Medicare Premiums Will Go Up 6% Next Year, CMS Announces
October 13, 2023
Morning Briefing
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced a 6% hike in premiums for Medicare Part A and B in 2024. Meanwhile, open enrollment for next year’s plans starts this weekend.
Will the US Overcome Its Covid Complacency Even as the Threat Returns?
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
June 15, 2022
KFF Health News Original
One million Americans have died from covid-19 — far more per capita than in any other developed country. A new variant is doubling case rates in some states, and more than 300 people are dying a day. But our nation’s pandemic response has become mild-mannered and performative, backed by neither money, urgency, nor enforcement.
Después de un aborto espontáneo, trabajadoras no tienen ni tiempo libre ni ayuda de las empresas
By Bryce Covert
January 26, 2022
KFF Health News Original
El aborto espontáneo, que se produce en una cuarta parte de los embarazos, es la forma más común de pérdida de un embarazo. Y, sin embargo, no hay leyes nacionales que protejan a las personas cuando necesitan tomarse un tiempo para afrontar la pérdida.
Health Care Fraud Probe Leads To 193 People Charged In $2.75B Schemes
June 28, 2024
Morning Briefing
The charges stem from the illegal distribution of stimulants, improper billing for treatment, and filing false claims for telemedicine, the Justice Department says. In other news, public health entities and providers have been cautioned about the potential for phishing and ransomware attacks.
KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Dealing With Drug Prices
January 13, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Medicare officials tentatively plan to restrict the use of a controversial Alzheimer’s drug to only those patients participating in clinical trials, while the Department of Health and Human Services looks into lowering the monthly Medicare Part B premium. Meanwhile, covid confusion still reigns, as the Biden administration moves, belatedly, to make more masks and tests available. Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Did a Military Lab Spill Anthrax Into Public Waterways? New Book Reveals Details of a US Leak
By Alison Young
April 25, 2023
KFF Health News Original
“Pandora’s Gamble” describes how 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of wastewater potentially containing anthrax, Ebola, and other deadly pathogens spilled from an Army facility in Frederick, Maryland, in 2018.
Biden Signs $1.2T Spending Bill That Includes $117B For HHS
March 25, 2024
Morning Briefing
Axios reports that the funding bill “keeps health programs near status quo.” Also in the news: the 14th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, the Health Care Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2024, a new antibody to protect against covid, and more.
GSK’s Widely Used RSV Shot Retains 43% Potency In Third Year, Data Show
October 9, 2024
Morning Briefing
Meanwhile, demand for vaccines targeting respiratory syncytial virus are down in the U.S. Also, if you are uncertain about whether you might have covid or the flu, the newly approved at-home Healgen Rapid Check COVID-19/Flu A&B Antigen Test can give you results in 15 minutes.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': The Kids Are Not OK
February 16, 2023
Podcast
A new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that teenagers, particularly girls, are reporting all-time high rates of violence and profound mental distress. Meanwhile, both sides in the abortion debate are anxiously waiting for a district court decision in Texas that could effectively revoke the FDA’s 22-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more.
HRSA Policy Change Could Mean Some Outpatient Clinics Lose 340B Discounts
October 27, 2023
Morning Briefing
The Health Resources and Services Administration reversed a policy change which could hit some hospital outpatient clinics’ eligibility for the 340B drug discount program. The change was made in 2020 to expedite the certification process, and hospitals had expected it to remain permanent.
While Inflation Takes a Toll on Seniors, Billions of Dollars in Benefits Go Unused
By Judith Graham
September 12, 2022
KFF Health News Original
With prices of necessities rising dramatically, many older Americans are having trouble making ends meet. They often don’t know that help is available from a variety of programs, and some sources of financial assistance are underused.
White House Launches Push For Access, Training On Overdose Reversal Meds
March 13, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Biden administration says that part of its efforts to stem the national overdose crisis will include “flooding the zone” with naloxone, a medication that can reverse an opioid overdose. Other federal news reports on the 340B drug discount program and the Change Healthcare hack.
Many Preventive Medical Services Cost Patients Nothing. Will a Texas Court Decision Change That?
By Julie Appleby
September 9, 2022
KFF Health News Original
A federal judge in Texas issued a decision this week that affects the Affordable Care Act. It says one way that preventive services are selected for no-cost coverage is unconstitutional.
As Links to MS Deepen, Researchers Accelerate Efforts to Develop an Epstein-Barr Vaccine
By Liz Szabo
October 19, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Recent leaps in medical research have lent urgency to the quest to develop a vaccine against Epstein-Barr, a ubiquitous virus that has been linked to a range of illnesses, from mononucleosis to multiple sclerosis and several cancers.
Your Flu Shot Is Missing Something This Year — And You’ll Be Glad For It
October 18, 2024
Morning Briefing
NPR reports that the FDA is not including one of the strains of flu — B/Yamagata — in this year’s recipe because covid prevention initiatives appear to have pushed it into oblivion. Meanwhile, whooping cough reaches its highest spread since 2014. Have you updated your Tdap shot? You need it every 10 years, the CDC says.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Part I: The State of the Abortion Debate 50 Years After ‘Roe’
By Terry Byrne
January 26, 2023
Podcast
In Part I of this special two-part episode, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Varney of KHN join KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss how the abortion debate has evolved since the Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion in 2022, and what might be the flashpoints for 2023. Also in this episode, Rovner interviews Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, about changing reproductive policies in the states.
In California, Abortion Could Become a Constitutional Right. So Could Birth Control.
By Rachel Bluth
August 5, 2022
KFF Health News Original
Proposition 1, the constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion in California’s constitution, would also lock in a right that has gotten less attention: the right to “choose or refuse” contraception.
Mental Health Crisis Teams Aren’t Just for Cities Anymore
By Tony Leys Arielle Zionts
October 3, 2022
KFF Health News Original
In many cities, social workers and counselors are responding to mental health emergencies that used to be solely handled by police. That approach is spreading to rural areas even though mental health professionals are scarcer and travel distances are longer.
