First Edition: Monday, Jan. 6, 2024
January 6, 2025
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Listen: NPR and KFF Health News Explore How Racism and Violence Hurt Health
By Cara Anthony
January 6, 2025
KFF Health News Original
KFF Health News Midwest correspondent Cara Anthony and Emily Kwong, host of NPR’s podcast “Shortwave,” talk about Black families living in the aftermath of lynchings and police killings.
Health Insurers Limit Coverage of Prosthetic Limbs, Questioning Their Medical Necessity
By Michelle Andrews
January 6, 2025
KFF Health News Original
Advocates say it is discrimination and are arguing for “insurance fairness” on the grounds that people who have joints surgically replaced typically don’t face the same kinds of coverage challenges.
Habitat Health’s PACE Center Is Ready To Receive Participants In Sacramento
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
The Medicare-Medicaid program provides health care services, meals, and social interaction for older adults. Habitat Health also plans to open a facility in Los Angeles in 2026. More news comes from New Hampshire, Florida, North Carolina, and elsewhere.
Morning Briefing for Friday, January 3, 2025
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Cancer warning on alcohol, opioid epidemic’s ‘fourth wave,’ bird flu, weight loss drugs, health care startups, kidney stones in kids, and more.
Surgeon General Wants Alcohol To Carry Cancer Warning Labels
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory Friday that warns that alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of cancer and cancer deaths in the U.S., after tobacco and obesity.
Safety Measures Added For Farmers Seeking Bird Flu Reimbursement
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Farmers will now have to prove that they did everything possible to prevent outbreaks before they can receive governmental indemnity payments. Also in the news: President Joe Biden nearly doubles funds to fend off H5N1; Norovirus cases surge; and more.
Eli Lilly Wants to Join Lawsuit Over Compounded Weight-Loss Drugs
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
The lawsuit was brought against the FDA after the agency declared an end to the shortage that allowed pharmacies to sell compound versions of the popular weight loss drugs, but Eli Lilly said it cannot rely on the FDA to protect its interests. Other news is on the surge of GLP-1 use; insurance coverage of obesity medicine; and more.
States Enact Laws To Protect Reproductive Health Data
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Many laws have been put in place to protect individuals’ reproductive health data and to keep it from being used to incriminate patients or target providers. Reuters explores the concern about the use of data obtained through “geofencing.”
Certificate-Of-Need Law Hampers Health Care Start-Ups
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
The law is supposed to prevent market saturation by requiring proof of need for the services in a community, but it also allows competitors to challenge newcomers and prevent them from entering the market. A lawsuit in Nebraska is challenging that law.
‘Speckles’ Within Cancerous Tumors Can Determine Best Treatments
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Meanwhile, increased rates of cancer in the under 50 crowd may be caused by gut issues; certain foods, including licorice, may help covid patients; Neumora Therapeutics depression treatment fails trials; and more.
DNA Or Diet? Maybe Both. Number Of Kids With Kidney Stones Is Up
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Medical experts have seen a significant increase in the number of children suffering from kidney stones. Some doctors think a diet full of over-processed and sodium-rich foods might be to blame.
First Edition: Friday, Jan. 3, 2025
January 3, 2025
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Syringe Exchange Fears Hobble Fight Against West Virginia HIV Outbreak
By Taylor Sisk
January 3, 2025
KFF Health News Original
Health workers and researchers say an HIV outbreak in West Virginia that three years ago was called “the most concerning” in the U.S. continues to spread after state and local officials restricted syringe service programs.
Stimulant Users Are Caught in Fatal ‘Fourth Wave’ of Opioid Epidemic
By Lynn Arditi, The Public’s Radio
January 3, 2025
KFF Health News Original
The migration of fentanyl into illicit stimulants such as cocaine is especially dangerous for people who are not regular opioid users. That’s because they have a low tolerance for opioids, putting them at greater risk of an overdose. They also often don’t take precautions — such as not using alone and carrying the opioid reversal medication naloxone — so they’re unprepared if they overdose.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Francis Collins on Supporting NIH and Finding Common Ground
January 2, 2025
Podcast
Francis Collins led the National Institutes of Health for 12 years, under three presidents. During the Biden administration, he added White House science adviser to his long list of roles. Now he runs his own lab on the NIH campus, and his latest book, “The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith, and Trust,” came out in September. In this special holiday episode of KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” Collins joins host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss health misinformation, the Trump administration’s plans for the NIH, and bringing together a fractured society.
UnitedHealth Doctors Got Diagnoses Checklists To Boost Medicare Payouts
January 2, 2025
Morning Briefing
The Wall Street Journal reports how UnitedHealth provided lists of potential, often obscure diagnoses to its doctors and forced them to weigh in on them for each Medicare Advantage patient, in order to capitalize on the government system that pays private insurers based on how sick doctors say a patient is.
AI System Identifies Early Warning Signs Of Atrial Fibrillation
January 2, 2025
Morning Briefing
The tool developed by British researchers examines patient data to calculate risks for people who might develop the condition. Meanwhile, Stat reports on a study of pulse oximeters, which are currently not calibrated to work as well for people with darker skin. Other news includes antibiotic resistance, GLP-1 withdrawal, and more.
Maryland Extends Medicaid Enrollment Freeze On Behavioral Health Providers
January 2, 2025
Morning Briefing
Also in the news: Experts in Texas make a case for mental health funds; New Yorkers will receive paid leave for prenatal care; Colorado explores psychedelic therapy; and more.
