Fatal Overdoses In San Francisco Fall For Second Straight Month
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
With 10 fewer deaths in July, city officials are optimistic that the overdose crisis might be turning a corner. Separately, data show San Francisco’s homelessness problem is being driven more and more by drug and alcohol issues.
Eli Lilly Sends Cease-And-Desist Letters To Halt Sales Of Copycat Obesity Drugs
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
Also, Stat delves into questions about how Eli Lilly can keep innovating at a fast pace.
Employers Are Suing Aetna After Price Transparency Policies Show True Costs
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
As employers are gaining insight into insurers’ management via new price transparency policies, it’s triggering a wave a lawsuits from employers “plagued” by soaring health care spending, Modern Healthcare reports. In other industry news; Allstate, Elevance Health, AdventHealth, and more.
Rapidly Spreading Mpox In Africa Declared A Global Health Emergency
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
This is the second such declaration by the World Health Organization in two years, coming amid concerns over potential further spread in Africa and beyond. Also in the news: a West Nile virus case in Illinois; the summer covid wave; state fairs and bird flu; and more.
Bill Aiming To Boost Online Safety For Youths Stalls In Divided House
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
After easy passage in the Senate, the measure is running into a thornier path forward in the House, where some Republicans raised concerns about censorship and FTC powers.
Dementia Deaths Tripled Over Just 2 Decades In Alarming Trend: Study
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
In 1999, about 150,000 people in the U.S. died from dementia, but that number jumped to 450,000 by 2020. Related news stories report on how high blood pressure and shingles can affect cognition and Alzheimer’s risks as we age.
Brain Injury Study Findings Could Have Major Impact On Life-Support Choices
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
A study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine found that some unconscious people are aware of what’s happening around them, raising ethical questions about whether someone would want to live that way. Plus: A brain implant study has surpassed expectations.
Biden Admin Touts Billions In Savings As It Debuts Medicare Drug Discounts
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
The discounts, which will take effect in 2026, are a major milestone for Democrats and will apply to 10 often-prescribed medications: Eliquis, Jardiance, Xarelto, Januvia, Farxiga, Entresto, Enbrel, Imbruvica, Stelara, and the insulins Fiasp and NovoLog.
Montana Minors May Seek Abortions Without Parent’s OK, Court Rules
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
Children deserve the same right to privacy as adults when making decisions affecting their bodies, the state Supreme Court says. Meanwhile, Arizona’s high court ruled that election materials regarding abortion may include the words “unborn human being” when referring to an embryo or fetus.
First Edition: Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024
August 15, 2024
Morning Briefing
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Most Black Hospitals Across the South Closed Long Ago. Their Impact Endures.
By Lauren Sausser
August 15, 2024
KFF Health News Original
Taborian Hospital in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, was established to exclusively admit Black patients during a time when Jim Crow laws barred them from accessing the same health care facilities as white patients. Its closure underscores how hundreds of Black hospitals in the U.S. fell casualty to social progress.
The FDA Calls Them ‘Recalls,’ Yet the Targeted Medical Devices Often Remain in Use
By David Hilzenrath
August 15, 2024
KFF Health News Original
With medical devices, recalls are not always what they seem. In some recalls, including some of the most serious, the FDA and the manufacturers let doctors and hospitals continue to use the devices.
New Lines of Attack Form Against the Affordable Care Act
By Julie Appleby
August 15, 2024
KFF Health News Original
While fighting potential fraud in government programs has long been a conservative rallying cry, recent criticisms of the Affordable Care Act represent a renewed line of attack on the program when repealing it is unlikely.
A Call to Action Reignites Debate Over Opioid Settlements
By Aneri Pattani
August 14, 2024
KFF Health News Original
State and local governments have received more than $7.5 billion in opioid settlement funds to date, and everyone’s lining up to have their say in how it’s spent. Of course, that means there’s also plenty of controversy. The latest development comes this morning, as a coalition of 192 recovery and harm reduction organizations across dozens […]
Morning Briefing for Wednesday, August 14, 2024
August 14, 2024
Morning Briefing
Gun violence and kids, opioid settlements, abortion on the ballot, Biden’s ‘Cancer Moonshot,’ PFAS, Medicare drug premiums, and more
White House Is Trying To Mitigate Increase In Medicare Drug Premiums
August 14, 2024
Morning Briefing
Read recent pharmaceutical developments in KFF Health News’ Prescription Drug Watch roundup.
PFAS Levels In New Moms Might Be Linked To Shorter Breastfeeding
August 14, 2024
Morning Briefing
The New Hampshire study results were driven largely by PFOA, or perfluorooctanoate. And in other PFAS news, Air Force lawyers who are fighting an EPA order to clean up contaminated drinking water in Arizona say the Supreme Court’s recent “Chevron” ruling renders the agency’s decision moot.
