Ohio judge strikes down parts of state’s 6-week abortion ban
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(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — A judge on Friday temporarily blocked parts of Ohio’s six-week abortion ban.
The Franklin County Court of Common Pleas put a hold on several laws that force abortion patients to wait a minimum of 24 hours after receiving state-mandated information in person before accessing abortion care.
According to the ACLU of Ohio, this is the first ruling on the merits of a ballot measure that amended the Ohio constitution to establish “an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion.”
Much of the ban was rendered unconstitutional after the amendment went into effect in December 2023, Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost, said earlier this year.
Judge David C. Young ruled that the ban’s requirements do not advance patient health and violate the reproductive rights guaranteed by the amendment.
“This is a historic victory for abortion patients and for all Ohio voters who voiced support for the constitutional amendment to protect reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy,” Jessie Hill, cooperating attorney for the ACLU of Ohio. “It’s clear that the newly amended Ohio Constitution works as the voters intend: to protect the fundamental right to abortion and to forbid the state from infringing on it except when necessary to protect the health of a pregnant person.”
The statement continued, “This decision is the first step in removing unnecessary barriers to care. We celebrate this ruling and will push forward to make this injunction permanent.”
In a statement, Bethany McCorkle, the attorney general’s communications director, said the office would be appealing the ruling.
“We have heard the voices of the people and recognize that reproductive rights are now protected in our Constitution,” McCorkle’s statement read. “However, we respectfully disagree with the court’s decision that requiring doctors to obtain informed consent and wait 24 hours prior to an abortion constitute a burden. These are essential safety features designed to ensure that women receive proper care and make voluntary decisions.”
Abortions are now banned at 22 weeks’ gestation or later, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that studies sexual and reproductive rights.
However, lawmakers have tried to maintain other parts of the ban, including reporting requirements and a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion can be administered. Those are challenges that abortion rights supporters say often prevent patients from receiving the procedure at all.
The so-called “heartbeat bill” was signed into law in 2019 by Gov. Mike DeWine and prevents abortions from performed once fetal cardiac activity can be defected, which typically occurs at about six weeks’ gestation — before many women know they’re pregnant.
The ban has no exceptions for rape or incest. The only exceptions are cases of ectopic pregnancies and to prevent the mother’s death or impairment of a major bodily function.
A federal judge blocked the ban in 2019 but it was reinstated just hours after the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe.
In September 2022, an Ohio lower court granted a temporary restraining order before granting a preliminary injunction a few weeks later. In December 2023, the state’s Supreme Court dismissed the state’s appeal and sent the case back to the lower courts.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, 14 states have ceased nearly all abortion services, according to an ABC News tally, while three states — Florida, Georgia and South Carolina — all have six-week bans in place.
Following the court’s decision, six states aside from Ohio have had abortion-related questions on the ballot and, each time, voters have sided with abortion rights supporters
In an August 2022 primary, Kansas became the first state to let voters decide on abortion since the Supreme Court’s ruling, and residents struck down a proposal to remove the right to abortion from the state’s constitution.
Three states — California, Michigan and Vermont — voted to strengthen rights and two states — Kentucky and Montana – voted against further limiting rights.
It’s unclear how many states will have abortion-related ballot questions in the November 2024 election but, so far, 10 states have abortion-related state constitutional amendments on the ballot, according to KFF.
(NEW YORK) — With autumn in full swing, flu season is ramping up as well.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, flu season in the U.S. typically picks up in the fall and winter months and children, especially, are the most likely to get sick from influenza, a type of respiratory virus.
Here’s how to prepare for the season ahead:
What causes influenza (flu)?
The flu is caused by various influenza viruses that impact the respiratory system. For the 2024-2025 flu season, the CDC expects the dominant influenza viruses in the U.S. to be an A(H1N1) virus, an A(H3N2) virus, and a B/Victoria virus.
What are common flu symptoms?
Symptoms of the flu can vary but per the CDC, they may include fever or chills, a cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue, vomiting or diarrhea. The latter two symptoms are more common among children with the flu.
