Kaiser Health News

Democrats Rally Against Trump’s Supreme Court Pick to Protect Health Care Act

Though divided on abortion, Senate Democrats are banding together against District Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh over fears his confirmation could threaten protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

Senate Democrats, who are divided on abortion policy, are instead turning to health care as a rallying cry for opposition to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee.

By:

Julie Rovner

HIV Prevention Drugs Out of Reach for Many at Risk

Many at risk for the virus cannot afford a drug that's costly but is highly effective at preventing treatment.

Public health officials are expanding efforts to get the HIV prevention pill into the hands of those at risk, in a nationwide effort to curb infections.

By:

Shefali Luthra and Anna Gorman

Prisons Fail to Offer Cure to Inmates with Deadly Hepatitis C

State prisons across the U.S. are not treating nearly all infected inmates for hepatitis C, a deadly liver disease that is curable with new, expensive treatments.

State prisons across the U.S. are failing to treat at least 144,000 inmates who have hepatitis C, a curable but potentially fatal liver disease, according to a recent survey and subsequent interviews of state corrections departments.

By:

Siraphob Thanthong-Knight

After Opioid Overdose, Only 30 Percent Get Medicine To Treat Addiction

More than 115 Americans die every day of opioid overdose. Many more who overdose survive due to the antidote medication naloxone.

By:

Martha Bebinger WBUR

How America Got Hooked On A Deadly Drug

Purdue Pharma left almost nothing to chance in its whirlwind marketing of its new painkiller OxyContin.

By:

Fred Schulte

With The Rise Of Legal Weed, Drug Education Moves From ‘Don’t’ to ‘Delay’

California legalized marijuana in 2016, and this past New Year’s Eve eager customers lined up in the darkness outside medical marijuana dispensaries across the state, ready to start shopping at the stroke of midnight.

By:

Carrie Feibel

Medicare Financial Outlook Worsens

Medicare’s financial condition has taken a turn for the worse because of predicted higher hospital spending and lower tax revenues that fund the program, the federal government reported Tuesday.

By:

Phil Galewitz

Drugmakers Blamed for Blocking Generics Have Jacked Up Prices , Cost U.S. Billions

An analysis shows that drug companies that may have worked delay the entrance of cheaper competitors onto the market, which resulted in higher prices and cost taxpayers more money over time.

Makers of brand-name drugs called out by the Trump administration for potentially stalling generic competition have hiked their prices by double-digit percentages since 2012 and cost Medicare and Medicaid nearly $12 billion in 2016, a Kaiser Health News analysis has found.

By:

Sydney Lupkin Kaiser Health News

Nation’s Top Doc Wants The Overdose Antidote Widely On Hand. Is That Feasible?

Naloxone, which is a drug that can keep drug users alive by reversing opioid overdoses, is viewed by many as the cornerstone of the harm-reduction.

When Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued an advisory calling for more people to carry naloxone — not just people at overdose risk, but also friends and family — experts and advocates were al

By:

Shefali Luthra and Rachel Bluth, Kaiser Health News

Oregon Medical Students Face Tough Test: Talking About Dying

In addition to clinical skills, OHSU medical students are learning to show know how to admit a medical mistake, deliver a death notice and communicate effectively about other emotionally and ethically fraught issues.

The distraught wife paced the exam room, anxious for someone to come and tell her about her husband. She’d brought him to the emergency department that afternoon when he complained about chest discomfort.

By:

JoNel Aleccia

The Lund Report

Oregon's most vital source of health news