Senior doctors in England agree on a pay deal with the government to end a yearlong dispute

Senior doctors in England agree on a pay deal with the government to end a yearlong dispute

LONDON — Senior doctors in England have accepted a pay offer from the British government that ends a yearlong dispute with unprecedented strike action. The British Medical Association and the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association, which represent the senior doctors, who are known as consultants, said Friday that 83% of those casting a vote backed … Read more

Lawsuit says Ohio’s gender-affirming care ban violates the state constitution

Lawsuit says Ohio’s gender-affirming care ban violates the state constitution

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two families of transgender minors filed a constitutional challenge on Tuesday to an Ohio law that severely limits gender-affirming health care for youth under 18. The litigation, brought in Franklin County Common Pleas Court by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Ohio and the global law firm Goodwin, alleges the law … Read more

Biden and Harris team up for health care event in North Carolina

Biden and Harris team up for health care event in North Carolina

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will promote their health care agenda on Tuesday in North Carolina, a battleground state that Democrats hope to flip in their favor after falling short to Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections. Fourteen years after President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act … Read more

Nevada judge blocks state from limiting Medicaid coverage for abortions

Nevada judge blocks state from limiting Medicaid coverage for abortions

LAS VEGAS — A Nevada judge has struck down the state’s limits on Medicaid coverage for abortion services, saying the restrictions violate equal rights protections. Clark County District Judge Erika Ballou said Tuesday from the bench that she planned to issue a written order at a later date directing the state Department of Health and … Read more

NFL retirees who say the league’s disability plan is a sham can proceed to trial

NFL retirees who say the league’s disability plan is a sham can proceed to trial

PHILADELPHIA — A lawsuit accusing the NFL’s disability plan of violating its duty to retired players by routinely denying valid injury claims can proceed to trial on most counts, a federal judge in Maryland has ruled. The lawsuit, filed last year, accuses officials who oversee the program of bad faith and flagrant violations of federal … Read more

Over-the-counter birth control pill now available to Wisconsin Medicaid patients

Over-the-counter birth control pill now available to Wisconsin Medicaid patients

MADISON, Wis. — Medicaid recipients in Wisconsin will have access to the first over-the-counter birth control pill starting Tuesday, allowing them to easily receive contraceptive medication with no out-of-pocket costs or doctor’s prescription, Gov. Tony Evers announced. Evers, a Democrat, promised in his State of the State speech in January that Opill would be available … Read more

Kenyan doctors strike nationwide. Patients left unattended or turned away at public hospitals

Lawsuit says Ohio’s gender-affirming care ban violates the state constitution

NAIROBI, Kenya — Doctors at Kenya’s public hospitals began a nationwide strike Thursday, accusing the government of failing to implement a raft of promises from a collective bargaining agreement signed in 2017 after a 100-day strike that saw people dying from lack of care. The Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union said they went … Read more

Mississippi will allow quicker Medicaid coverage during pregnancy to try to help women and babies

Mississippi will allow quicker Medicaid coverage during pregnancy to try to help women and babies

JACKSON, Miss. — A new Mississippi law will allow earlier Medicaid coverage for pregnant women in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in a poor state with the nation’s worst rate of infant mortality. The “presumptive eligility” legislation signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will become law July 1. It … Read more

GOP lawmakers resist calls to tweak abortion bans. Some say they’ll clarify the laws’ few exceptions

GOP lawmakers resist calls to tweak abortion bans. Some say they’ll clarify the laws’ few exceptions

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — In Republican-led states across the U.S., conservative legislators are refusing to reevaluate abortion bans — even as doctors and patients insist the laws’ exceptions are dangerously unclear, resulting in denied treatment to some pregnant women in need. Instead, GOP leaders accuse abortion rights advocates of deliberately spreading misinformation and doctors of intentionally … Read more

Insurer delays and denials hamper patients seeking at-home breathing machines

Insurer delays and denials hamper patients seeking at-home breathing machines

Lou Gehrig’s disease took away Grace Armant’s ability to speak, but the 84-year-old still has plenty to say about her insurance. UnitedHealthcare has rejected several requests from her doctors for coverage of a machine Armant needs to breathe as she deals with the fatal illness. “They are no good,” Armant said, typing slowly into a … Read more