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KFF HEALTH NEWS ORIGINAL STORIES

���ϳԹ��� News: As Lung Disease Threatens Workers, Lawmakers Seek Protections For Countertop Manufacturers
César Manuel González, 37, used to work with stone that was engineered to endure: dense, polished slabs designed to outlast the kitchens in which they were installed. Engineered quartz countertops have surged in popularity in the home renovation market, with industry analysts estimating the global engineered stone market at around $30 billion. It’s continuing to expand as quartz surfaces replace natural stone in kitchens in the United States and worldwide. When González was working, the dust that rose from his saw didn’t look extraordinary. (Gounder, 3/12)

���ϳԹ��� News: Republicans Fret Over RFK Jr.'s Anti-Vaccine Policies While MAHA Moms Stew
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is fielding pressure from the White House to relax his controversial approach to vaccine policies as the midterms near, but his most steadfast supporters are pressing for more aggressive action — like restricting covid-19 vaccines and pesticide use — to carry out the Make America Healthy Again agenda. The tensions risk fraying Kennedy’s dynamic MAHA coalition, potentially driving away critical supporters who helped fuel President Donald Trump’s 2024 election win. (Seitz and Armour, 3/12)

HEALTH CARE COSTS

Americans are driving less, skipping meals and putting off big life moves, like buying homes or having children, to keep up with health care costs, according to two Gallup polls released Thursday. Roughly one-third of Americans are cutting back on daily spending to cover medical costs, and about half of middle-income households said they have delayed a major life event because of the same expenses, the polls found, as premiums rise and the federal government cuts Medicaid spending. (Wu, 3/12)

Food stamp recipients sued the Agriculture Department on Wednesday over restrictions barring them from using their benefits to buy sugary drinks and candy, arguing that the limits are unlawful, create confusion and add to their difficulties in managing their health. Since May, the department has approved waivers in 22 states that allow them to bar participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from using their benefits to buy soda, energy drinks, candy or other prepared desserts. (Qiu, 3/11)

VETERANS' HEALTH

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a new effort to initiate legal guardianships for hundreds of veterans, including some who are homeless or “at risk of homelessness,” that could be used to force more of them into involuntary or institutional care. Under the new arrangement, the Justice Department would give officials at the Veterans Affairs Department authority they currently lack to initiate guardianship proceedings in state courts for veterans who have no family and are “unable to make their own health care decisions.” (Barry and DeParle, 3/11)

As many as 724,000 service members, their families and veterans may rely on health care at hospitals that face financial vulnerability, partly due to cuts in President Donald Trump's megabill, according to a new analysis. The bill, known as HR.1, was signed into law in last summer and included sweeping changes to health care including Medicaid. Strict work requirements, reduced federal funding and tightening provider tax rules impacts hospitals that are dependent on Medicaid, increasing their risk of uncompensated care and reducing revenue. (Kekatos, 3/11)

As Jason Beaman recounts his long slog searching for mental health therapy last year, he sounds defeated. The first therapist assigned to him by the Department of Veterans Affairs told him at their initial meeting that she was leaving the agency. A few months later, his second therapist told him she was also leaving. An appointment with a third counselor was canceled with no explanation. (Coleman, Sanders, Jacobs and Umansky, 3/12)

VACCINES AND OUTBREAKS

For the first since the Biden administration, independent vaccine advisers will meet Thursday to recommend which strains of influenza virus to include in flu vaccines this fall. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) canceled last year’s meeting of the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC). Instead, the FDA chose influenza strains after a closed-door meeting with federal officials, with no participation from patient advocates, medical groups, manufacturers, or scientists with expertise in vaccines. (Szabo, 3/11)

Even in the state with among the highest childhood vaccine uptake in the country, a pair of bills aiming to expand Connecticut’s authority over immunizations drew a swell of opposition at the state Capitol. (Golvala, 3/11)

Both Arizona and South Carolina, two states that recorded hundreds of measles cases in recent months, are reporting significant slowdowns in new cases reported this week. Utah, however, has now tracked more than 400 cases in an outbreak that began last year in the southwest corner of the state and has now spread to Salt Lake City and other areas. (Soucheray, 3/11)

MORE ON THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

The Trump administration has tapped an eye doctor with no background in air pollution science to advise the Environmental Protection Agency on what levels of air pollutants are safe to breathe. The E.P.A. named Brian Joondeph, a Colorado-based ophthalmologist and political commentator, on Monday to the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, an influential panel that advises the agency’s leadership on the latest scientific evidence on soot, smog and other hazardous pollutants. (Joselow, 3/12)

