Latest KFF Health News Stories
For years, the family was known primarily as a benefactor of the arts and sciences, with little attention paid to the key source of the family’s wealth, but that’s starting to change. The university is just the latest institution to distance itself from the Sackler family, which is drawing ever-intensifying scrutiny over its involvement with the opioid crisis.
The agreement that stemmed from patients who used the popular blood thinner Xarelto caps one of the more high-profile instances of product liability litigation facing the pharmaceutical industry in recent years.
As Products With Marijuana Extract Flood The Market, FDA Left Scrambling To Keep Up
Minutes after the farm bill, which legalized hemp in certain circumstances, was signed in December, the FDA asserted that it could police the market because it had already approved a CBD-based medicine — and could subject other products to the same strict standards. But lawmakers say the agency is just creating trouble for itself. Meanwhile, new research shows that edibles could be responsible for an increase in cannabis-triggered emergency room visits.
The agency has been grappling with how to manage emerging science that shows that implants can trigger a rare form of lymphoma with the fact that for most people silicon is fairly safe. At the end of the day, the FDA panel didn’t recommend any immediate restrictions on breast implants, but the issue is unlikely to disappear any time soon.
Experts say that not since Republican President Ronald Reagan, who tried unsuccessfully to cap Medicaid and effectively end its entitlement status, has an administration pushed so hard to shrink the Medicaid rolls. “Generally, when you reduced in one area, you added in others,” said Thomas Scully, who led the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Republican George W. Bush administration.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the measure, to be unveiled today, will “strengthen protections for pre-existing conditions, reverse the G.O.P.’s health care sabotage and lower Americans’ health costs.” The legislation is in contrast to the progressive push for a single-payer system. Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama warns the new freshman class of lawmakers that they need to be cognizant of the price tag that comes with ambitious goals.
CMS Touts Stability Of Exchanges As Health Law Enrollment Dips Slightly To 11.4 Million For 2019
Average premiums dropped by 1.5 percent from the year before, as well. Most of the declines came in states that relied on platforms overseen by the federal government, which has cut most of its advertising and outreach budget.
The position is a change for the Justice Department after it argued last year that large parts of the 2010 law — but not all of it — should be struck in the case Texas v. U.S., which is pending before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats, who used attacks on health care as a winning issue for the 2018 midterms, are already seizing on the shift. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was quick to level accusations that the Trump administration is focusing on “taking away your health care.”
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health care topics and others.
Editorial writers weigh in on issues surrounding women’s reproductive rights.
Media outlets report on news from California, Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Georgia and Washington.
The tragedy continues one year after a gunman took the lives of 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. While local leaders distributed information about how students can get help, others say the services being offered don’t go far enough.
This Year’s Flu Season Wasn’t As Extreme As The Last One, But It’s The Longest Lasting In Decades
Usually, flulike symptoms drop quickly after the peak of the season, which usually occurs mid- to late-February, but this season those symptoms have plateaued. “It looks like we still have a ways to go,” said Lynnette Brammer, the head of the CDC’s Domestic Influenza Surveillance team. In other public health news: memory, cancer treatment, sleep deprivation, contrast agents for CT scans, older fathers, stillbirths and more.
The disease is too complex, experts argue. But drugmakers are still hoping for a foot in that lucrative door. In other pharmaceutical news: insulin drug pricing, pharmacy benefits managers, postpartum depression drugs, a rare genetic disease, and more.
The FDA’s longstanding position is that implants are essentially safe as long as women understand they can have complications. But that mentality could be changing.
A spokesman for the agency said 1.8 million people had both their banking information and addresses revealed, and about 725,000 people had just their addresses shared. The victims included those from the California wildfires in 2017 and Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
The new guidance all applies to group homes and home-based care settings. In other news, the number of providers participating in CMS’ advanced bundled payment model has dropped.
“To be honest, when we started this, I didn’t think it was as big an issue as it obviously is,” said Daniel Nathrath, CEO of Ada Health. The phenomenon, though, is, in some respects, no surprise: There’s a large body of research showing that people are more willing to confess potentially taboo thoughts to a computer than to a fellow human a few feet away.
GoFundMe Joins Social Media Peers In Cracking Down On Antivaccination Movement
“Campaigns raising money to promote misinformation about vaccines violate GoFundMe’s terms of service and will be removed from the platform,” GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said. The company joins other high-profile tech companies that are stepping up to regulate their online communities. Other vaccination news comes out of Kentucky, Oregon, Michigan and Minnesota.