What is the flu incubation period and when are you most contagious?
Individuals with the flu can spread the virus to others, and according to the CDC, the incubation period can last between one and four days. The first three days of an infection tend to be the most contagious period.
The CDC recommends a flu vaccine for nearly everyone six months and older in the U.S. every flu season, except for anyone younger than six months or anyone with a severe, life-threatening allergy to any ingredient in a vaccine or the flu vaccine specifically.
What months are considered flu season?
The flu is most active between the fall and winter months. During the 2023 to 2024 flu season, CDC reports showed that national flu activity started to increase in October 2023 and didn’t start to decline until mid-April 2024.
How can you prepare for flu season?
Dr. Meghan Martin, a pediatric emergency medicine physician and a mom, shared in a TikTok post what she keeps on hand at home to stay prepared for flu season.
Her top items include:
Disposable vomit bags
Acetaminophen/Ibuprofen in multiple forms, including chewable tablets, liquid form or suppositories
Digital Thermometer
Zyrtec or a similar second-generation histamine for allergic reactions or hives
A portable pulse oximeter to measure heart rate and oxygenation
Packs of electrolyte powder
Cough suppresants and oral anesthetics including those in lollipop forms
Saline nasal mist
A squeeze bottle kit for over-the-counter saline solutions
(WASHINGTON) — Health care was one of the topics at the forefront of Tuesday night’s debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump said he was interested in replacing the Affordable Care Act — also known as “Obamacare” — but implied that he didn’t have any specific plans in place.
“Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was,” Trump said. “It’s not very good today and, what I said, that if we come up with something, we are working on things, we’re going to do it and we’re going to replace it.”
When asked by ABC News moderator Linsey Davis to clarify if he had a health care plan, the former president said he had “concepts of a plan” to replace the ACA but provided no details.
“If we can come up with a plan that’s going to cost our people, our population, less money and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it,” Trump said.
“But if we come up with something, I would only change it if we come up with something better and less expensive,” he said later in the debate. “And there are concepts and options we have to do that. And you’ll be hearing about it in the not-too-distant future.”
Last year, Trump posted on Truth Social that the ACA “sucks” and that he didn’t want to “terminate” the law but “replace it with much better health care.”
Dr. Dennis Scanlon, a distinguished professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, told ABC News there’s been much less of a focus on repealing and replacing ACA from Trump than seen in 2016 and 2020.
“I think what’s been noticeable in this election cycle [is] less discussion about the Affordable Care Act in terms of let’s repeal it or get rid of it,” he said. “I think last night in the debate, [Trump] basically straddled and said, ‘You know, if I can figure out a way to make it better, and we’re working on some concepts, we’ll do it, but not, that we will get rid of it.’ So I think that’s just different from what it’s been in the last two cycles.”
Scanlon mentioned that repealing the ACA is not even mentioned in the official 2024 Republican Party platform.
In 2010, then-President Barack Obama signed the ACA into law, requiring most Americans to have insurance and directing states to create health insurance exchanges to allow residents to sign up for insurance if they don’t receive coverage via an employer.
During his administration, Trump attempted to partially repeal the ACA by passing the American Health Care Act (ACHA). The plan would have repealed the individual mandate and the employer mandate, amended Medicaid eligibility and weakened protections for patients with pre-existing conditions.
The ACHA passed the House in May 2017 but failed to pass in the Senate. Perhaps mostly infamously, the Senate attempted to pass a so-called “skinny repeal” in late July 2017 but it was rejected, with Republican Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski siding with Senate Democrats to kill the bill.
In December 2017, a Republican tax reform law was passed that eliminated individual mandates, which Gallup said may have reduced participation in the insurance marketplace.
At the end of 2019, 13.7% of adults were without health insurance at the end of 2018, the highest level seen since early 2014, according to Gallup data.
In December 2019, Trump issued an executive order requiring all hospitals to make public standard charges, payer-specific negotiated charges, the amount the hospital is willing to accept in cash and the minimum and maximum negotiated charges.
