Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Delayed Prescriptions, Dead Animals, Rotten Food: Health Fallout From Postal Service Changes
The Hill: Senators Open Investigation Into Prescription Delays Through Postal Service
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) on Thursday announced an investigation into delays in mail-order drug prescriptions, which they attributed to “sabotage” of the United States Postal Service by the Trump administration. "Millions of Americans with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, asthma, and other chronic conditions, illnesses or health care needs rely on the USPS for delivery of their prescription drugs and are at grave risks if President Trump's efforts to degrade the mail service results in delays and disruptions," they wrote. (Budryk, 8/20)
CNN: USPS Email Tells Managers Not To Reconnect Sorting Machines
While Postmaster General Louis DeJoy may be suspending changes to postal service operations, it doesn't necessarily mean machines that had been removed will be put back in use, according to an email obtained by CNN. The email, sent hours after DeJoy's public suspension of changes on Tuesday, instructs postal workers not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected. (Holmes and Murphy, 8/20)
The Hill: VA Problems Raise Worries About Mail Slowdown, Prescriptions
Concern is growing among Democrats and advocacy groups that slowdowns in the mail could leave millions of people without access to needed medications. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which fills about 80 percent of prescriptions by mail, has already reported problems, and has been forced to use alternative methods of shipping prescriptions in certain areas of the country. While only about 5 percent of all prescription drugs are delivered in the mail, pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers are increasingly using the mail to fill prescriptions for the most expensive drugs. (Weixel, 8/20)
Los Angeles Times: USPS: Dead Animals, Rotting Food, And Chaos Amid Cutbacks
Six weeks ago, U.S. Postal Service workers in the high desert town of Tehachapi, Calif., began to notice crates of mail sitting in the post office in the early morning that should have been shipped out for delivery the night before. At a mail processing facility in Santa Clarita in July, workers discovered that their automated sorting machines had been disabled and padlocked. And inside a massive mail-sorting facility in South Los Angeles, workers fell so far behind processing packages that by early August, gnats and rodents were swarming around containers of rotted fruit and meat, and baby chicks were dead inside their boxes. (Nelson and Lau, 8/20)
AP: Thousands Of Chicks Arrive Dead To Farmers Amid USPS Turmoil
At least 4,800 chicks shipped to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have arrived dead in recent weeks after rapid cuts hit the federal mail carrier’s operations, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said. Pingree, a Maine Democrat, is raising the issue of the dead chicks and the losses farms are facing in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and U.S. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sonny Perdue, The Portland Press Herald reported. (8/20)
In related news —
The New York Times: New York State Will Allow Voters To Cast Mail-In Ballots
New York State will allow most voters to cast their ballots by mail in the November general election, joining a growing list of states that have expanded mail-in voting to address the potential spread of the coronavirus at polling places. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, signed a bill on Thursday allowing voters to request an absentee ballot if they cannot show up at a polling location because of the risk of contracting or spreading an illness, effectively permitting the state’s more than 12 million registered voters to vote by mail. (Ferre-Sadurni, 8/20)
Newsweek: Most Voters Believe Trump Is Against Mail-In Voting Because He Fears Losing: Poll
Published on Thursday, the new Morning Consult poll, which saw 1,994 registered voters surveyed between August 14 and 16, found that 51 percent of voters think Trump is afraid of losing the election, should widespread mail-in voting move forward. Meanwhile, 37 percent said they think Trump genuinely believes mail-in voting will "increase voter fraud". Another 12 percent said they did not know or had no opinion on the matter. (Da Silva, 8/21)
