Health Headlines for Friday, September 9

A Push to Lower Drug Prices That Hit Insurers and Employers the Hardest

New York Times

Americans have expressed outrage at drug companies for raising prices on products like EpiPen, the severe allergy treatment needed by thousands of children, and Daraprim, a rarely used but essential drug to treat a parasitic infection.

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Larger companies have little interest in state’s small-business insurance program

Buffalo Business First

New York state’s health care exchange for small businesses opened its doors wider this year by inviting larger employers to use it for insurance purchases.

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Medical marijuana workers at Vireo Health become first in New York to unionize

Syracuse Post Standard

Medical marijuana workers from Vireo Health are the first in New York with a union contract.

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On Obamacare, Senators Demand Answers From Aetna

USA News

Five Democratic Senators sent a letter to Aetna’s chairman and CEO Thursday saying that they were troubled by the possibility that the company was pulling its participation from health insurance exchanges in retaliation for a Department of Justice lawsuit blocking its proposed multibillion-dollar merger.

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RIT, RRH receive grant to develop breast cancer screening

Rochester Business Journal

The National Science Foundation has awarded $99,620 to Rochester Institute of Technology researchers and Rochester Regional Health, which are collaborating in a project to develop artificial intelligence-guided thermal imaging for breast cancer screening, officials of the RIT and Rochester Regional Health Alliance said Wednesday.

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