First Edition: Friday, Oct. 18, 2024
October 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
California Continues Progressive Policies, With Restraint, in Divisive Election Year
By Don Thompson
October 18, 2024
KFF Health News Original
This legislative cycle, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed bills affirming reproductive rights and mandating insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, but the Democrat was reluctant to impose new regulations and frequently cited costs for vetoing bills.
Mountain Town Confronts an Unexpected Public Health Catastrophe
By Kim Dinan
October 18, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Flooding wrought by Hurricane Helene devastated communities around Asheville, North Carolina. A host of government programs are helping restore water, food, and medicine.
Helene and CVS Land Double Whammy for 25,000 Patients Who Survive on IV Nutrition
By Arthur Allen
Updated October 18, 2024
Originally Published October 18, 2024
KFF Health News Original
A Massachusetts woman ended up stranded in the hospital because CVS stopped providing the IV nutrition she needs to survive at home. Without it, she’d starve.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': LIVE From KFF: Health Care and the 2024 Election
October 17, 2024
Podcast
The Affordable Care Act has not been a major issue in the 2024 campaign, but abortion and reproductive rights have been front and center. Those are just two of the dozens of health issues that could be profoundly affected by who is elected president and which party controls Congress in 2025. In this special live episode, Tamara Keith of NPR, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Cynthia Cox and Ashley Kirzinger of KFF join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss how health policy has affected the campaign and how the election results might affect health policy. Plus, the panel answers questions from the live audience.
As Hospitals Get Bigger, Medical Debt Is Harder for Patients To Shake
By Noam N. Levey
October 17, 2024
KFF Health News Original
If you get sick in America, there’s a good chance you’ll end up in debt. Four in 10 U.S. adults have some form of health-care debt, KFF has found. One surprising risk: living in a community where hospitals have consolidated — an increasingly common development as health systems merge or large systems gobble up smaller hospitals. That’s […]
Chemo-Radiation-Chemo Combo For Cervical Cancer Cuts Death Risk By 40%
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Researchers found that a quick blast of chemotherapy ahead of standard treatment not only improves survival chances but also reduces the chance of the cancer returning.
FDA Can Approve Cheaper Copycat Of Heart-Failure Drug Entresto, Judge Says
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Novartis, which made more than $6 billion in revenue from the drug last year, says it will appeal the ruling. In other news: A study shows that people with HIV can safely receive donated kidneys from deceased donors who also had HIV.
Oropouche Virus Spreads; CDC Warns It Might Be Sexually Transmissible
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
CIDRAP reports that federal health officials know of 90 cases of Oropouche virus from five states, mostly from Florida, although none of the cases is known to have been sexually transmitted. Plus: Novavax’s trial of its covid-flu shot stalls after one of the participants reported nerve damage.
Alcohol Safety Study Stirs Controversy Ahead Of New Dietary Guidelines
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
A study this year from the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking, intended to inform dietary guidelines for 2025-30, is causing outrage among a group of lawmakers, led by the co-chairs of the Congressional Wine Caucus.
Archdiocese Of Los Angeles Settles Childhood Sex Abuse Claims For $880M
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
“My hope is that this settlement will provide some measure of healing for what these men and women have suffered,” Archbishop José H. Gomez said. News from around the nation also includes psychiatric hospital changes in Maryland, meningococcal disease in Texas, and more.
Research Roundup: Metformin; Covid; Mpox; RSV; Breakdancing (Yes, Really)
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Each week, KFF Health News compiles a selection of health policy studies and briefs.
Morning Briefing for Thursday, October 17, 2024
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Gun violence survivors, drug overdose deaths, mifepristone access, election news, insurer denials, cancer, alcohol safety, and more.
CDC: Drug Overdose Deaths Drop By Record Amount Over Past Year
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Provisional data from the CDC indicates a 15% drop from the prior 12-month period. Separately, accidental overdoses of fentanyl in San Francisco dropped to a four-year low in September.
Kansas, Idaho, And Missouri Taking Steps To Limit Mifepristone Access
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
In the legal filing, made in Texas, the states lay out their case for bringing back restrictions on the medication used in abortions, arguing that easing those restrictions “undermine state abortion laws and frustrate state law enforcement.”
Not Satisfied With ‘Concepts,’ Doctors Want Full Health Plan From Trump
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Over 1,500 physicians from the Committee to Protect Health Care PAC, which has endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president, are calling on Republican Donald Trump to release a concrete health care policy plan before the election. Separately, some Republican operatives aren’t happy with doctors who are urging their patients to vote.
‘Big 3’ Medicare Advantage Insurer Algorithms Deny 1 in 4 Post-Acute Care Requests: Probe
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
A Senate investigation found the three largest Medicare Advantage insurers have been increasingly denying seniors claims since adopting AI and algorithms to help streamline the approval process, reaching a nearly 1 in 4 denial rate since 2022.
First Edition: Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024
October 17, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Patients Are Relying on Lyft, Uber To Travel Far Distances to Medical Care
By Michael Scaturro
October 17, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Uber and Lyft have become a critical part of the nation’s infrastructure for transporting ailing people from their homes — even in rural areas — to medical care sites in major cities such as Atlanta.
