First Edition: Jan. 19, 2024
January 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
In This Oklahoma Town, Most Everyone Knows Someone Who’s Been Sued by the Hospital
By Mitchell Black and Noam N. Levey
January 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Hospitals nationwide face growing scrutiny over how they secure payment from patients, but at one community hospital, the debt collection machine has been quietly humming along for decades.
Insurance Doesn’t Always Cover Hearing Aids for Kids
By Colleen DeGuzman
January 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
California’s governor vetoed a bill extending insurance coverage for kids with hearing loss, but most states now require it.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Supreme Court vs. the Bureaucracy
January 18, 2024
Podcast
The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in a case that could radically alter the way federal agencies — including the Department of Health and Human Services — administer laws passed by Congress. A decision in the case is expected this spring or summer. Meanwhile, the Biden administration is struggling over whether to ban menthol cigarettes — a move that could improve public health but also alienate Black voters, the biggest menthol users. Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine, Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Darius Tahir, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a lengthy fight over a bill for a quick telehealth visit.
Biden Cracks Down on Prior Authorization — But There Are Limits
By Lauren Sausser
January 18, 2024
KFF Health News Original
More than a year after it was initially proposed, the Biden administration announced a final rule yesterday that will change how insurers in federal programs such as Medicare Advantage use prior authorization — a long-standing system that prevents many patients from accessing doctor-recommended care. “When a doctor says a patient needs a procedure, it is […]
New Mexico Alleges Kids On Facebook, Instagram Are Often Sexually Harassed
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Newly unredacted material about Meta’s child-safe policies is showing up during a lawsuit filed by New Mexico that alleges failures to protect young users of the social media platforms. Separately, Iowa is suing video social media platform TikTok over inappropriate content shown to children.
Research Roundup: Transplants; Fungal Diseases; C. Diff; Covid
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Each week, KFF Health News offers a selection of health policy studies and briefs.
Viewpoints: How Does The Public Health Sector Regain Public Trust?; The Danger Of Weight Loss-Drugs
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Editorial writers tackle public health, weight-loss drugs, ACA and more.
US Cancer Data Has A Dichotomy: Deaths Are Falling, But Cases Are Up
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Though cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the U.S., new data from the American Cancer Society show that deaths from cancer are falling. ABC News notes that colon and breast cancer cases in younger people are showing a troubling uptick.
If You’re A Minority Child In The US, Your Health Care Is Worse: Report
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Surprising no one, a meta-analysis of studies into health care quality for minority children in the U.S. found that quality is universally worse than it is for white kids. Reports also show that women and minorities in the U.S. experience more medical misdiagnoses.
Researchers Mapped Covid Virus 2 Weeks Before China Disclosed To World
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Wall Street Journal reports that a Chinese lab sequenced the coronavirus in December 2019. The Chinese government did not reveal details for another 2 weeks, raising further questions about information transparency in the early days of the pandemic.
CMS Approves Texas’ Plan For A Year Of Medicaid Coverage For New Mothers
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Texas mothers will now be able to stay on Medicaid for a year after childbirth, in a move aimed at helping those on low-incomes. Meanwhile, also in Texas parents in Uvalde are said to be bracing themselves for a long-awaited report into police response failures in the mass shooting in the town.
Insurance Claims Study: Kentucky Is Top State For Ozempic Prescriptions
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Claims data analyzed by PurpleLab show that in Kentucky, about 2 in 100 people were prescribed an obesity drug like Ozempic in 2023. Meanwhile, an interesting development in the sometimes controversial field of male birth control is in the news, with a contraceptive called “Plan A.”
San Francisco’s Overdose Deaths Reached Record Highs Last Year
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Fatalities in the first 11 months of 2023 surpassed the previous peak of 726 deaths in all of 2020, new data from the medical examiner’s office show. In South Dakota an effort to make xylazine (the animal sedative showing up in illegal fentanyl doses) a controlled substance advanced.
Morning Briefing for Thursday, January 18, 2024
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Prior authorization delays, copays, Medicare doc payments, cancer cases rise, covid, Medicaid, weight-loss drugs, and more are in the news.
Biden Admin Rule Forces Insurers To Not Dilly-Dally On Prior Authorization
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
A new rule now applies to health insurance companies that offer Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Obamacare plans. It forces insurers to explain specifically why they denied coverage, and to speed up the pre-approval process.
Copay Coupons Will Count Toward Deductibles
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Biden administration on Tuesday withdrew its appeal of a September ruling, meaning insurers must count drug copay coupons when calculating deductibles and patient spending caps, in most cases. Meanwhile, a report in The New York Times digs into the thorny issue of why drug prices are so astronomically high in the U.S.
Doc Pay Fix, Health Centers Fail To Make Spending Deal Cut In Talks
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Stat reports that, for the moment, efforts have stalled to add health policy measures—including the Medicare doctor pay rates and more funding for community health centers—to the federal spending measures under negotiation.
First Edition: Jan. 18, 2024
January 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Women and Minorities Bear the Brunt of Medical Misdiagnosis
By Liz Szabo
January 18, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Hundreds of thousands of Americans become disabled or die each year because of a diagnostic error. But some patients are at higher risk than others.