Latest KFF Health News Stories
Big Tobacco To Begin Running Court-Mandated Mea Culpa Ads
“Altria, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive,” one ad will say. Another reads: “More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.” In other public health news: the importance of body clocks, help getting sober and children with anxiety.
Congress Asked To Overrule Outdated Medicaid Regulation On Funding For Opioid Treatment Centers
Only smaller facilities qualify for Medicaid payments under a 1965 law that was intended to break up large, state-run mental asylums, but state attorneys general are asking Congress, in the midst of a crisis, to expand that. In other news, the National Institutes of Health, noting a lack of evidence on the issue, will begin to study opioids’ effects on babies.
In 2016 Election, Communities With Poor Public Health Tended To Shift Vote To Trump
Some experts warn not to read too much into the study, which could be a result of too much data dredging. But the authors say it makes sense.
Mass Shootings Are A ‘Serious Public Health Issue,’ Doctors Group Says
The American College of Physicians is calling on Congress to address the issue immediately. But while Democrats are calling for gun control action in the wake of the Las Vegas shooting, Republicans have been quiet on the issue.
For Hospitals Tending To Onslaught Of Shooting Victims It Was ‘Worst Moment And Proudest Moment’
Las Vegas-area hospitals are prepared and well equipped to deal with traumas, but Sunday’s mass shooting was unlike any they’d seen before.
First Edition: October 3, 2017
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Opinion writers detail the prospects for bipartisanship to offer “a more productive path” for Congress to find a way to preserve what’s working in the Affordable Care Act and to adjust the trouble spots. But others note the steps quietly being taken to undermine the ACA.
Media outlets report on news from California, Texas, Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Florida and Maryland.
Rule Aims To Make Liver Donation More Equitable, But Not Everyone’s On Board
“People in NY need to take care of people in NY. If they can’t, well they should move somewhere else,” one person wrote as part of the public comment period for a rule that would change the geographic lines that determine access to donor livers. In other public health news: cancer, trauma from a child’s death, vaccines, injuries from contact sports, autism, chronic fatigue syndrome and more.
Massachusetts To Begin Far-Reaching Probe Of Addiction Treatment Scams
State Attorney General Maura Healey’s office is conducting an investigation of people who allegedly prey on those with an opioid addiction by sending them to treatment centers hundreds of miles from home for expensive and often shoddy care paid for by insurance benefits obtained by using fake addresses.
STD Rates In U.S. Climbing And At The Same Time Resistance To Treatment Is Growing
“Several drug trials are going on now that we hope will provide new treatments for gonorrhea,” said Dr. Gail Bolan, the director of sexually transmitted disease prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But these treatment trials take years, and we don’t know if these new drugs will be safe and effective.”
Nobel Prize Awarded To American Scientists Studying Mysteries Of Circadian Rhythms
Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young win the 2017 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their work examining the biological clock of living organisms. “Since the seminal discoveries by the three laureates, circadian biology has developed into a vast and highly dynamic research field, with implications for our health and wellbeing,” the Nobel citation reads.
In Blow To Pharma, Maryland Law Punishing Price Gouging Allowed To Go Into Effect
A group representing pharmaceutical makers asked a judge to stop the law from going into effect, but U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis found that “an erroneous grant of a preliminary injunction would cause substantial harm by permitting the sale of essential drugs to Maryland residents at unconscionable prices.”
Nation Could Be Hit With Drug Shortages After Hurricane Slams Puerto Rico
The agency is closely tracking 40 high-priority drugs that are deemed essential and could run short nationally following potential damage to the island’s dozens of drugmaking plants. Meanwhile, the hurricane killed most mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus.
Montana Says Medicaid Expansion Saved Money; Arkansas Says Costs Were Less Than Anticipated
Montana officials say the state saved more than $30 million since the expansion program began in 2016. Arkansas reports that the program was much larger than officials expected but the state’s share of the costs was less than they budgeted for. Meanwhile, New Hampshire lawmakers are preparing for a debate next year on whether to keep the expansion, and some Medicaid enrollees in California are frustrated by the few doctors who accept Medicaid payments.
Funding For Popular Children’s Health Program Expires Without Congressional Action
Efforts to renew the funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provides coverage to 9 million kids, is expected to begin soon in the House.
Insured People Who Republicans Have Dubbed ‘Victims’ Of ACA Get Hit Again By Health Law Uncertainty
These consumers may have to shoulder soaring premiums if Republicans don’t act to stabilize a marketplace that’s been weakened, in part, by recent Trump administration moves. Meanwhile, former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Chief Andy Slavitt accuses President Donald Trump of purposely raising premiums.
Where Did It All Go Wrong? A Look At How Repeal Efforts Foundered
President Donald Trump was supposed to have a bill repealing the Affordable Care Act on his desk on Inauguration Day. What happened?
After Promising ‘Repeal’ For 7 Years and Failing, The GOP Is Worried About Facing Its Own Voters
“When something has been committed to and it doesn’t happen and then it doesn’t happen again, I think it’s self-evident it isn’t a good thing,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) who’s retiring rather than seek a third term next year. Meanwhile, the Democrats are going to seize their chance to turn the tables on the Republicans who have been hammering them for years on health care.