The FDA has launched a new adverse event reporting system that will consolidate several systems it has for reporting different types of adverse events, the agency announced Wednesday. The new system, known as the FDA Adverse Event Monitoring System (AEMS) -- "represents a major achievement in the agency's mission to modernize and provide radical transparency into the safety of regulated products," the agency said in a press release. (Frieden, 3/11)

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, launched a new program on Tuesday to support development of biosensors that can track multiple signals such as inflammation markers, hormones or drug levels within the body. The program, called Delphi, will focus on using electronic “chiplets,” with the goal of being able to “mix and match” features across wearables and ingestible sensors. (3/10)

A pending Medicare payment model meant to improve care for chronic conditions has some providers worried it could have the opposite effect. The mandatory, five-year Ambulatory Specialty Model demonstration for fee-for-service Medicare starts in 2027 and aims to promote identification and management of heart failure and lower back pain. The two-sided risk model could impact reimbursements by as much as 9% in its first year, and it establishes a payment structure that assesses providers against regional peers. (Early, 3/11)

IMMIGRATION CRISIS

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement replaced the contractor overseeing Camp East Montana and said it is planning to keep the El Paso detention center open, a week after The Washington Post reported on an internal document that appeared to indicate ICE was taking steps to close the facility. (MacMillan, 3/11)

The family’s accounts provide what lawyers and child advocates call new and disturbing details into the conditions at the detention center in Dilley, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio. The family, including the mother Hayam El Gamal and her five children ranging in ages from 5 to 18, detail what they describe as abhorrent medical care, inedible food and a disregard for their religious freedom as Muslims. (Kriel, 3/11)

Maria de Jesus Estrada Juarez, 42, was detained Feb. 18 during a scheduled interview for her green card application. She was deported to Mexico the next day, despite having active deportation protection through the Obama-era program Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. (Castillo, 3/11)

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Wednesday unveiled legislation to remove Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the use of mifepristone to end pregnancies, a bill that has quickly gained the support of major anti-abortion groups. The legislation is an ambitious undertaking given the drug’s widespread use in the United States, where an estimated 7.5 million women have used it to terminate pregnancies since the FDA approved its use in 2000. It accounted for 63 percent of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023. (Bolton, 3/11)

Clinics that provide free and subsidized birth control and other reproductive health services to millions of low-income people nationwide are warning that access could soon be cut off if the federal government continues to delay the funding process. The Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Population Affairs has not yet released the guidance dozens of health care organizations around the country need to apply for a funding cycle that begins on April 1. They had been scheduled to receive that guidance by the end of last year. (Ollstein, 3/11)

HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY

Stryker, a major U.S. medical equipment company, said a cyberattack disrupted its global networks Wednesday. “We have no indication of ransomware or malware and believe the incident is contained. Our teams are working rapidly to understand the impact of the attack on our systems,” Stryker said in a statement on its website. The logo of Handala, a hacking group linked to Iran, has appeared on company login pages, The Wall Street Journal reported. (3/12)

Aetna will pay $117.7 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it overbilled the Medicare program. The agreement settles claims related to past risk adjustment submissions dating back nearly a decade, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a Tuesday news release. Part of the settlement relates to a sealed whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Aetna risk-adjustment coding auditor Mary Melette Thomas, the release said. (Tepper, 3/11)

Medtronic has signed a definitive agreement to acquire neurovascular medtech company Scientia Vascular for $550 million. The deal is expected to close in the first half of Medtronic’s fiscal 2027, which starts in April. It is subject to regulatory approvals and closing conditions. (Dubinsky, 3/11)

The sudden closure of a University of Minnesota dental clinic has left some patients scrambling for care and left staff unsure if they’ll be able to keep their jobs. (Timar-Wilcox, 3/11)

Amazon is expanding access to its health-focused artificial intelligence chatbot, the technology giant said Tuesday. The Health AI assistant first launched for members of Amazon’s primary care chain One Medical in January. The tool allows users to connect their health information and ask questions about their health, symptoms and potential treatments. (Olsen, 3/11)

As tech companies roll out platforms specifically designed for health care consultation, AI is rapidly becoming a key player in many people's medical decisions. According to OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, more than 40 million people consult the platform every day for health information. But new research suggests AI may mislead users in certain medical scenarios. (Riddle, 3/11)

