation. In other public health news: car crashes, vaccines, drowning, surgery, knee injuries, and more.
Lawmakers across the country and federally have been trying to figure out the best way to address surprise medical bills. But one of the main causes of the problem –ambulance rides — isn’t in any of the proposed legislation. “If you call 911 for an ambulance, it’s basically a coin flip whether or not that ambulance will be in or out of network,” said Christopher Garmon, a health economist at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Meanwhile, legislation in the House over the bills is unlikely to be addressed until after August recess.
Chicago Safety Net Hospitals Say They Won’t Survive Under ‘Fair Workweek’ Ordinance
The hospitals say that complying with the rule, which requires employees to compensate workers when there are last-minute schedule changes, would mean a collective $30 million loss. Meanwhile, Chicago-area chains have been reconfiguring themselves to become specialty hospitals. Other hospital news comes out of California, Massachusetts and Kansas, as well.
One estimate puts the number of detainees with mental illnesses between 3,000 and 6,000. “This is a system that, for a long time, has failed to understand, neglected, and even ignored the mental health needs of folks caught up in it,” said Elizabeth Jordan, director of the Immigration Detention Accountability Project at the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center. “But under this administration … it has gotten so much worse.” In other news on the border crisis: sleep deprivation in young detainees, protesters at an Oklahoma Army base, and human-rights violations at a Florida detention center.
Barring a settlement, the two counties are scheduled to go to trial in October as the first case among the consolidated lawsuits brought by about 2,000 cities, counties, Native American tribes and other plaintiffs. Recently released data shows just how hard-hit those counties — and the rest of the country — were by the opioid crisis. Media outlets dive into the new data to get a better sense of the roots of the epidemic.
Despite increased resources and attention, problems continue to plague the Rosebud hospital on the Rosebud Sioux reservation in South Dakota. Even amid concerted efforts to improve quality of care at the hospital, a constant leadership churn and the dearth of qualified staff remained problematic. A separate report finds that Native American patients were put at increased risk for opioid abuse by government hospitals.
The Trump administration issued a regulation last year allowing short-term health care plans to last up to 12 months instead of three. The plans don’t have to adhere to the health law’s strict regulations, so critics blast them as being “junk insurance.” U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, however, ruled that the plans aims to “minimize the harm and expense” for individuals who might otherwise decide not to purchase insurance because of high premiums.
Trump Administration Backtracks On Immediately Enforcing Changes To Family Planning Funding
The clinics now have two months to comply with the rule changes, which critics say directly target Planned Parenthood. The department had said last Monday that it would require immediate compliance. That caught clinics off guard and led Planned Parenthood and other providers to say they would defy the order.
Health care is one of the dividing issues for the crowded 2020 Democratic field, but the candidates’ stances on the issue underscore how different their philosophies can be. Meanwhile, those candidates who support “Medicare for All” are still grappling with the issue of how to pay for it. And The New York Times fact checks President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on the Democrats’ plans.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages express views about the future of health care.
