WinnDems News

The high price of lifesaving tuberculosis drugs makes them inaccessible to many who need them most. On this episode of “An Arm and a Leg,” hear how a decades-long global fight to reform drug patents is helping to lower the cost. http://dlvr.it/SyB7Tx

Completing a routine depression screening questionnaire during an annual checkup is cost-free under federal law. But, as one woman discovered, answering a doctor’s follow-up questions might not be. http://dlvr.it/Sy7X3q

The number of men in the state taking paid family leave to bond with a new child has risen nearly 20% since the start of the pandemic. http://dlvr.it/Sy7WxF

KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart discusses big developments in street medicine, both statewide and nationally. http://dlvr.it/Sy1fPS

The House finally has a new speaker: Mike Johnson (R-La). He’s a relative newcomer who’s been a lower-level member of the House GOP leadership. And while he’s an outspoken opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage, his record on other health issues is scant. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health appears on track to be getting a new director, and Georgia’s Medicaid work requirement experiment is off to a very slow start. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. http://dlvr.it/Sy1P61

Safe storage maps show gun owners where to put their firearms for safekeeping if they experience a mental health crisis. The idea has support among some gun enthusiasts, but legal obstacles threaten wider adoption. http://dlvr.it/Sxz2C0

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation expanding paid sick leave to five days, extending bereavement leave to miscarriages and failed adoptions, and approving an eventual $25-an-hour health care minimum wage. Still, in a possible sign of national ambitions, the Democrat vetoed free condoms in schools and refused to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms. http://dlvr.it/SxwPJJ

What good is a vaccine when there is no rice? Episode 7 of “Eradicating Smallpox” explores the barriers public health workers face in communities where people’s basic needs aren’t being met. http://dlvr.it/SxskTj

A new, rapid genetic test shows promise in increasing diagnoses and improving treatment for some children with rare genetic conditions. Many insurers won’t cover it, but Florida's Medicaid program is among those that see benefits — and, potentially, savings. http://dlvr.it/Sxq9dc

State and local governments will receive a windfall of more than $50 billion over 18 years from settlements with companies that made, sold, or distributed opioid painkillers. Using the funds for law enforcement has triggered important questions about what the money was meant for. http://dlvr.it/Sxq9Yd

In Los Angeles and elsewhere, some parents are having trouble finding the new pediatric covid shot, especially for young children. Not all pediatricians or pharmacies have it and can administer it, even if vaccines.gov says they can. http://dlvr.it/SxkDLF

The legislation bans the use of four additives that are already prohibited in many other countries but remain in popular U.S. foods. Advocates say states need to act because the FDA has done little. http://dlvr.it/Sxj36N

Monica Bertagnolli, the president’s choice to head the National Institutes of Health, appeared before a Senate committee this week. Her confirmation has been held up by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has demanded President Joe Biden work more aggressively to lower prescription drug prices. http://dlvr.it/SxhBC9

Open enrollment for Medicare beneficiaries with private health plans began Oct. 15, to be followed Nov. 1 by open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. The selection for both is large — often too large to be navigated easily alone. And people who choose incorrectly can end up with unaffordable medical bills. Meanwhile, those on both sides of the abortion issue are looking to Ohio’s November ballot measure on abortion to see whether anti-abortion forces can break their losing streak in statewide ballot questions since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. http://dlvr.it/Sxgnxc

Homicides, suicides, and drug overdoses have driven rising rates of pregnancy-related death in the U.S. This fall, six states received federal funding for substance use treatment interventions to prevent at least some of those deaths. http://dlvr.it/SxfSb1

This month, the federal government started paying for treatments delivered outside hospitals and clinics, expanding funding for “street medicine” teams that treat homeless patients. California led the way on the change, which could help sick and vulnerable patients get healthy, sober, and, in some cases, into housing. http://dlvr.it/SxfSYv

Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi was pressed by a House Ways and Means subcommittee to explain why so many poor, disabled, or retired people are suddenly hit with demands that can reach tens of thousands of dollars or more. http://dlvr.it/SxdhF4

The popular actress and author, who died this week, also can be remembered as a progenitor of selling dubious medical information to a trusting public. http://dlvr.it/SxdNtf

A KFF survey of employer health benefits shows that 28% of large U.S. companies have limited or no access to abortion under company health insurance. http://dlvr.it/Sxbsb5

As homelessness explodes across California, so does the number of expectant mothers on the streets. Street medicine doctors are getting paid more by Medicaid and offering some of those mothers-to-be a chance to overcome addiction and reverse chronic diseases so they can have healthy babies — and perhaps keep them. http://dlvr.it/SxbsZG

Some Social Security beneficiaries say the government is clawing back benefits after they received covid stimulus payments that were supposed to be exempt from asset limits http://dlvr.it/SxbsTX

Michigan is one of the few remaining abortion havens in the Midwest. But getting an abortion in that state is still more difficult than it should be, providers say. http://dlvr.it/SxYGvk

School nurses treat children daily for a wide range of illnesses and injuries, and sometimes serve as a young patient’s only health provider. They also function as a point person for critical public health interventions. Yet many states don’t require them, and school districts struggle to hire them. http://dlvr.it/SxVgtX

