Category: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Local News

(The Hill) – The first over-the-counter birth control pill in the U.S. will hit the market soon, and the Biden administration is facing pressure from Democrats and reproductive health groups to make sure it’s affordable.  

The manufacturer of Opill says it’s on track to make the drug available sometime during the first quarter of this year, meaning it could be on shelves by March. 

Reproductive health experts say making birth control pills available without a prescription has the potential to be a game changer, especially for younger women and those in rural and underserved communities. 

It is more than 90 percent effective at preventing pregnancies, making it more effective than other over-the-counter contraceptives such as condoms or spermicides. 

The push to make birth control available OTC has been happening for years, but after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to an abortion, the movement took on more urgency. 

The White House last week unveiled new efforts to expand access to contraception, including requiring insurers to cover a broader range of products for free under the Affordable Care — but only if they are prescribed. Insurers typically don’t cover OTC products. 

A few states require state-regulated private health insurance plans to cover over-the-counter contraception, but those rules don’t apply to most employer-sponsored plans.  

Federal health officials are reviewing potential changes on how best to ensure coverage and access to OTC products, and a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) request for public input at the end of September garnered nearly 400 responses.  

But the agency hasn’t made any decisions yet, and there’s growing concern that without action, a patchwork of state policies could blunt the potential benefits of Opill.  

“When Opill is on the market, it’s extremely important that everybody has access, that it’s sold at an affordable price and that people who do have insurance can use their insurance coverage to access it,” said Kelly Blanchard, president of Ibis Reproductive Health, which operates the Free the Pill campaign. 

Affordability of birth control shouldn’t be dependent on a person’s zip code, Blanchard said, so the Biden administration needs to clarify that the ACA also requires coverage for over-the-counter products. 

A push for federal action is also coming from Democratic governors. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom led a coalition of governors in December calling on HHS to expand private insurance coverage to OTC products and adopt a similar policy in federally funded health insurance plans like Medicare and Medicaid. 

“As allies in the fight for reproductive freedom, we urge you to take further steps to ensure that all women have access to necessary contraceptive services,” wrote the governors, who also included Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. 

“Without coverage that includes low or no out-of-pocket costs, over-the-counter birth control products become much less accessible,” they wrote.  

In Congress, nearly all Senate Democrats have asked administration officials to take concrete steps to ensure contraceptives are covered without cost-sharing and without the need for a prescription. 

But for advocates, the push to ensure Opill is affordable extends to the manufacturer, Perrigo Company, and retailers who will determine the price for people paying out of pocket. The manufacturer will set a list price, but individual retailers will decide what it will ultimately cost consumers. 

Perrigo has yet to disclose what the retail price for the product will be, and a spokeswoman said only that “the company is committed to ensuring that Opill will be accessible to people who need it.” 

Even a small cost burden can present a significant barrier and make a drug inaccessible.  

For example, FDA approved the first-ever OTC hearing aids in 2022, but the average cost was significantly higher than what people would have paid with insurance coverage. 

A KFF survey from 2022 found nearly 40 percent of reproductive-aged women would be willing and able to pay between $1 and $10 a month, but only about 16 percent would be willing and able to pay more than $20. 

On Wednesday, the steering committee of the Free the Pill campaign called on Perrigo not to charge more than $15 for a three-month supply. 

“Though we are also advocating for OTC birth control to be fully covered by insurance without a prescription or cost sharing, we know that because US health insurance is often tied to employment, a high retail price could also put Opill out of reach for people who don’t have employer-based insurance,” the group wrote in a letter to Perrigo’s leadership. 

“A retail price of $15 for a three-month supply would help ensure that this groundbreaking product is affordable for those who face the most barriers to access, many of whom are also those with the least ability to pay.”  

(KTLA) — Just when we assumed all was good between Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, it seems things have taken a turn.

During Timberlake’s free New York City concert on Jan. 31, the singer told the crowd, “I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to absolutely f—ing nobody” right before he began to sing his 2002 hit “Cry Me a River.”

The music video of the song famously portrays a Spears lookalike and the lyrics describe a woman who’s been unfaithful. Many, including Spears herself, believe the song and video created a narrative that Spears cheated on Timberlake, ultimately causing the two to break up.

His comment came just two days after his famous ex seemed to have apologized to him, in a now-deleted Instagram post.

“I wanna apologize for some of the things I wrote about in my book,” she wrote in the caption. “If I offended any of the people I genuinely care about I am deeply sorry.”

The “…Baby One More Time” singer then extended an olive branch to Timberlake.

“I also wanted to say I am in love with Justin Timberlake’s new song ‘Selfish’ 🌹 It is soo good and how come every time I see Justin and Jimmy together I laugh so hard?”

Spears referenced her 2023 tell-all memoir “The Woman In Me,” where the pop star revealed intimate details of the former couple’s relationship in the early 2000s.

One of the major bombshells was Spears’ revelation that she became pregnant with the former NSYNC member’s child when they were both around 19 years old. However, she ended up getting an abortion because she said Timberlake wasn’t ready to be a father.

She also claimed the “SexyBack” artist cheated on her multiple times and broke up with her through a text message.

The “Crossroads”‘ actress also touched on “Cry Me a River.”

