Latest KFF Health News Stories
MedPAC said that the way Congress made changes to the Medicare Part D program disincentivizes insurers from trying to manage high drug costs because it puts pharma on the hook for a higher percentage of the drugs. In other news, MedPAC advisers are also expected to call on Congress to boost payments to hospitals, and Medicaid advisers will urge lawmakers to rethink cuts to hospitals.
Beyond Work Requirements, Red States Eye Other Restrictions For Medicaid Programs
Some states are weighing the possibility of adding drug-testing to their programs, while others are investigating capped payments from the federal government. And as Republican-led states move to further restrict Medicaid, the divide between red and blue states is likely to mean wider geographic disparities in health-care coverage and access. Meanwhile, Ohio’s request to add work requirements has been approved by the government.
Democrats See An Opportunity In Amendment That Has Effectively Put The Kibosh On CDC’s Gun Research
Instead of trying to get rid of the Dickey amendment, which effectively halted much of CDC’s research into gun violence, Democrats want to change the narrative and deem it a “guardrail” that could help get other funding through a Republican-controlled Senate. “There’s always been a question as to what the Dickey amendment prohibits and allows,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) “If you set up a specific fund, it will be clear about what it allows without having to repeal it.” More news on gun violence looks at the aftermath of the New Zealand shooting and a place in North Carolina that wants to declare itself a “gun sanctuary county.”
Where to move forward with health care has become a sharply dividing issue with the Democrats. Moderates want to make improvements to the health law, while the left-wing is charging full-tilt toward “Medicare for All.” With their budget, Democrats will signal what their health care priorities are, and the road to decide that will likely be far from smooth.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Opinion writers weigh in on these health topics and others.
Longer Looks: Expensive ERs; Ending HIV; And Gun Injury Data
Each week, KHN’s Shefali Luthra finds interesting reads from around the Web.
Media outlets report on news from D.C., Rhode Island, Minnesota, Georgia, Massachusetts, Washington, Missouri, Ohio, Maryland, Tennessee, Oregon, California and Michigan.
News from the state legislatures comes out of Maryland, Georgia, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire, Virginia and Arizona.
Well-Known Transgender Surgeon Resigns Following Furor Over Instagram Pictures Of Patients’ Genitals
Dr. Christopher Salgado, 50, worked at the L.G.B.T.Q. Center for Wellness, Gender and Sexual Health at the University of Miami Health System. “The purpose really was to be educational with it, but it went awry,” he said. However, critics were not only upset about the pictures but the captions that appeared to be mocking, as well.
Maine Abortion Bill Would Expand Access, Allow Nurses, Physician Assistants To Perform Procedures
Current law limits the ability to perform abortions to physicians. Gov. Janet Mills says that the current law isn’t medically justified and limits abortions in rural areas. Other news on abortions comes from Georgia, Arkansas and Kentucky, as well.
“When you are skating on thin ice with your margins, any movements in payer type can really move the needle,” said Bill Kauffman, senior principal at NIC. More than 440 rural nursing homes have closed or merged nationwide in the last decade.
The report also said that lack of sleep could be a contributing factor. Between 2008 and 2017, suicides among young adults in age brackets between 18 and 25 grew by as much as 56 percent, and the rate at which these young people entertained thoughts of suicide rose by up to 68 percent. “It’s an alarming trend,” said Dr. Ramin Mojtabai, a Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist.
The diagnosis can often be highly fatal because the cancer is difficult to detect, but there are steps that people should be aware they can take to help avoid finding it too late. In other public health news: measles, memory, the mysterious Cuba illness, language, Alzheimer’s, and more.
In the lawsuit, the Sandy Hook families seized upon the marketing for the AR-15-style Bushmaster used in the 2012 attack, which invoked the violence of combat and used slogans like “Consider your man card reissued.” Lawyers for the families argued that those messages reflected a deliberate effort to appeal to troubled young men like Adam Lanza. The court found that sweeping federal protections for gunmakers did not prevent the families from bringing a lawsuit based on wrongful marketing claims.
The FDA’s fast-track designation facilitates the development and expedites the review of drugs that treat serious conditions and fill an unmet medical need. Many advocates are left wondering if Purdue Pharma is about to benefit from the opioid epidemic that they say the company helped create. Other news on the crisis comes out of Ohio, Massachusetts and Missouri.
Departing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has made it one of his top priorities to regulate the e-cigarette industry in hopes of curbing teen vaping. With him leaving, some tobacco companies are eager to redirect lawmakers’ attention elsewhere. But Norman “Ned” Sharpless, the incoming acting commissioner, has spoken out with anti-tobacco messages in the past.
Contradictions Lay At The Heart Of Trump’s Health Care Priorities In Proposed Budget
President Donald Trump wants to give hundreds of millions of dollar to fight the HIV epidemic domestically, yet he is also proposing cutting global aid for the disease, as well calling for sharp spending reductions to Medicaid, a program many people with HIV rely upon. The president has taken aim at childhood cancer and the opioid crisis, but also would chip away at infrastructure in health care that would support those goals. Meanwhile, the Washington Post Fact Checker takes a look at Democrats’ take on the proposed Medicare changes in the budget.
Federal Judge Appears Skeptical Over Financial Argument For Medicaid Work Requirements
“It seems to me that your fiscal sustainability [argument] relies on the fact that they’re lucky to have Medicaid at all,” said Judge James E. Boasberg who is hearing cases out of Arkansas and Kentucky on whether the Trump administration has the authority to grant states the flexibility to add work requirements to their Medicaid programs. Boasberg hopes to issue both decisions simultaneously before Kentucky’s changes are slated to take effect April 1. Meanwhile, CMS is rolling out new tools to help states apply for a work requirement waiver.
O’Rourke Enters 2020 Race With Some Health Law Baggage–And A Centrist Message
When running as a politician in Texas in 2012, Beto O’Rourke said he didn’t support the health law “in its current form.” Now in 2020, he has touted the importance of universal health care, but like other moderates in the race has been careful to avoid coming out for one particular “Medicare for All” plan.