KFF Health News senior correspondent Angela Hart leads a discussion about the role women play as California grapples with a shortage of health care providers. http://dlvr.it/SxVgr4

Fall is the time when enrollees in the federal program for older people and people with certain disabilities can make changes to their health and drug plans. The decision can be complicated, but here are some key points to keep in mind. http://dlvr.it/SxVgpS

The American College of Emergency Physicians agreed to withdraw its 2009 white paper on excited delirium, removing the only official medical pillar of support left for the theory that has played a key role in absolving police of culpability for in-custody deaths. http://dlvr.it/SxVgk0

Flu, covid, and respiratory viruses kill thousands of Americans each year, but the latest batch of vaccines could save lives. http://dlvr.it/SxNXRS

A rise in cases of Vibrio vulnificus and its spread northward have heightened concern about the bacterium, which can cause human tissue to rot and skin to decay. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to make more doctors aware of the dangerous pathogen. http://dlvr.it/SxNXCx

A bitterly divided Congress managed to keep the federal government running for several more weeks, while House Republicans struggle — again — to choose a leader. Meanwhile, many people removed from state Medicaid rolls are not finding their way to Affordable Care Act insurance, and a major investigation by The Washington Post attributes the decline in U.S. life expectancy to more than covid-19 and opioids. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews physician-author-playwright Samuel Shem about “Our Hospital,” his new novel about the health workforce in the age of covid. http://dlvr.it/SxMDVq

Teresa Johnson has been in extreme pain for more than a year after what she believes was a severe allergic reaction to iodine. Her Medi-Cal plan approved her referral to a specialist, but it took her numerous phone calls, multiple complaints, and several months to book an appointment. http://dlvr.it/SxKycg

California is the first state to ban the controversial diagnosis known as “excited delirium,” which has been used increasingly to justify excessive force by law enforcement. A human rights advocate described the law, signed this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, as a “watershed moment” in criminal justice. http://dlvr.it/SxKyVJ

Congress is beginning to take action on the Social Security Administration’s clawbacks of payments it mistakenly made to poor, retired, and disabled Americans. http://dlvr.it/SxKG4N

A new rule sets specific treatment metrics for suspected sepsis cases in an effort to reduce deaths, but some experts say the measures could add to antibiotic overuse and need to be more flexible. http://dlvr.it/SxHQTD

Pharmaceutical patents can drive up the costs of lifesaving medications. Hear what author and YouTube star John Green is doing to make tuberculosis drugs more accessible to the people who need them most. http://dlvr.it/SxHQLt

In a torrent of lawsuits, patients accuse Florida device maker Exactech of hiding knee and hip implant defects for years. The company denies the allegations. http://dlvr.it/SxDlFr

Trust is hard to build and easy to break. In Episode 6 of the “Eradicating Smallpox” podcast, meet Chandrakant Pandav, a health worker who used laughter and song to try to rebuild trust with communities harmed by India’s sometimes violent and coercive family planning campaign. http://dlvr.it/SxDlDK

Many women, especially Black women, have reported discrimination in maternity care, but expectant mothers lack tools to see where this happens. Funding and regulations to measure disparities have been slow in arriving, but some innovators are trying to fill the void. http://dlvr.it/Sx4Mdq

Former President Donald Trump, who’s running for another term in the White House, recently blamed drug shortages on his successor, President Joe Biden. Our findings don’t align with Trump’s claims; by some measures, drug shortages increased more on Trump’s watch than on Biden’s. http://dlvr.it/Sx4Mb0

Software sifts through millions of medical records to match patients with similar diagnoses and characteristics and then predicts what kind of care an individual will need and for how long. New federal rules will ensure human experts are part of the process. http://dlvr.it/Sx1nts

In this special encore episode, KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” asks three people who have served as the nation’s top health official: What does a day in the life of the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services look like? And how much of their agenda is set by the White House? Taped in June before a live audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, in Aspen, Colorado, host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner leads a rare conversation with the current and two former HHS secretaries. Secretary Xavier Becerra and former secretaries Kathleen Sebelius and Alex Azar talk candidly about what it takes to run a department with more than 80,000 employees and a budget larger than those of many countries. http://dlvr.it/Sx1ntC

In the wake of an investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group, the SSA acting commissioner said a special teaml will review “overpayment policies and procedures” and report directly back to her. http://dlvr.it/Sx123g

Dollar General’s pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural America’s primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism. http://dlvr.it/SwzBHm

Colorado is among several states that ensure schools have access to the opioid overdose reversal medication naloxone for free or at reduced cost. But most districts hadn’t signed up by the start of the school year for a state distribution program amid stigma around the lifesaving treatment. http://dlvr.it/SwwbHl

The American College of Emergency Physicians will vote in early October on whether to disavow its 2009 research paper on excited delirium, which has been cited as a cause of death and used as a legal defense by police officers in several high-profile cases. http://dlvr.it/Swt3K8

Mississippi has the highest rate of Black maternal mortality and morbidity in the U.S. Now, it also has a federal grant to help in rural areas. The award could signal more flexibility from federal officials. http://dlvr.it/Swt3Gn