Viewpoints: Infrastructure Plan Forgets Mental Health Care; Supreme Court To Review Mississippi Anti-Abortion Law

Stat: Ignoring Mental Health Infrastructure Will Be A Costly Mistake 
President Biden’s ambitious infrastructure plan has a glaring omission: It makes no effort to redress the awful reality that the United States has the worst mental health infrastructure of any country in the developed world. People with mental illness, their families, and society at large are suffering the tragic consequences of four decades of mental health defunding and privatization: 90% of psychiatric beds have been closed; the once-wonderful system of publicly funded community mental health centers has been gutted; crisis response teams are almost nonexistent; and the available pool of affordable housing meets only a fraction of what’s needed. (Allen Frances, 7/9)

The New York Times: Banning Abortion Doesn’t Protect Women’s Health 
During its coming term, the United States Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of a Mississippi anti-abortion law that criminalizes abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Already in Mississippi, only one abortion clinic remains to serve the entire state. This new law, one of the most restrictive anti-abortion measures yet, provides no exemptions in cases of rape or incest. Many see it as the gravest threat to Roe v. Wade ever taken up by the Supreme Court. They are not wrong. (Michelle Goodwin, 7/9)

The Washington Post: Home Health Care Belongs In The Infrastructure Package. We All Pay For It Anyway
When Tanja Lee’s mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2005, the North Carolina woman shut down her child-care business to take care of her. Now, Lee is a full-time home health-care worker, currently caring for an Alzheimer’s patient for $8.50 an hour. That’s not enough money, she says — and similar pay is not enough for millions of other caretakers in this country. “This job is not an easy job, and we are essential workers,” Lee told me. “We’ve got to do something.” Lee will leave her eastern North Carolina home next Tuesday and head to D.C. to take part in a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) day of action. The SEIU-backed rallies and marches in cities across the United States, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, are aimed at keeping pressure on Congress to include the $400 billion investment in Medicaid home health care President Biden proposed in his American Jobs Plan in upcoming budget reconciliation legislation. The money would increase both the number of caretaking jobs and the pay workers get for performing them. “Care can’t wait,” SEIU head Mary Kay Henry told me. (Helaine Olen, 7/7)

Bloomberg: FDA Restriction Of Biogen Alzheimer’s Drug Raises Questions 
The Food and Drug Administration is already limiting one of the most controversial drug approvals in its 115-year history. The medication is Biogen Inc.'s Alzheimer's treatment Aduhelm, which won clearance last month despite mixed evidence and expert objections. The agency initially approved the drug for most Alzheimer's patients, even though it was only studied in those with mild disease. The decision risked bringing an expensive treatment to millions of additional patients without evidence of utility or safety. Thursday saw the FDA change its prescription guidelines to suggest using the drug only in the smaller group in which it was studied. The initial approval was so inexplicably broad that investors reacted favorably to the restriction: Biogen’s stock climbed as much as 4% Thursday. (Max Nisen, 7/8)

Houston Chronicle: Make Telemedicine Permanent? Tech Should Also Enable More In-Person Care
The use of technology has promised to change most jobs. This change has been greatly accelerated by COVID in health care with the use of telemedicine. The American Medical Association has predicted that after COVID, telehealth will account for a shift of $250 billion or about 20 percent of what Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers spend on outpatient, office and home health visits. In this bright future, physicians sit in their offices, patients sit at home and … done! (Arthur Garson Jr., 7/9)

Los Angeles Times: Put Public Members In Charge Of The California Medical Board 
It’s become a common scene at the quarterly meetings of the California Medical Board, the 15-member state panel that oversees physicians and other healthcare professionals: Witnesses tell heartrending stories about loved ones maimed or killed by a routine medical procedure, then blast the board for imposing little or no penalty on the doctor responsible. Even the board admits that the public has lost a lot of faith in its ability to protect consumers from bad doctors. (7/6)

Modern Healthcare: Properly Defining Communities Is Paramount In Protecting Them
After falling short in reaching President Biden's goal of having 70% of adults in the U.S. receive at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by the Fourth of July, it is clear more work needs to be done. While much progress has been made since COVID immunizations first became available, there are still communities around the country where protection doesn't run as deep as we need it to be. How we define community matters. As we look toward reaching 70%, we need to think about how we'll get there together. (Dr. Oxiris Barbot, 7/8)