PHARMACEUTICALS

Pharmacy benefit managers are moving away from imperiled contractual arrangements to sustain profit margins. PBMs, especially market leaders UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx, CVS Health’s CVS Caremark and Cigna’s Express Scripts, withstood criticism for years over how they managed pharmaceutical rebates and engaged in spread pricing for medicines. Now that federal and state governments are writing laws and regulations to crack down on those practices, PBMs are predicted to make up for the lost revenue by imposing larger fees on employer-sponsored health plans and drugmakers when they draw up contracts with clients. (Tong, 3/11)

Ashley Elizabeth Harden logged on recently from her home in small-town Louisiana and searched for a weight-loss drug. She found plenty of options and settled on a cheaper, imitation version of the name-brand drugs for $177 a month that she could buy without going through insurance. “It’s absolutely odd,” she said of paying a cash price for medicine she sees as vital but whose cost rivals her monthly electric bill, “having to research, compare prices and make decisions online for something so important just to access it.” (Rowland, 3/12)

Michael Ford was not in good health, but his Type 2 diabetes was manageable. His son, Davonte Ford, was his full-time caregiver — bathing Michael, administering his medications and dutifully responding to the dips and peaks in Michael’s blood sugar. When father and son woke one November morning in their Oakland, California, home to a low blood sugar alert from Michael’s FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus sensor, part of a top-tier glucose monitoring system from medical manufacturer Abbott, Davonte did not question the reading. Instead, he did what doctors had instructed: He gave his dad fast-acting carbohydrates. (Chuck, 3/11)

STATE WATCH

A new Iowa law bans local nondiscrimination protections on the basis of gender identity after the state became the first in the U.S. to rollback its civil rights code last year. The preemption law took effect Tuesday, as soon as Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it. It prevents cities and counties from having civil rights protections that go beyond the categories identified in state code. (Fingerhut, 3/11)

Two bills designed to protect and support many of the estimated 580,000 Florida seniors with Alzheimer's disease made it all the way through the Legislature this week. Both bills were approved without opposition in the House and Senate and now need the governor's signature. (Byrnes, 3/11)

The Tallahassee City Commission gave final approval to transfer Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare's assets to Florida State University on Wednesday. The agreement includes an FSU investment of $1.7 billion in the hospital. Under the deal, Tallahassee Memorial will lease the facility from FSU Health and run it as an academic hospital. Both will continue collaborating on education, research and clinical care. (Wood, 3/11)

Health and homeless service officials hope the trend can continue as homeless programs face significant funding cuts. (Smith, 3/10)

A man who was shot by police and later died had to wait 10 extra minutes for an ambulance after an officer having a “mild anxiety attack” took the first one that arrived at the scene, according to a newly released state investigation. Dyshan Best, 39, was shot in the back last year as he fled from officers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. A report released Tuesday by the state’s inspector general found that the shooting was justified because Best had a gun in his hand and the officer pursuing him had reasons to fear for his own safety. (Collins, 3/11)

An environmental group is raising concerns about high levels of bacteria recently found in a Montgomery County stream nearly two months after a major wastewater pipeline collapse caused more than 200 million gallons of raw human sewage to spew into the Potomac River. (Hedgpeth, 3/11)

PUBLIC HEALTH

Multinational agriculture technology company Syngenta announced last Tuesday (March 3) that it will cease global production of the herbicide paraquat by the end of June, including at its facility in Iberville Parish. Banned in more than 70 countries, paraquat is repackaged and distributed in the United States from Syngenta’s manufacturing site in St. Gabriel, a small city that sits along a heavily-industrialized stretch of the Mississippi River. Nicknamed “Cancer Alley” residents in St. Gabriel face a higher risk of cancer from industrial air pollution than most of the country. (Yehiya, 3/11)

The colorful packaging and fruity flavors that make nicotine pouches appealing to adults also make them tempting — and dangerous — for kids. (Liang, 3/10)

GLOBAL WATCH

The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning that the war in Iran is worsening public health conditions across the Middle East region. After 10 days of bombings and conflict in Iran, national health authorities in Iran report more than 1,300 deaths and 9,000 injuries, and Lebanon reports at least 570 deaths and more than 1,400 injuries. In Israel, authorities have documented 15 deaths and 2,142 injuries. The WHO said eight health care workers have died in Iran. (Soucheray, 3/11)