Healthcare

A new bill from Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would require health insurers to disclose taxes they pay under ObamaCare to policyholders.

In a statement Monday, Cornyn touted the measure as a way to educate consumers about how the Affordable Care Act's benefits are funded.

"Texans have the right to know just how much this law is costing them, and this bill would bring much needed transparency to the onslaught of higher costs families will be facing," Cornyn said in a statement. 

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up tobacco companies' lawsuit against new rules requiring them to display large, graphic warnings on cigarette packages.

The court declined to hear a case challenging the graphic warnings — along with other sections of a landmark 2009 tobacco law. 

The Supreme Court's refusal to hear the case leaves in place a lower court's decision upholding most of the tobacco law, including its requirement for graphic warning images on cigarette packs.

The Obama administration on Thursday gave regulators approval to ask doctors about the marketing practices of drug companies.

The survey project by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to cost as much as $365,000 over two years. Physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants will be able asked their opinions about how drugs are promoted to consumers and healthcare professionals.

Although the White House gave the study the green light “with changes,” it is not clear what those changes are.

Two legislators who have opposed generic versions of the drug OxyContin are applauding a move by the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) to block a form of the painkiller that could be easier to abuse.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) cheered the agency's decision on Tuesday to prevent the production of an early version of the drug, know generically as oxycodone, that can be crushed or dissolved. Turning OxyContin into a powder makes it easier to inject or snort, which the agency claims is one way to abuse it.

"With more than 16,000 Americans dying from opioid drug overdoses each year, [FDA] Commissioner [Margaret] Hamburg’s announcement is a significant step forward in the federal government’s effort to reduce opioid drug abuse and protect consumers," the two said in a joint statement.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday blocked drug manufacturers from making a generic version of the addictive drug OxyContin.

Particles that were in the air after the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York City could cause breast cancer, according to new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

The Food and Drug Administration had received "a litany of complaints" about the companies tied to a deadly meningitis outbreak, House Republicans said Monday.

Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Committee said the FDA had received specific complaints about the safety and sterility of drugs manufactured by the companies tied to the outbreak.

Energy and Commerce Republicans released more information from their meningitis investigation ahead of a hearing Tuesday at which FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg is scheduled to testify.

The American Lung Association and other health groups are asking federal regulators to ban menthol in cigarettes.

The groups says the minty taste is just as effective at getting smokers hooked as other flavorings that were banned under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is pushing to require that all infant formulas include a trace mineral linked to combating chronic afflictions like cancer and heart disease.

The agency is issuing a proposed rule, to be published in Tuesday's Federal Register, that would mandate that baby formulas include selenium, an antioxidant.

FDA says all American manufacturers already add the mineral to infant formula even though it hasn't been required.

Federal regulations require amounts of 29 other nutrients and minerals in formula, such as vitamins C and D, calcium and potassium, and the FDA says selenium should be added to the list.

Members of the Energy and Commerce Committee want information from the health department to understand "the role Navigators will play."