Medicaid Expansion Deal Struck By North Carolina Lawmakers
March 3, 2023
Morning Briefing
After months of negotiations, North Carolina Senate and House leaders announced the deal Thursday. The expansion is expected to make an additional 600,000 in the state eligible for Medicaid.
Walmart Health To Nearly Double Its In-Store Clinics In 2024
March 3, 2023
Morning Briefing
The big retailer is “eyeing more Medicare Advantage business,” Axios says, with 28 additional health clinics to go into select Walmart stores — including in Missouri and Arizona. Reuters reports that electronics retailer Best Buy also has its eye on the health care market.
Walgreens Says It Will Stop Selling Abortion Pills In Many Red States
March 3, 2023
Morning Briefing
The pharmacy chain, under pressure from nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general, says it won’t dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their physical stores in those states. The list includes Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana, where abortion is still legal.
Republicans Lay Groundwork To Go On Offense Over Medicare Cuts
March 3, 2023
Morning Briefing
Axios reports that a group aligned with House Republican leadership will spend over $2 million to push messaging that paints President Joe Biden as the one who is eyeing Medicare cuts.
First Edition: March 3, 2023
March 3, 2023
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Schools Struggle With Lead in Water While Awaiting Federal Relief
By Katheryn Houghton
March 3, 2023
KFF Health News Original
President Joe Biden said in his State of the Union address that federal funds will pay to replace lead pipes in hundreds of thousands of schools and child care centers. In the meantime, schools are dealing with high lead levels now.
Guns Are the Biggest Public Health Threat Kids Face. Why Aren’t They Getting the Message?
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
March 3, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Today’s public service announcements on gun safety feel somewhat sanitized. It’s time to act with the same kind of visceral public campaign that helped de-glorify smoking. Would filmmakers commit to making action movies without guns, just as filmmakers stopped making smoking glamorous in films?
Alto riesgo y máximas ganancias: reguladores se preocupan por el auge del levantamiento de glúteos en Florida
By Daniel Chang
March 3, 2023
KFF Health News Original
El forense del condado de Miami-Dade ha documentado casi tres docenas de muertes de pacientes de cirugía estética desde 2009, de los cuales 26 fueron consecuencia de un levantamiento de glúteos brasileño.
Shaved Costs, High Risk, Maximum Profits: Regulators Worry About Florida’s Butt Lift Boom
By Daniel Chang
March 3, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Social media marketing lures people to South Florida’s lucrative cosmetic surgery scene with the promise of cheap Brazilian butt lifts. But some researchers, patient advocates, and surgeon groups say that the risks of the procedure are generally not understood by prospective patients, and that an unsafe number of surgeries can be performed per day in office settings, maximizing profits.
Decisión de Eli Lilly de bajar el precio de su insulina logrará cambios históricos en los costos
By Bram Sable-Smith and Samantha Young
March 2, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Expertos en precios de medicamentos celebraron la noticia de Eli Lilly y otros esfuerzos. Y estas otras iniciativas para llevar al mercado insulina de menor costo, a su vez, presionarían a Eli Lilly para que mantuviera sus precios bajos.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': March Medicaid Madness
March 2, 2023
Podcast
President Joe Biden and Republicans in Congress spent last month sparring over whether to shield Medicare and Social Security from budget cuts — leading some to wonder if Medicaid was on the table instead. Biden and Democrats say no, but some Republicans seem eager to trim federal spending on the health program for Americans with low incomes. And ready or not, artificial intelligence is coming to medical care. Benefits, as well as unintended consequences, are likely. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of STAT News, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KHN’s chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more.
Eli Lilly Slashed Insulin Prices. This Starts a Race to the Bottom.
By Bram Sable-Smith and Samantha Young
March 2, 2023
KFF Health News Original
Eli Lilly’s news that it plans to cut insulin costs for patients will help, not hinder, the recent efforts in California and by entrepreneurs such as Mark Cuban to offer lower-cost alternatives, drug pricing experts said.
LA Students’ Medical, Mental Health Records Leaked By Hackers
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
The data, including sensitive personal information, are appearing on the dark web via a ransomware group that has been targeting academic institutions, Bloomberg reports. California’s plan to detain more people with mental illnesses is among other news from the state.
Research Roundup: Lewy Body Dementia; Osteoporosis; Kidney Stones; Covid
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Workers At Ohio Train Incident Scene Report Illnesses
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
Some workers who cleaned up the aftermath of the toxic train incident in Ohio reported migraines and nausea, the Hill reports. Meanwhile, some Pennsylvania residents near the site say they are left out of recovery efforts, and the Biden administration expanded door-to-door health surveys there.
Black Americans Twice As Likely To Use ER Facilities For Mental Care
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report says Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to go to hospital emergency departments for mental health care than white Americans; Axios links this to which groups face extra barriers to finding care. Meanwhile, a push to ban TikTok advances.
Estimates Say 300,000 In Massachusetts Will Fall Off MassHealth Rolls
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
The Boston Globe says around 2.3 million people were enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program in February, up 25% from before the pandemic, but as the normal eligibility process restarts in April, the figure may fall. Among other news, efforts to restrict gender-affirming care advance in some states.
In First-Of-Its-Kind Case, Health Care CEO Charged With Insider Trading
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
Terren Peizer, chairman and CEO of Ontrak, a telehealth provider, is accused of selling millions of dollars worth of company stock just before his company disclosed the loss of Cigna as a major customer, news outlets report. A lawyer for Peizer insisted the CEO is innocent and said “the government has clearly overreached in this case.”
White House Funds Push To Capture Covid Relief Fraudsters, Reclaim Money
March 2, 2023
Morning Briefing
The Biden administration announced Thursday that it will earmark $1.6 billion for law enforcement “strike forces” to track down and prosecute scammers who misused covid relief funds.