Health News Roundup: U.S. Supreme Court justices lean toward insurers on $12 billion Obamacare claims

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. Supreme Court justices lean toward insurers on $12 billion Obamacare claims

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared sympathetic to claims made by health insurers seeking $12 billion from the federal government under a program set up by the Obamacare law aimed at encouraging them to offer medical coverage to previously uninsured Americans. The justices considered a challenge by a group of insurers of a lower court's ruling that Congress had suspended the government's obligation to make such payments. The insurers have said that ruling constituted a "bait-and-switch" that would enable the government to withhold money the companies were promised. U.S. Supreme Court leaves in place Kentucky abortion restriction

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Kentucky restriction requiring doctors to show and describe ultrasound images to women seeking an abortion, turning away a challenge arguing that the measure violates the free speech rights of physicians. The justices declined without comment to hear an appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of a lower court ruling that upheld the law after a federal judge previously had struck it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Bluebird bio, Bristol-Myers' multiple myeloma therapy shows promise in an early study

Bluebird bio Inc and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co on Monday reported encouraging initial data from an ongoing early-stage study testing their experimental therapy for multiple myeloma in patients who did not respond to prior treatments. The lowest dose of the therapy, bb21217, had a median duration of response of 11.1 months and an overall response rate of 83% in heavily pre-treated patients with at least three prior lines of therapy, according to data presented at the American Society of Hematology Conference. Sanofi ends research in diabetes, narrows units to spur profit

Sanofi SA said on Monday it would end its research efforts in diabetes and cardiovascular diseases as part of a revamp that will narrow the number of its business units in the hope of bolstering growth and profit. The French drugmaker, whose pipeline has disappointed investors in recent years, poached new chief executive Paul Hudson from Swiss pharma group Novartis in September to revitalize the company. High schools struggle to follow state concussion laws

(Reuters Health) - High schools across the U.S. face numerous barriers to implementing laws intended to help students recover from concussions, a small U.S. study suggests. Researchers interviewed 64 high school athletic trainers from 26 states and the District of Columbia about challenges they encountered when trying to follow state policies designed to educate coaches and parents about concussions, remove athletes from sports during concussion recovery and ease athletes back into sports participation safely. J&J CEO spurns U.S. congressional hearing on carcinogens in talc products

Johnson & Johnson Chief Executive Officer Alex Gorsky has declined to appear at a U.S. congressional hearing set for Tuesday on the safety of the company's Baby Powder and other talc-based cosmetics. In an announcement, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy said that its efforts to persuade Gorsky to testify included "repeated attempts to accommodate the company" over nearly a month. Caring alone for two small girls, Texas father grapples with loss

Zak Tiemann picked up his daughters from school early this Halloween. Zayleeana, 3, and Zoey, 5, were beaming with excitement as they donned their "Frozen" costumes and went trick-or-treating in their small hometown of Seguin, Texas. But for their 34-year old father family occasions have been bittersweet. The girls' mother, Amanda Garcia, died three years ago just days after giving birth to Zayleeana. She was 26 years old. France to ban dozens of glyphosate weedkillers amid health risk debate

France's health and environment agency said on Monday it was banning dozens of glyphosate-based weedkillers, most of the volume of such products sold in France, ruling there was insufficient data to exclude health risks. The ANSES agency was withdrawing the marketing license for 36 products which would no longer be authorized for use after the end of next year, it said in a statement. Correvio suffers fresh blow as heart drug fails to win FDA panel backing

Independent experts to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday voted against Correvio Pharma Corp's drug to correct irregular rhythm in the upper chambers of the heart in adult patients, the latest setback to the company's efforts to market a potential blockbuster in the country. The panel voted 11-2 against approving the drug, Brinavess, citing serious safety risks, including low blood pressure and irregular rhythm in the lower heart chambers, and deaths during the trials. Rural U.S. sees slower decline in childhood deaths

(Reuters Health) – Although mortality rates among U.S. infants, children and teens have declined overall in the last two decades, rural kids still face higher odds of death than urban kids, researchers say. Accidents and suicide are the leading causes of child deaths in rural areas, and both are greater risks for rural than for urban kids, researchers report in a special issue of Health Affairs devoted to health in the rural U.S.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)