Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Administration Wades Into COVID Policies Impacting Disability, Religious Rights
Politico: Trump Administration Steps In As Advocacy Groups Warn Of Covid ‘Death Panels’
State policies for rationing health care during the coronavirus pandemic could allow doctors to cut off treatment for some of the sickest patients in hot zones and revive the specter of so-called death panels, say disabled rights groups who are urging the Trump administration to intervene. The effort has recently gained urgency due to guidelines in Texas and Arizona that let doctors base treatment decisions on factors like a patient’s quality of life if they survive, or the odds they’ll live at least five years. The advocacy groups since March have filed an unprecedented 11 complaints with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights, which has mediated four cases and could add more as Covid-19 continues to spread across most of the country. (Luthi, 8/10)
The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals’ Covid-19 Policies Face Religious-Rights Checks By Trump Administration
The Trump administration has stepped up interventions in complaints by patients and health workers who say they’ve been victims of discrimination under policies that hospitals and other health organizations have adopted to combat the new coronavirus. One of the interventions involved a medical student who objected on religious grounds that he be required to shave his beard so he could wear a protective mask. Another involved a hospital’s refusal under its no-visitors rule during the pandemic to allow a bedside visit by a priest. (Armour, 8/10)
In other administration news —
Reuters: U.S. Health Chief, Visiting Taiwan, Attacks China's Pandemic Response
U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar attacked China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday and said that if such an outbreak had emerged in Taiwan or the United States it could have been “snuffed out easily”. The Trump administration has repeatedly criticised Beijing for trying to cover up the virus outbreak, first identified in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, and prevaricating on information sharing. China angrily denies the accusations. (Lee, 8/10)
AP: Taiwan Says Virus Aid Sent Quietly To Avoid Beijing Protests
Taiwan sent COVID-19 assistance to foreign countries surreptitiously to avoid protests from China, its foreign minister said Tuesday during a meeting with the highest-level American official to visit the island in four decades. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has sought to isolate it diplomatically, including barring its participation in forums such as the World Health Assembly. (Lai, 8/11)
