Latest KFF Health News Stories
Over 25 Million Americans Live With Daily Pain, Study Finds
Also, in mental health news, articles focus on schizophrenia awareness, a link between depression and heart problems for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers and cases of pre-birth depression.
New Tool Allows Consumers To Compare Cancer Treatment Costs
Elsewhere, a heart drug shows promise for cancer patients, “second cancer” cases are becoming more common and breast cancer data fails to resolve a debate on small lesions.
Mentally Ill Prisoners Waiting Too Long In Jail, Washington State Monitor Finds
In New Mexico prisons, initial steps taken to limit the use of solitary confinement seem to be working. And a program in West Virginia allows non-violent female inmates to keep their babies.
Anonymous Essay Citing Doctors’ Bad Behavior During Surgery Sparks Debate In Health Community
Meanwhile, doctors and patients are wondering how to make technologies like Facebook work best between them.
‘I’m Totally Destroyed’: Heroin Addiction, Deaths Overwhelm Communities, Health Workers
The Washington Post tells the story of the epidemic in Washington County, Pa., where 25 people overdosed over two days, and NPR reports on the epidemic from the town of Marion, Ohio.
Veterans Are Being Short-Changed On Local Health Care Options, Advocates Say
Also, in military health news, a study shows that women warriors suffer PTSD at the same rate as men, and hearing loss among service members prompts the Army to participate in a clinical drug trial.
As fallout continues from the covertly taped Planned Parenthood videos, Politico reports that two of the branches featured stopped donating fetal tissue to research several years ago. Meanwhile, a series of anti-abortion protests were held at Planned Parenthood facilities over the weekend.
Independence Blue Cross Plans To Buck The Insurer Merger Trend
In pharmaceutical news, slowing market growth in China is raising red flags for the U.S. drug industry. And GlaxoSmithKline is selling rights to an autoimmune disease medication, ofatumumab, to Novartis for $1 billion.
Ted Cruz To Take Lead Role In Anti-Planned Parenthood Campaign As He Courts Evangelicals
In other news from the Republican primary field: Scott Walker has a plan for winning Senate support for his health proposal, Rick Perry and John Kasich trade barbs on Medicaid expansion, Donald Trump tells big crowds that he will “repeal and replace” Obamacare and Bobby Jindal brags about his move against Planned Parenthood supporters.
Koch Brothers’ Health Law Opposition Set For Long Fight
The president of Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, says support for his group is growing. In other health law news, a look at efforts to improve coverage for people on Medicare and Medicaid, an appeals court temporarily stays its ruling about contraceptive coverage, California’s marketplace pledges to improve service and Speaker John Boehner hires a health care expert.
Overtime Pay, Minimum Wage Protections For Home-Health Workers Reinstated
A federal appeals court upholds Labor Department regulations granting home-health workers the right to minimum-wage and overtime pay.
First Edition: August 24, 2015
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Health care stories are reported from Texas, New York, North Carolina, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland and Connecticut.
Florida Health Agency Says Three Abortion Clinics Back In Operation Are Still Under Investigation
In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal broadcast the Planned Parenthood sting videos from the grounds of his mansion last night as a pro-Planned Parenthood rally took place outside. And in South Carolina, the attorney general is looking into Medicaid payments to three abortion clinics.
In N.C., State Audit Finds Savings From Medicaid Care Management Program
A report from the state auditor shows the program has saved hundreds of millions of dollars over a decade. Meanwhile, North Carolina state legislators continue efforts to reach a compromise on how to reshape the state’s health insurance program for low-income people.
Hospitals Increasingly Embrace Medicare Bundled Payments
New data from Avalere Health shows 9 percent of acute care hospitals are engaging in the program, despite financial risks. Elsewhere, hospitals are also not blaming the health law for some industry woes, CMS readies new alternative payment methods for some providers and Medicare fraud outside the United States becomes more prevalent.
Aggressive Treatment Of Very Early Breast Cancer May Not Be Effective, Study Finds
The study found that radiation following a lumpectomy, the standard treatment of earliest breast cancer, reduced the chances for disease recurrence but didn’t lower 20-year survival rates.
Online Doctor Appointment Service ZocDoc Valued At $1.8B
The company is raising money to expand. Elsewhere in health care technology news, Google Glass finds a place in the doctor’s office and startups aim at giving second opinions on expensive surgery.
Meanwhile, Politico reports on one of the women featured in some of the covert videos and why she says she participated in the so-called “sting.”