“This an area where an attempt has been made … but the way it has played out has been challenging and not very effective,” Scanlon said, referring to a KFF analysis which found that transparency data was often inconsistent and confusing. “Such transparency is fundamental to reform and improvement in health care markets.”
In a statement to ABC News, Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, restated the former president’s commitment to release details soon.
“As President Trump said, he will release more details but his overall position on health care remains the same: bring down costs and increase the quality of care by improving competition in the market place,” she said. “This is a stark contrast to Kamala Harris’ support for a socialist government takeover of our healthcare system which would force people off their private plans and result in lower quality care.”
During the debate, Harris criticized Trump’s previous attempts to repeal the ACA, saying she wants to grow and expand the legislation. Her campaign platform mentions expanding the $35 cap on insulin and $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription medication costs for seniors to all Americans.
“There’s been a little bit of detail from the Harris campaign, but I would say also not much,” Scanlon said. “There’s some discussion about negotiating drugs, insulin prices, there has been some work done in that … but there’s a lot more to be done.”
(WASHINGTON) When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, there was a key provision that the Biden administration fought hard for. For years, private insurance companies negotiated with drug makers over prescription prices.
However, Medicare, representing 50 million seniors, did not have the same right to negotiate prices for its Part D coverage. This meant that Medicare basically had to accept the prices offered to them.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joined “Start Here,” ABC News’ flagship daily news podcast, earlier this year to announce that negotiations were starting. They had selected 10 medications to prioritize and attempt to bargain down prices.
On Thursday, during the first public event held by President Biden and Vice President Harris since the Biden dropped out of the presidential race, they revealed that they had agreed on all issues. This is being described as a significant development for anyone on Medicare, and for anyone who pays taxes to fund the expenses of Medicare.
Secretary Becerra joined “Start Here” on Friday to discuss this further.
START HERE: Mr. Secretary, last time we spoke you had just identified the drugs…they included some diabetes drugs, some arthritis medications, treatments for blood clots and blood cancer. Where are we now?
BECERRA: We are done with the negotiation, Brad. We have completed 10 drugs. Every company joined in the negotiations. We had offers, counter offers, and we hit a sweet spot with all ten. And that sweet spot will save Americans on Medicare who need these drugs lots of money. And it will save taxpayers who help fund the Medicare program lots of money, in the billions.
START HERE: Yeah. How much of a discount are we talking about here?
BECERRA: So in some cases, the discount from the list price is up to 79%. I think the lowest discount is about 38%. And I do want to caveat that a bit. Very rarely does anybody pay list price for anything. And if you do, take it back and bargain a bit. Whether it’s that car at the dealership where you look at list price, you don’t pay that. When you go to the department store, you try to find everything you can on sale or, you know at some point it’s going to go on sale.
And so everybody makes the effort to try to get the best price for whatever the product is. In this case, it’s a very important product, it’s your prescription medication. But you should still be able to get a good price, and that’s what we did. We negotiated and got a much better price than what Medicare was getting.
START HERE: But just so we can we can be clear about that caveat. You’re saying it’s 68%, say it’s like 79% less than the list price. But you guys weren’t paying the list price earlier. Can you tell us how much you were paying on these drugs beforehand, and how much the new discount you’ve gotten is?
BECERRA: Yeah. And that’s where it gets a little dicey because there are lots of nooks and crannies in the health care system. Some of them include what are, what is considered proprietary information of the companies, the drug companies, that they don’t want disclosed. And so the net price that Medicare pays is lower than the list price, but still high.
START HERE: So there’s some contract somewhere being like “You guys, no one can disclose what you guys had originally been paying.”
BECERRA: Yeah. We can’t, we can’t take you behind the curtain unless the drug companies tell us it’s okay to do so.
START HERE: Were you able to actually push back against these drug companies, or was it kind of like “We’ll ask once and then we’ll have to take what we get. We’re not going to risk not giving Americans these, these drugs.”
