Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bill That Decriminalizes Fentanyl Test Strips Heads To Ohio Governor's Desk
AP: Ohio Lawmakers OK Sweeping Criminal Justice Law Changes
The bill, which received bipartisan support, also would decriminalize fentanyl test strips, make strangulation a separate offense, outlaw fertility fraud by doctors, and mandate age-appropriate education about child sexual abuse prevention in schools, among other changes. (Hendrickson, 12/15)
In Medicaid news from Iowa and elsewhere —
Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Announces A $44 Million Settlement With Medicaid Managed Care Organization Centene
The state attorney general’s office has reached a $44.4 million settlement with managed care company Centene over its pharmaceutical billing practices. Missouri-based Centene operates as Iowa Total Care in the state. It’s one of two managed care organizations currently contracted with the state and providing services under its Medicaid program. (Krebs, 12/15)
KHN: Why Medicaid Expansion Ballots May Hit A Dead End After A Fleeting Victory In South Dakota
Republican-led legislatures have repeatedly thwarted Medicaid expansion in a dozen conservative states, despite high numbers of uninsured residents. In recent years, supporters of expansion have found success with another strategy: letting voters decide. Since 2017, Medicaid expansion has passed in seven states where the issue was put on the ballot, adopting the Affordable Care Act provision that would grant health insurance to hundreds of thousands living at or near the poverty line. (Pradhan and Chang, 12/16)
In environmental health news from Florida, New York, Tennessee, and Massachusetts —
Climate Central and ADAPT: After Ian And Nicole, Experts Warn Of Health Risks From Blue-Green Algae
Shannon Valentine-Sanders had been suffering from mysterious symptoms for a couple weeks last year when she vaguely remembers sending an emergency alert to her family from a KFC parking lot in Matlacha, on Florida’s Southwest coast. “I didn’t know where I was,” she says. “I thought I was drugged or poisoned or something.” Seeing her pain, exhaustion and forgetfulness, hospital doctors connected her illness to toxins secreted by blue-green algae floating in mats around the sailboat she’d lived on over the summer. (Upton, DeFonza and Rivers, 12/15)
NPR: Government Admits Its Ortho-Toluidine Exposure Limit Is Too High
Before his shift at the Goodyear Tire and Rubber plant in Niagara Falls, N.Y., in May 2021, a worker peed in a cup. Before he clocked out, he did it again. (Lerner, 12/15)
AP: Audit: Tennessee Must Curb Eastman Plant's Emissions
ine years after the EPA first found Tennessee’s Eastman Chemical Company was polluting the air with unsafe levels of sulfur dioxide from its coal-burning power plants, the state is still working to bring the company into compliance with national air quality standards. ... The Environmental Protection Agency tightened its standards for sulfur dioxide emissions in 2010, saying the new limits were “necessary to provide protection of public health with an adequate margin of safety, especially for children, the elderly and those with asthma.” (Loller, 12/15)
The Boston Globe: Stray Cat In Dorchester Tests Positive For Rabies
Boston health officials announced that a stray cat found outdoors in Dorchester Monday tested positive for rabies, and they urge anyone who may have encountered the cat to seek medical advice. (Allen, 12/15)
In updates from California —
Los Angeles Times: 'Gimme Shelter': Why It's So Hard For Homeless People To Get Healthcare
Many homeless Californians have significant chronic health problems. But comparatively few receive the healthcare they need. The latest estimate of California’s homeless population tops 173,000, but less than one-third who are enrolled in the state’s healthcare program for low-income residents have ever seen a primary care doctor. (Dillon, 12/15)
CalMatters: Why A Mentally Disabled Northern California Man Was Jailed Nine Years Awaiting A Murder Trial That Never Happened
Arrested at age 27, Mays’ intellectual disability made it hard for him to make sense of terms like “no contest” or “plea bargain” or even the role of a judge and jury. He told one psychologist he thought he was in jail for witnessing a murder. (Wiener, 12/15)
