Latest KFF Health News Stories
Pulling Back The Curtain On Drug Price Hubbub Reveals Some Veiled Threats From Trump Administration
News outlets report on stories related to pharmaceutical pricing.
Media outlets report on news from Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, California, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Illinois, Georgia, Kansas and Minnesota.
The technique would be geared toward fetuses with debilitating or fatal genetic diseases. Beyond the science involved, ethical concerns about tinkering with human life are at the forefront of many researchers’ minds. In other public health news: sedating patients, exercise, shingles, painkillers, diets and more.
The practice involves a third party — often a treatment center that may not meet adequate care standards — paying a recruiter to fraudulently enroll an addicted patient in a flexible individual market plan offering out-of-state coverage. In other news, pop singer Demi Lovato, who has been an outspoken advocate about mental health and substance use problems, was hospitalized after a reported overdose.
Supercomputer Watson Gave Erroneous And Unsafe Cancer Treatment Advice For Patients
The technology was touted as a step forward in including AI into the medical field to get patients better results. But documents show the computer’s recommendations were flawed, and IBM executives knew about it.
Women Often Get Mixed Signals About Drinking While Pregnant Even From Their Own Doctors
Because physicians don’t know how much alcohol can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, the official guidelines are not to drink while pregnant. But not ever doctor subscribes to complete abstinence. In other women’s health news: a pill to help ease endometriosis pain is approved by the FDA and the number of lawsuits against the birth-control implant Essure skyrocketed over recent years.
But Planned Parenthood’s counsel Paul Wolfson did not agree, saying states that didn’t want to work with his clients could block the family planning funds, leading to facility closures in places like Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.
‘We Have 70,000 Lives On The Line Here’: Maine Stuck In Battle Over Medicaid Expansion
Voters gave the OK to expanding Maine’s Medicaid program last year, but Republican Gov. Paul LePage has blocked efforts at every turn, saying he would go to jail “before I put the state in red ink.” Other states are watching the political and court battle play out as advocates work to get expansion initiatives on ballots elsewhere.
But U.S. District Court Judge Dana M. Sabraw, who has been overseeing the Trump administration’s efforts to reunite families, is not pleased with the government’s inability to say how many migrant parents have been deported, or released from custody by ICE into the U.S. Meanwhile, reunited families are left asking, “What’s next?”
Trump Describes Veterans’ Health Care Reforms That Have Yet To Be Implemented As ‘Big Success’
Fact checkers from both The Associated Press and The New York Times examine President Donald Trump’s statements about the Veterans Choice program and other efforts to improve care for veterans. Meanwhile, lawmakers fight over how to pay for the VA bill they just passed.
The tax was supposed to go into effect in 2013, but Congress suspended its implementation multiple times. Lawmakers from both parties who represent states with a strong medical-device company presences have been outspoken in opposition of the measure.
The Trump administration halted the payments, citing a ruling out of New Mexico that the risk-adjustment program’s implementation was flawed and hadn’t been adequately justified by federal regulators. The move sparked widespread concern that the decision could cause further upheaval in the health law marketplaces.
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Editorial pages look at these and other health issues.
Perspectives: Reproductive Medicine And Women’s Health Face Uncertain Future
Opinion writers express views on the legal status of an abortion and other issues surrounding women’s reproductive health.
Media outlets report on news from Maryland, Connecticut, Indiana, Minnesota, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, California, Missouri, Arizona and Tennessee.
Sexual Abuse Allegations Emerge Over Another Ohio State Coach’s Behavior With An Athlete
The university is already under fire for how it handled allegations against team doctor Dr. Richard Strauss, but new charges have come out out about a more recent case involving an assistant diving coach.
The Baker administration’s proposed rule would end the requirement that pregnant women be offered the opportunity to get information about abortion when they get family planning advice from an organization that gets federal Title X family planning grants. Meanwhile in Baltimore, lawmakers said the change to the family planning program would hurt access to all health services because the clinics also provide care such as HIV testing and screenings for cancer and mental health.
Experts were left wondering how the virus hid inside the woman for 13 months before re-emerging in lethal form.
Finding the right patients, in the right age group, with just the right amount of memory loss is an overwhelming task for pharmaceutical companies running drug trials. In other news, a study suggests that hormones might play a role in the disease, which could offer insight into why so many more women than men are afflicted.
