Health

 Type Investigations  -  By law, hospitals must provide life-saving care to anyone who visits an emergency room. But they have long sought to limit their costs by discharging patients as soon as they’re in stable condition—particularly when a patient doesn’t have health insurance.

• Patients and their relatives say hospitals failed to obtain “informed consent” before discharging them, and pressured them to agree to transfers. “If you don’t sign for us to remove him, we’re going to leave him on your doorstep,” one hospital told a patient’s niece.
• Donald Trump has made hospitals a focus of his mass deportation agenda, lifting restrictions that had discouraged agents from arresting undocumented immigrants in “sensitive areas” like medical facilities.
• And ICE officials reportedly will be given access to the personal data of 79 million Medicaid enrollees—to help agents track down undocumented immigrants.

NBC News - The committee that issues recommendations on who should get a Covid vaccine — guidance heeded by pharmacists administering the shots — has typically met earlier in the summer. This year, however, the meeting has been delayed until Sept. 18, causing confusion for those arriving at pharmacies expecting updated Covid shots.

In addition to the delayed advisory panel meeting, shifting vaccine policies under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have also made it difficult for pharmacists to determine who is eligible for a shot.

Until the committee releases its recommendations, patients in 13 states and Washington D.C. will need a doctor's prescription, and eligibility will depend on age. In Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico, CVS won't be offering the Covid shot at all until the committee acts. Full Story