First Edition: Friday, Sept. 20, 2024
September 20, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Rural NC County Is Set To Reopen Its Shuttered Hospital With Help From a New Federal Program
By Taylor Sisk
September 20, 2024
KFF Health News Original
One rural North Carolina county is on track to be among the first where a hospital reopens owing to a new federal hospital classification meant to help save small, struggling facilities.
Fighting Staff Shortages With Scholarships, California Bill Aims To Boost Mental Health Courts
By Molly Castle Work
September 20, 2024
KFF Health News Original
A new bill would create a scholarship program for students who agree to work with specialized courts in California to get patients into treatment, but some people argue the state shouldn’t restrict scholarship aid to a new, untested program given broader behavioral health workforce shortages.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': American Health Under Trump — Past, Present, and Future
September 19, 2024
Podcast
Dreaming of a Trump victory, Republicans have a wish list of health policy changes — including loosening Affordable Care Act regulations to make cheaper coverage available and ending Medicare drug price negotiations. Meanwhile, after a publicly reported death stemming from a state abortion ban, Vice President Kamala Harris is emphasizing the consequences of Trump’s work to overturn Roe v. Wade. Tami Luhby of CNN, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Joanne Kenen of Politico and Johns Hopkins University join KFF Health News senior editor Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more.
Las clínicas de abortos, y sus pacientes, se movilizan a medida que cambian las leyes estatales
By Bram Sable-Smith
September 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
El fallo de la Corte dejó en manos de los estados las políticas sobre el aborto. Desde entonces, 14 estados promulgaron prohibiciones a la práctica que contemplan unas pocas excepciones, mientras que otros han restringido el acceso.
Abortion Clinics — And Patients — Are on the Move as State Laws Shift
By Bram Sable-Smith
September 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Last month, Planned Parenthood Great Plains opened its newest clinic in Pittsburg, Kan., a city of about 21,000 people mere minutes from the borders of both Missouri and Oklahoma. It’s the second new clinic the regional affiliate has opened in Kansas in a little over two years, to accommodate the growing number of patients coming […]
Gov. Beshear Halts Conversion Therapy For Minors In Kentucky
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
The Democratic governor’s executive order that outlaws the disproved practice, which is intended to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation, goes into effect immediately. Plus: news from Indiana, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Alabama, California, and elsewhere.
CDC Reports 22 More Oropouche Virus Cases
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
The total number of Oropouche cases has now reached 74 across five states, mostly in Florida. In other news, a study found that cancer patients who are overweight are more likely to receive a second cancer diagnosis later.
Research Roundup: Diabetes Drugs; Covid; Cardiometabolic Diseases
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
Each week, KFF Health News compiles a selection of health policy studies and briefs.
Report: US Ranks Worst In Health Care Among 10 Developed Nations
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
NBC News reports on the new data from The Commonwealth Fund, which found that Americans die the youngest and experience the most preventable deaths, despite that the U.S. spends nearly double what the other nine countries do. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Francis Collins are also in the news.
House Bill To Extend Pediatric Rare Disease Aid Clears Committee
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
Passage of the measure would tee it up to be added to government funding legislation. It also would ensure the voucher program would be in place another five years. Meanwhile, the House rejected the stopgap spending bill as the deadline to avert a government shutdown nears.
Ascension Suffered $1.3 Billion Hit From Cyberattack, Analysis Finds
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
The attack happened in May, forcing Ascension to close access to its electronic health records, and now financial data analyzed by STAT shows how much impact the hack had on the nonprofit hospital system. Separately, critics say the federal response to health industry cyberattacks is weak.
Neuralink ‘Blindsight’ Brain Implant Gets FDA ‘Breakthrough Device’ Nod
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
The device is a variant of Neuralink’s brain implant technology, in this case designed to “enable even those who have lost both eyes” to see, according to owner Elon Musk. Separately, progress is reported in a gene therapy program to beat macular degeneration.
Insurers Begin To Tackle Complex Mental Health Compliance Rules
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
The industry is tasked with bringing mental health services in line with medical benefits in an effort to make it easier for Americans to find the care they need. Elsewhere, St. Paul plans to streamline its 911 services, and 988 counselors contend with “bogus sex calls.”
First Edition: Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024
September 19, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Abortion Clinics — And Patients — Are on the Move, as State Laws Keep Shifting
By Bram Sable-Smith
Illustration by Oona Zenda
September 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Clinics in states where most abortions are legal, such as Kansas and Illinois, are reporting an influx of inquiries from patients hundreds of miles away — and are expanding in response. Despite the Supreme Court’s overturning of federal protections in 2022, abortions are now at their highest numbers in a decade.
California Medicaid Ballot Measure Is Popular, Well Funded — And Perilous, Opponents Warn
By Bernard J. Wolfson
September 19, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Proposition 35, which would use revenue from a tax on managed-care plans to raise the pay of health care providers who serve Medi-Cal patients, has united a broad swath of California’s health care, business, and political establishments. But a newly formed, smaller group of opponents says it will do more harm than good.
