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Section: Health

Trump Nominee Makes False Claims about Birth Control

This week, Donald Trump announced his picks for his Domestic Policy Council, and on that list is Katy Talento, an infectious disease epidemiologist who will work on health care policy. There’s still a few weeks before the President-elect is sworn into office, but Talento has already come under fire for claims she has made about […]

January 11, 2017

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Nominee for HHS Sought Favors for Health Industry Donors

Rep. Tom Price, the physician and Georgia Republican tapped for the nation’s leading health care job, has long criticized federal spending as excessive. Yet during his years in Congress, he’s worked hard to keep federal dollars flowing to his most generous campaign donors. Price has been a go-to congressman, a review of his records show, […]

January 11, 2017

Blacks, Twice as Likely to Have Diabetes, Rare in Trials

(Reuters Health) – Even though diabetes rates are almost twice as high in black people as in whites, black patients may be far less likely to be included in drug safety trials, a recent study suggests. Since 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has required that new glucose-lowering medications for diabetes be tested for […]

January 11, 2017

FDA Encourages Diversity in Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are voluntary human research studies designed to answer specific questions about the safety and effectiveness of drugs, vaccines, devices, and other therapies—or to study new ways of using existing treatments. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not ordinarily conduct clinical trials. But the FDA relies on the data from these trials to […]

January 11, 2017

GOP Uneasy About Obamacare Repeal Without a Plan

WASHINGTON — Republican anxiety is mounting over voting to unravel the healthcare law without having an alternative in hand, fanned by words of encouragement from Donald Trump to a GOP senator who wants to simultaneously repeal and replace the statute. GOP leaders have made dismantling President Barack Obama’s treasured healthcare overhaul their premier 2017 priority. […]

January 11, 2017

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Obama Health Legacy: Coverage, Conflict, Questions

WASHINGTON — Although his signature law is in jeopardy, President Barack Obama’s work reshaping healthcare in America is certain to endure in the broad public support for many of its underlying principles. Notwithstanding growing pains in connection securing some of the promises of the Affordable Care Act, the belief that people with medical problems should […]

January 11, 2017

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Adding Diversity to Clinical Trials

In a previous post, I described why I enrolled in a clinical trial at Stanford to treat my Hodgkin’s lymphoma. But I didn’t share the result: I received radiation therapy and chemotherapy — instead of the standard treatment of exploratory abdominal surgery — and I’m confident it helped me to be cancer free for the […]

January 10, 2017

Police Learn to Deal With Mentally Ill

ANDERSON, Ind. — Police agencies in the Anderson area have formed Crisis Intervention Team training to better deal with people exhibiting signs of mental illness. With the closing of many state-run facilities for the mentally ill, law enforcement officials are having to deal with them on the streets and in crisis situations. Many are arrested […]

January 10, 2017

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NIH Study Links Parental Obesity and Developmental Delays

Children of obese parents may be at risk for developmental delays, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. The investigators found that children of obese mothers were more likely to fail tests of fine motor skill — the ability to control movement of small muscles, such as those in the […]

January 10, 2017

W.Va. Seeks Waiver to Fight Opioid Epidemic

In an effort aimed at the substance abuse epidemic that’s disproportionately killing its residents, West Virginia is asking the CMS to approve a waiver that would expand treatment for Medicaid enrollees. The state wants to expand the number of community-based and outpatient substance abuse providers, to offer residential treatment and to increase the availability of […]

January 10, 2017

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Trump Appears to Back Off of VA Privatization

You don’t often see Donald Trump pull a punch, but he did it last week. Trump spent his entire campaign deeply angered by how the government treats veterans, particularly regarding their medical care. He promised to overhaul the Veterans Administration (VA) health care system and “take care” of the vets. Everyone has interpreted this as […]

January 10, 2017

Health Insurers Worry about Trump’s HHS Choice

Now that Dr. Tom Price, a Republican congressman, has been picked by Donald Trump to be the next U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, insurers fear an assault on narrow networks, reimbursement tied to outcomes and related value-based care models. “Dr. Price understands that there is a critical need to reduce the administrative burden that […]

January 10, 2017

Healthcare in Trump’s America: How Will Markets React

The stock market has been very resilient this year despite major political events including the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election win. American investors, Democrat and Republican, have been celebrating the impact Donald Trump has had on American markets. Consumer stocks realized major gains in the immediate aftermath of election results as Trump has proposed […]

January 10, 2017

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Healthcare Outlook for 2017: Everything Is in Play

2017 had been shaping up as a year focused on fixing the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets, slowing prescription drug price hikes, expanding Medicaid, improving mental health care and spreading value-based payment and delivery. Suddenly there’s a new, more conservative agenda. And almost everything in health care is up in the air. Insurers and providers […]

January 10, 2017

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Kim Burrell’s Words Show Homophobia Alive and Well in Black Community

Kim Burrell has added her undeniably controversial perspective on an issue that has been an ongoing source of contention within the Black community — homophobia.

January 8, 2017

Trump Could Soften FDA Standards

They were hailed as drugs that could change the treatment of heart disease by lowering harmful LDL cholesterol (LDL-c) to unprecedented levels for adults. Yet, the sales of Amgen’s Repatha and Sanofi/Regeneron’s Praluent, known as PCSK9 inhibitors, have been disappointing low. The reason isn’t due to lack of efficacy. Indeed, combining PCSK9 inhibitors with generic […]

January 4, 2017

Q&A: How Would Congress Repeal Health Care?

WASHINGTON — The stakes confronting Republicans determined to dismantle President Barack Obama’s health care law were evident in one recent encounter between an Ohio congressman and a constituent. “He said, ‘’Now you guys own it. Now fix it. It’s on your watch now,’” recalled GOP Rep. Pat Tiberi, chairman of a pivotal health subcommittee. “And […]

January 4, 2017

Coal Country’s Trump Voters Fear Loss of Obamacare

CNN this week aired a terrific segment on people from coal country who voted for Donald Trump -but are now worried that his vow to repeal Obamacare will deprive them of crucial protections that enable them to stay afloat financially. This dovetails with other reporting that suggests a lot of Trump voters may be harmed […]

January 4, 2017