Morning Breakouts

Latest KFF Health News Stories

$49B Federal Price Tag For 10 ‘Breakthrough’ Drugs

Morning Briefing

The drugs include several to treat hepatitis C and breast cancer. Elsewhere, the Food and Drug Administration is speeding new cholesterol drugs to trial, a closer look at kids drugs in the “Cures” bill and painkiller abuse still worries some officials, despite efforts to stem their abuse.

Fla. House Rejects Bill To Expand Medicaid

Morning Briefing

The measure, which had passed the Republican Senate by a wide margin, was designed to help low-income residents without insurance and hospitals in the state, which face high costs from uninsured patients and an expected cut in federal funding.

Planned Parenthood Sues Arizona Over Abortion Law

Morning Briefing

A provision of the law requires doctors to tell patients that drug-induced abortions are reversible, which the group says “writes junk science into law.” In Texas, state lawmakers adjourn after delivering mixed results for anti-abortion advocates. Elsewhere, GOP presidential-hopeful Scott Walker’s comments on abortion and ultrasounds are scrutinized, and Iowa lawmakers pass a bill that requires providers to offer women seeking abortions an ultrasound image of their fetus.

House GOP Group Offers Its Obamacare Replacement Plan, But Intraparty Divisions Persist

Morning Briefing

The Republican Study Group plan would repeal the existing health law and replace its subsidies for low- and middle-income Americans with tax breaks, among other changes. However, GOP lawmakers are divided about how to proceed if the Supreme Court strikes down the health law’s subsidies, which are a target of the pending challenge in King V. Burwell.

Still No Plan B From White House If Supreme Court Strikes Down Obamacare Subsidies

Morning Briefing

With a decision expected in just a few days from the high court, many wonder why the Obama administration has not offered a backup plan, even as HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell warns that the number of uninsured could spike if the subsidies are struck down. Delaware joins Pennsylvania, however, in moving to save the health coverage subsidies if they are ruled out.

HHS Head: Final Obamacare Premium Increases Will Be Lower

Morning Briefing

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell says state regulators can lower the proposed increases. Insurers, in the meantime, are defending their requested premium cost increases in Minnesota, Ohio and New Hampshire. In Washington state, however, health coverage prices are dropping for some.