Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Civil Rights Groups Sound Alarm Over Trump's Agenda Targeting Gender Care
The Washington Post: Trump’s Second-Term Agenda On LGBTQ Issues Alarms Civil Rights Groups
The former president, who has shifted his position over the years on LGBTQ issues, is planning to lead the GOP charge on gender identity if he returns to the White House, according to his campaign and interviews with allies, testing the legal limits of federal action as the Supreme Court also takes up the issue. Donald Trump says he wants to kick providers out of Medicare and Medicaid for offering gender transition care to minors, such as hormone therapy and surgery; pull federal funding from schools if officials suggest a child “could be trapped in the wrong body”; and purge anything in the federal government deemed to promote transgender identity. The moves would go against the advice of leading medical groups. (Knowles, 9/22)
Stat: A Mysterious Anti ‘Big Pharma’ Bus Is Barnstorming Swing States
The wheels on a big red bus emblazoned with anti-pharmaceutical industry messaging are going ’round and ’round all through the nation’s electoral battlegrounds, from Montana to Arizona to Pennsylvania. But nobody will say who’s paying to fill up the gas tank. (Zhang, 9/23)
USA Today: Medicare Dental Insurance Is Popular With Voters, But Not In Speeches
More than half of U.S. adults don't have consistent access to dental care, and untreated issues such as oral infections can harm overall health. Although many people face these barriers to routine care, dental coverage has gained little traction among political leaders. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, have traded barbs over abortion and lowering the price of insulin. One health-related topic neither candidate has emphasized is how to extend dental care to the tens of millions of Americans who lack insurance. (Alltucker, 9/22)
The Washington Post: For Some Parents, Surging Child-Care Costs Could Determine How They Vote
Kayla and Ryan Frost were desperate. Every local day care was full. Nannies were booked. Neither could quit their job. So they patched together a solution: paying their dog sitter to watch their 3-month-old daughter. But the dog sitter, who was great with their German shepherd mix, wasn’t the right fit for their infant. And because of her $25 hourly rate, the Frosts could afford care for only a couple of days a week. (Bhattarai, 9/22)
