A KFF poll found that health care affordability remains a major economic concern for voters heading into the midterm elections.

A federal appeals court paused a judge’s earlier ruling that ordered Idaho to allow exceptions to its abortion ban in cases where a doctor deemed it necessary to protect the mother’s health. In a 2-1...

A substitute to HB 22‑30 would let hospitals, after assessment, take custody of people brought in on ECO/TDO status so law enforcement can return to patrol; DBHDS supported the change but members raised safety and liability concerns. The committee tabled the bill 4‑2.

A second option would apply a legally responsible person (LRP) cap — about seven hours per week — to family caregivers across delivery models; the department said this would target a primary growth driver and estimated roughly $29 million in savings but acknowledged the policy would be consequential for families.

One policy option would limit paid homemaker services to about seven hours per week with an exceptions and appeal process; the department estimates roughly 34,000 authorizations currently exceed that threshold and said the change targets the single biggest driver of homemaker spending.

India expands cancer drug price caps, slashing costs on 137 medicines by up to 70% from November 9. [Read Full Article] @WorldNews #IndiaNews #HealthcarePolicy #CancerTreatmentPrices

The federal government's website for Medicaid, a health insurance program for people with low incomes. (Photo by South Dakota Searchlight) There’s something unclear about Constitutional Amendment I,...

NHS England has issued new guidance stating that trans patients should be accommodated on single-sex hospital wards or bays according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity. The guidance replaces previous policies that allowed patients to choose facilities based on gender identity, following a Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 that defined 'sex' as biological sex under equality law. The new guidance emphasizes that clinical needs must be prioritized, particularly in emergency settings, while also requiring trusts to provide gender-neutral alternatives to single-sex facilities. NHS data shows a significant increase in breaches of previous mixed-sex accommodation policies, with 5,520 incidents reported in August 2026 compared to 3,853 in June 2025. The guidance has been welcomed by sex-based rights group Sex Matters, which called it a 'momentus shift back to reality,' while trans rights organizations TransActual and Trans+ Solidarity Alliance expressed concerns about operational challenges in resource-strapped hospitals. The guidance follows high-profile legal cases, including a tribunal finding against Darlington Memorial Hospital for indirectly discriminating against nurses who objected to a transgender colleague using female changing rooms. The hospital was ordered to pay £400,000 in legal costs, though the nurses welcomed the new guidance as 'clear and necessary.' The NHS has faced ongoing disputes over equality law interpretations, with another case in Scotland involving nurse Sandie Peggie who was suspended after complaining about a trans woman using female changing rooms. The tribunal dismissed her claims of discrimination but an appeal is pending. The new guidance aims to balance clinical needs with legal requirements while addressing growing pressures on hospitals to maintain single-sex facilities.

Congress built a market-based system to keep Medicare lab prices in line with private-payer rates. Then it spent six years preventing the system from adjusting anything. CMS just checked the market again and found Medicare was paying 16 percent too much.

Agencies and providers told the commission peer and other unlicensed supportive codes have grown rapidly; credentialing groups and peer organizations urged targeted oversight, better training and enforcement rather than removing Medicaid coverage for peer support.

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Staff summarized Proposition 135 as prohibiting surgeries on minors to alter biological sex characteristics and barring public or insurance funding for such procedures; several commissioners responded that the activity is already illegal and questioned the need for the measure.

Medicare has proposed fresh cuts to the 340B drug discount program that serves safety-net hospitals. The move marks another regulatory attempt to address cost… #340B #Drugpricing #Healthcarepolicy #Hospitalreimbursement #Medicare

Trump's FDA commissioner nominee, Dr. Heidi Overton, defended vaccine safety but dodged questions on abortion pill access at her Senate hearing.