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The Supreme Court on April 21 ruled that the abortion pill mifepristone should remain widely available while the lower courts consider the issue, blocking earlier rulings that banned or restricted access to the drug. Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ Julie Rovner joined NPR’s “Weekend All Things Considered” to discuss the complicated case.
A group of former professional athletes traveled to Jamaica to try psychedelics as a way to help cope with the aftereffects of concussions and a career of body-pounding injuries. Will this still largely untested treatment work?
Billions of dollars are headed to state and local governments to address the opioid crisis. Policy experts and advocates expect the federal government to play a role in overseeing the use of the money. Failure to do so, they say, could lead to wasted opportunities. And, since Medicaid helps pay health care costs, the feds could have a claim to portions of states’ opioid settlements.
The Supreme Court is considering the future of the abortion pill mifepristone, after GenBioPro sued the FDA over limitations that effectively block generic production of the drug, a major part of the market. Congress is considering proposals that would impose Medicaid work requirements, crack down on pharmacy benefit managers, and more. And President Joe Biden moved to expand health coverage to young immigrants known as “Dreamers.” Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News’ Mary Agnes Carey to discuss these issues and more.
Online platforms are overflowing with testimonials for GLP-1s. The drugs show promise for inducing weight loss, but many aren’t FDA-approved for that use.
Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
The legality and availability of the abortion pill mifepristone is in question after a federal judge in Texas canceled the FDA’s approval of the first drug used in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. A 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel overruled that decision in part, saying the pill should remain available, but only under the onerous restrictions in place before 2016. Meanwhile, another federal judge in Washington state issued a ruling in a separate case that conflicts with the Texas decision, ordering the FDA not to roll back any of its restrictions on the drug. Victoria Knight of Axios, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join Ńîąóĺú´«Ă˝Ň•îl Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Horizon Therapeutics, which Amgen is acquiring for about $28 billion, grew large by snapping up cheap drugs from other companies, marketing them to perfection, and jacking up prices.
The American Medical Association ducked the abortion issue for years and now sees its members’ professional opinions second-guessed by lawmakers and judges. PhRMA is following the same playbook.
Sarah Varney, a senior correspondent for KHN, joins Ali Rogin of PBS NewsHour to discuss the ruling by a federal judge in Texas that threatens nationwide access to the widely used abortion drug mifepristone, and a separate ruling in Washington state that reached the opposite conclusion.
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared that California would cut ties with Walgreens after the company said it would not distribute abortion pills in some states. But federal rules make it difficult for the state to unwind its Medicaid prescription drug agreement, which paid Walgreens $1.5 billion last year.
Pharmaceutical companies have put the brakes on many states’ ability to execute prisoners using lethal injections. Lacking alternatives, states are trying to keep the public from learning details about how they carry out executions.
Doctors have no national standards on when to order urine tests to check whether adult ADHD patients are properly taking their prescription stimulants. Some patients are subjected to much more frequent testing than others.
KHN and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media this week to discuss their stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.
The Vermont independent and former presidential candidate was all fire and brimstone at his first hearing on drug prices as head of the Senate HELP Committee. He also pursued a more modest goal of covid vaccine price reductions. It isn’t clear whether Sanders will succeed in even that, but he has put affordability front and center.
Medicare Advantage, the private plan alternative to traditional Medicare, is embroiled in a growing controversy over whether insurers are being overpaid and what it would mean to reduce those payments. Meanwhile, even as maternal mortality in the U.S. continues to rise, providers of care to pregnant women say they’re leaving states with abortion bans that prevent them from treating pregnancy complications. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico join KHN’s chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.
Fresh produce prescription programs are getting a boost in Montana as a way of helping people with chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. The approach may be a model for other rural states to promote healthy eating in food deserts.
A U.S. District Court case is being widely followed because the judge’s decision could overturn the FDA’s approval of mifepristone two decades ago. With abortion rights polling well even in red states, anti-abortion activists are increasingly turning to the courts to achieve their aims.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who blasted pharmaceutical companies for gouging Californians, is moving ahead with state-branded insulin. He’s also eyeing other generic drugs.
In November, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines for prescribing opioids for pain, allowing physicians more flexibility. But doctors, patients, and advocates wonder if the updated standards will be too little, too late to help chronic pain patients in a country still focused on fighting the ongoing opioid crisis.
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