She wrote that the video featured  “a woman who looks like me cheats on him and he wanders around sad in the rain.”

She noted that neither one of them was that innocent.

“I felt there was no way at the time to tell my side of the story. I couldn’t explain, because I knew no one would take my side once Justin had convinced the world of his version. I don’t think Justin realized the power he had in shaming me. I don’t think he understands to this day.”

Her apology came as Timberlake is currently promoting his upcoming album “Everything I Thought It Was.” Last week he dropped “Selfish,” his first solo single in almost six years.

Spears fans trolled the singer by streaming her 2011 song by the same name from her album “Femme Fatale.” The move pushed the 13-year-old song to number one on iTunes on Friday.

Timberlake’s recent comments also come about a month after he seemed to apologize to Spears.

In December, during his performance of the opening of the Fountainbleu in Las Vegas, he said “No disrespect” before singing “Cry My a River.” But it appears he’s changed his tune.

Spears also seems to have caught wind of this and fired back on Instagram.

She posted Hang Hee Kim’s photograph titled “Perfect Timing,” which depicts a basketball hoop in front of a full moon.

“Someone told me someone was talking [expletive] about me on the streets!!!” she wrote in the caption. “Do you want to bring it to the court or will you go home crying to your mom like you did last time??? I’m not sorry !!!”

Many fans will remember the iconic photo, where the two took part in the celebrity basketball game Challenge for the Children III in Las Vegas back in 2001.

KTLA 5 has reached out to both Britney Spears’ and Justin Timberlake’s teams and are awaiting a response.

Watch day 6 of the trial live in the video player above and read a synopsis of day 5 below.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Hours before a 2021 mass school shooting in Michigan, the mother of a teenager who killed four students said she was worried that he was “going to do something dumb,” a man who had a close relationship with her testified Wednesday.

Brian Meloche said Jennifer Crumbley explained to him that she had to go to Oxford High School after a teacher discovered a violent drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment the morning of the tragedy.

“Something with Ethan. (She) was worried he was going to do something dumb,” Meloche said.

Meloche, who was having an extramarital affair with Jennifer Crumbley at the time, said he knew through social media posts that the parents had recently purchased a gun for the boy.

“I asked where the firearm was. … If something was going to occur it would produce immediate irreparable damage,” Meloche testified.

Meloche spoke on the fifth day of trial in the involuntary manslaughter case against Jennifer Crumbley. She and husband James Crumbley are accused of ignoring their son’s mental health needs and making a gun accessible at home. Four students were killed Nov. 30, 2021, and more were wounded.

A meeting between school staff and the Crumbleys before the shooting has been a focal point in the case.

The parents were presented with a disturbing drawing their son had scrawled on an assignment. It depicted a gun and bullet and the lines, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. The world is dead. My life is useless.”

The school recommended that the couple get him help as soon as possible, but they declined to take him home, saying they needed to return to work, a counselor has testified. Their son stayed in school and later pulled a handgun from his backpack to fire at students.

The Crumbleys are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child.

Meloche and Jennifer Crumbley repeatedly exchanged messages until her arrest four days later. Pages of their communications were shared with the jury.

Jennifer Crumbley told Meloche she was angry at the school for not checking her son’s backpack for a gun. She claimed the gun had been properly secured at home. She also said she didn’t know how her son’s “brain snapped.”

Her new priorities, according to a message: “Staying out of jail and not going into a financial hole.”

Long before trial, Judge Cheryl Matthews barred prosecutors from disclosing the affair. Jennifer Crumbley dropped her opposition during a lively exchange among attorneys on both sides of the case.

“Her life is more important than her dignity,” Jennifer Crumbley’s attorney, Shannon Smith, said. “She had an affair. Lots of people have affairs. Doesn’t mean you know your kid’s a school shooter. Doesn’t mean you know your child is going to kill people.”

Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard more of the prosecution’s effort to portray Jennifer Crumbley as a cold, thoughtless parent whose gross negligence contributed to the deaths.

Hours after the shooting, she said her son was “going to have to suffer” as a result of what happened, an investigator testified.

“I found that odd,” said Detective Lt. Sam Marzban of the Oakland County sheriff’s office. “She was referring to someone who was her son.”

Marzban was in charge of getting a warrant to search the Crumbley home and collect their phones.

“I told her that there were several dead kids and kids shot in the school. It was on the national news. Even the president had addressed it,” Marzban testified.

Jennifer Crumbley seemed “irritated and frustrated,” he said, especially about giving up her phone.

He said investigators were interested in the phones after seeing text messages from the parents on their son’s phone.

“Ethan don’t do it,” Jennifer Crumbley, 45, wrote about an hour after the shooting started.

Smith said last week that Jennifer Crumbley was referring to her son possibly killing himself.

Seventeen-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, is serving a life sentence. James Crumbley, 47, faces trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in March.

The jury also learned how the parents, possessing more than $6,000, were captured by police. Roughly 13 hours after charges were announced, they were found on a mattress at an acquaintance’s Detroit art studio, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of their home.

A sharp-eyed coffee roaster in the building said he spotted their car in the parking lot and called 911.

Smith insists the parents were not on the run. She has said they couldn’t stay at home because they had received threats and that they had planned to voluntarily appear in court.