Latest Morning Briefing Stories
Proposed Rule Would Make Hospital Prices Even More Transparent
A Biden administration proposal would help standardize the data on prices that hospitals provide to patients, increase its usefulness to consumers, and boost enforcement. Previous rules gave hospitals too many loopholes.
Pruebas de sangre para detectar cáncer generan esperanza, pero también preocupación
Muchos expertos dicen que aún no está claro si las pruebas hacen más bien que mal, y que tener una ya disponible comercialmente les preocupa.
Watch: As Opioid Settlement Money Starts to Flow, States and Local Officials Debate How to Use It
PBS NewsHour featured KFF Health News’ Aneri Pattani as it reported on how this debate is playing out in North Carolina and Ohio.
A Blood Test That Screens for Cancer: Does It Do More Harm Than Good?
The first of a new wave of cancer-detection blood tests likely saved Gilbert Milam Jr.’s life. But many cancer researchers, wary of overtesting, argue it’s premature to prescribe the Galleri test widely.
New Alzheimer’s Drug Raises Hopes — Along With Questions
Clinics serving Alzheimer’s patients are working out the details of who will get treated with the new drug Leqembi. It won’t be for everyone with memory-loss symptoms.
Your Exorbitant Medical Bill, Brought to You by the Latest Hospital Merger
After decades of unchecked mergers, health care is the land of giants, with huge medical systems monopolizing care in many cities, states, and even whole regions of the country. This decreases patient choice, impedes innovation, erodes quality of care, and raises prices. And federal regulators have been slow to act.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': On Abortion Rights, Ohio Is the New Kansas
Nearly a year to the day after Kansas voters surprised the nation by defeating an anti-abortion ballot question, Ohio voters defeated a similar, if cagier, effort to limit access in that state. This week, they rejected an effort to raise the threshold for approval of future ballot measures from a simple majority, which would have made it harder to protect abortion access with yet another ballot question come November. Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance has dropped to an all-time low, though few noticed. Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post, and Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Kate McEvoy, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors, about how the “Medicaid unwinding” is going, as millions have their eligibility for coverage rechecked.
Voters Rejected an Anti-Abortion Measure. State GOP Lawmakers Passed a Similar Bill Anyway.
The new Montana law contains a couple of significant differences from the measure voters rebuffed last fall.
As a Union Pushes to Cap Hospital CEO Pay, It’s Accused of Playing Politics
A union is asking Los Angeles city voters to cap hospital executive pay at the U.S. president’s salary. However, hospitals accuse the union of using the proposal as political leverage, and policy experts question whether the policy, if enacted, would be workable.
Seeking Medicare Coverage for Weight Loss Drugs, Pharma Giant Courts Black Influencers
Novo Nordisk, the dominant company in the multibillion-dollar market for weight loss drugs, focuses on Black lawmakers and opinion leaders to spread the message that obesity is a chronic disease that needs treatment.
What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt
Within two years of North Carolina’s public university system going into business with AccessOne to finance patients’ payment plans, nearly half of its patients were in loans that charged interest. As federal scrutiny increases on lenders, KFF Health News is sharing that contract and others obtained through public records requests.
Amid Lack of Accountability for Bias in Maternity Care, a California Family Seeks Justice
April Valentine’s family wants to know whether racism could have played a role in her death. A KFF Health News analysis shows state regulators are ill-equipped to find discrimination in its many forms.
As Water Reuse Expands, Proponents Battle the ‘Yuck’ Factor
As drought and climate change threaten water supplies, municipalities around the country are ramping up water reuse efforts. But they have to overcome the “yuk” factor.
Survey: Americans Want Weight Loss Drugs Despite High Cost
A new poll reveals enthusiasm for a pricey new generation of weight loss drugs, but interest drops if users potentially have to deal with weekly injections, lack of insurance coverage, or a need to continue the medications indefinitely to avoid regaining weight.
Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized by Medicare?
Each year, Medicare punishes hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and high rates of infections and patient injuries. Check out which hospitals have been penalized.
Más niños pequeños se intoxican al inhalar la nicotina líquida de los cigarrillos electrónicos
Miles de menores al año están expuestos a la nicotina líquida de los cigarrillos electrónicos, también conocidos como vapeadores. Para un niño pequeño, incluso unas pocas gotas pueden ser fatales.
‘Conscience’ Bills Let Medical Providers Opt Out of Providing a Wide Range of Care
Opponents of the wave of state legislation say the measures place health providers’ preferences over patients’ rights.
Doctors Sound Alarm About Child Nicotine Poisoning as Vapes Flood the US Market
Popular e-cigarettes lack packaging that stops kids from consuming the hazardous nicotine inside.
The Real Costs of the New Alzheimer’s Drug, Most of Which Will Fall to Taxpayers
The annual cost of lecanemab treatment quadruples if the expense of brain scans to monitor for bleeds and other associated care is factored in. The full financial toll likely puts it beyond reach for low-income seniors at risk of Alzheimer’s, experts say.
Repeating History: California County Plugs Budget Gap With Opioid Settlement Cash
State attorneys general vowed that opioid settlement funds — unlike the tobacco settlement of the 1990s — would go toward tackling the underlying crisis. But in Mendocino County, officials have found a way to use some of its share to help fill a budget shortfall — a throwback to what agreement architects hoped to avoid.
