Health Headlines for Friday, May 12
Health Care? Daughters Know All About It
New York Times
As Washington debates the relative merits of Obamacare or Trumpcare, many families have already come up with what is arguably the most reliable form of care in America: It’s called daughter care.
Teen Drinking Reaches Lowest Point in 25 Years, CDC Says
Time Health
Teens are drinking significantly less than they used to.
NY Schools Expected To Stay Within Tax Cap In Upcoming Vote
WAMC
School districts across New York state are holding votes on their budgets Tuesday, May 16th.
More price hikes likely for government insurance markets
USA Today
Early moves by insurers suggest that another round of price hikes and limited choices will greet insurance shoppers around the country when they start searching for next year’s coverage on the public markets established by the Affordable Care Act.
U.S. hepatitis C cases soar on spike in heroin use
Reuters
U.S. health officials said new cases of hepatitis C rose nearly 300 percent from 2010 to 2015, despite the availability of cures for the liver disease, fueled by a spike in the use of heroin and other injection drugs, according to a report released on Thursday.
Smoking only in social situations may still be tied to heart problems
Reuters
So-called social smokers who only light up on special occasions may have some of the same risks for heart disease as people with a daily cigarette habit, a U.S. study suggests.
New York is midway through monumental Medicaid redesign
Buffalo News
With attention focused on attempts by Congress and the Trump administration to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, another major effort to reform health care gets overlooked.
De Blasio to spend nearly $90M on ‘diversion centers’ for mentally ill
New York Post
The de Blasio administration plans to spend nearly $90 million opening two new “diversion centers” next year for mentally ill people who don’t pose public safety threats so that they don’t end up in jails.
Judge Puts Another Nail in the $54 Billion Anthem-Cigna Merger’s Coffin
Fortune
A federal judge in Delaware has rejected Anthem’s request to prevent smaller rival health insurer and merger target Cigna from pulling out of a proposed $54 billion corporate marriage that would birth one of the largest insurers in the country.
WHO wants transparency, market revamp for fairer drug pricing
Reuters
The world needs greater transparency on the pricing of medicines, and an overhaul of some approaches, in order to increase access to life-saving drugs, global health experts said on Thursday.
Trump’s top health official got a basic fact about opioid addiction very, very wrong
Vox
The nation’s top health official this week perpetuated a dangerous, even deadly myth about drug addiction — right as the US struggles with its massive opioid epidemic.