Toxic Gas That Sterilizes Medical Devices Prompts Safety Rule Update
By Andy Miller and Sam Whitehead
Updated February 29, 2024
Originally Published February 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening regulation of ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic gas used to sterilize medical devices. The agency is trying to balance the interests of the health care industry supply chain with those of communities where the gas creates airborne health risks.
Hacking at UnitedHealth Unit Cripples a Swath of the US Health System: What to Know
By Darius Tahir
Updated March 1, 2024
Originally Published February 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Change Healthcare, a firm recently bought by insurance giant UnitedHealth Group, reportedly suffered a cyberattack. The company processes 14 billion transactions annually, including payments and requests for insurance authorizations.
Bathroom Bills Are Back — Broader and Stricter — In Several States
By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
February 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
State lawmakers are resurrecting and expanding efforts to prohibit transgender people from using public restrooms and other spaces that match their gender. Some have sought to ban trans people from “sex-designated spaces,” including domestic violence shelters and crisis centers, which experts say could violate anti-discrimination laws and jeopardize federal funding.
Readers Call on Congress to Bolster Medicare and Fix Loopholes in Health Policy
February 29, 2024
KFF Health News Original
KFF Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Si eres pobre, un tratamiento de fertilidad suele ser un sueño inaccesible
By Michelle Andrews
February 28, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Pero las personas con ingresos más bajos, a menudo de minorías, tienen más probabilidades de estar cubiertas por Medicaid o por seguros limitados que no tienen esta cobertura.
The Supreme Court Confronts a Public Health Challenge: Homeless Encampments
By Angela Hart
February 28, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Homelessness is a soaring public health crisis, with a record 653,000 unhoused people in the United States, according to federal estimates. Tent and recreational vehicle encampments have exploded in recent years, crowding streets and sidewalks from Portland, Ore., to New York. In California, where roughly a third of all the nation’s homeless people live, doctors […]
Stroke, Heart Attack Risks Rise For Any Marijuana Use: Study
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
Consuming marijuana via smoking, vaping, or edibles was linked to higher risks even if the person had no previous conditions and didn’t use tobacco, a new study found. Meanwhile, the FDA may roll out a new “healthy” logo to promote food products that really are healthy.
Analysts: Weight Loss Drugs Could Lift US Economy By A Trillion Dollars
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
Goldman Sachs analysts suggested in a report that because poor health hurts the economy, better health outcomes thanks to drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic could thus boost economic output. Separately, a new study shows Americans are doubtful the drugs can fix the obesity epidemic.
Family Applied For Exemption, But Insulin Pump Came With Huge Bill
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
Read recent pharmaceutical developments in KFF Health News’ Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
Viewpoints: More Research Needed To Know If Cannabis Is Actually Healthy; Where is The Measles Outrage?
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
Editorial writers tackle cannabis, measles, heart disease, and more.
Antitrust Regulators Say PBMs Have Failed To Disclose Requested Info
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
An inquiry by the FTC into the role of pharmacy benefit managers on prescription drug costs has been stymied so far as the companies involved have not produced requested documents, Stat reports. In related news, advocates for PBM reform continue to push for measures that look to be dropped from the government spending package.
UnitedHealth Under Antitrust Investigation By DOJ: Report
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department has opened an antitrust probe into health care giant United Health. Investigators have been questioning competitors about the the company’s doctor group acquisitions.
Florida Surgeon General Criticized Over Measles Outbreak Handling
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
Dr. Joseph Ladapo “politicizes public health and peddles risky freedom of choice rhetoric” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, criticizing the handling of the measles outbreak by her state’s surgeon general. Meanwhile, another case was reported at a Florida elementary school.
California Seized Record Fentanyl: More Than Enough To Kill Everyone On Earth
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
California confiscated a 62,000 pounds of fentanyl at its ports of entry in 2023 — “enough to potentially kill the global population nearly twice over,” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said Tuesday — and up from 28,000 pounds seized the year before.
Indiana Ban On Gender Care For Trans Minors Can Take Effect: Ruling
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
A federal appeals court ruled that Indiana can indeed block young transgender people from accessing hormone and puberty blocker treatments, which form part of gender care, undoing a lower court decision that had blocked the law. Also in the news: pain and suffering jury award caps.
Morning Briefing for Wednesday, February 28, 2024
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
IVF, hearing aids, insulin costs, PBMs, fentanyl, antitrust investigations, measles, marijuana use, and more are in the news.
Senate Democrats Plan Speedy Action In Defense Of IVF Treatments
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
“I warned that red states would come for IVF — and now they have,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat. The group is pushing Republican colleagues to not block a bill that would preserve access to IVF technology. Axios also reports that President Joe Biden’s next moves on IVF may be limited.
First Edition: Feb. 28, 2024
February 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Say That Again: Using Hearing Aids Can Be Frustrating for Older Adults, but Necessary
By Judith Graham
February 28, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Hearing loss is more than a nuisance. It also raises the risk of cognitive decline, dementia, falls, depression, and social isolation.