BECERRA: Well, let’s just say that when they came in with their offer or counteroffer, the final price was neither our initial offer nor their official offer. But here’s what I will tell you. The Congressional Budget Office, which is Congress’ budget estimator, they’re the ones that keep tabs of what legislation will cost — will it save money or will it cost taxpayers money? And they are very stingy when it comes to saying “Oh, taxpayers will save money.” Right?
Well, the Congressional Budget Office said with regard to the Inflation Reduction Act and prescription drug negotiation, they said, we believe in the first year of negotiation — which we just finished — in that first year, and they’re projecting because they didn’t know which drugs it would be, etc.. They said, we believe the Department of Health Human Services will save $3.7 billion. Well, we’ve saved $6 billion.
And on top of that, we’re saving people out of pocket another billion and a half. But here’s the kicker. They said over 10 years, they assume that this new law, over 10 years of negotiating, will save $100 billion. So if we’re already almost double their first estimate for their first year, I guarantee you we’re going to do better than the 100 billion, over 10 years.
START HERE: Okay. When do the new prices go into effect, then I guess?
BECERRA: Jan. 1, 2026.
START HERE: Okay, so when that kicks in, how much of a discount will average Medicare patients actually see? Because, like, if you guys scored a 68% discount on Farxiga, like the diabetes kidney medication, does that mean that the person using that drug is going to pay, it doesn’t mean they’re going to pay 68% less. I mean, how much less would it be?
BECERRA: Yeah. So remember, and that’s also a difficult question because seniors don’t typically pay very much for their prescription medication. Medicare the program, that’s the beauty of Medicare, it covers the lion’s share of the cost of those drugs. Some Americans still have to pay some out-of-pocket costs for their drugs, especially the higher cost drugs. So we’re going to save folks quite a bit of money.
Let’s put it this way: I can talk to you in total aggregate terms. We can now look at the price that we negotiated and say “Okay, if we had this price back in 2023, what would our cost have been?” And the result is we would have saved $6 billion to the health care program, and Americans will be able to save about a billion and a half dollars collectively in their out-of-pocket costs.
START HERE: The trade group that represents companies like Pfizer, Lilly, Merck, they’ve said we might not see as much innovation because we’re not getting as much money. That’s, that’s constantly been sort of a critique of this. They also say that your math makes assumptions about how many people truly save money on this. They say a very small amount of people actually get this Part D plan in the way that would actually save the money here. What is your response to to to these pharmaceutical groups?
BECERRA: Well, remember, they’re more than 50 million Americans who have prescription coverage under Medicare, the Part D program. There are about 9 million people in the Medicare program who use one of these 10 drugs. It’s not a small universe of people. And these are very expensive drugs. When you can bring the price down of a drug that’s listed for, say, $10,000, $12,000 to $3,000. That’s a pretty good deal. It’s still $3,000, but it sure saved you a ton of money. If you were paid $12,000 or 13,000 before that.
And so this will save not just the Medicare program money, but it will save Medicare beneficiaries money. And it certainly will pay taxpayers who today, when they work, have some of their money from their paycheck taken out so they could cover their Medicare investment into the future so that when they get turned 65, they can qualify. They will get to benefit from a strengthened Medicare program that will have those new resources available, because we didn’t have to spend it at, for overcharging us for the prescription medication.
START HERE: Well, so now, I mean, the idea is that you’ll negotiate more drug prices, right? So you got these 10 out of the way. What are the next 10 or the next 20, or do you guys have a sense of what types of drugs you’re looking to target?
BECERRA: Yeah. And here I have to be careful, because everything we say about a drug can move the price on the market. Right? And I don’t want to be accused of trying to influence the price up or down. And so what I can tell you is the statute, the new law, the Inflation Reduction Act, gave a pretty clear prescription of how to select these, set of drugs that will be negotiated. That’s a, it’s a good thing in the way, in a sense that it doesn’t let politics enter into this. It was pretty clear which drugs count. In this case, the first 10, they had to be the most expensive drugs in the Medicare system.
START HERE: All right. So then we’ll see what happens next. All right. Secretary Xavier Becerra, thank you so much.
