Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Extreme Heat Affects Every American, Regardless Of Politics; Mental Health Fix For Kids: More Zzz's
The New York Times: We May Not Agree On Climate, But We All Feel The Heat
Just five days into summer, much of the United States is gripped by a record-breaking heat dome. Pavement is buckling in Wisconsin. Trains in the Northeast have had to slow or stop to avoid heat-induced “sun kinks” in the rails. Emergency rooms are expected to fill with patients with heat-related illness across the Midwest. Power grids are straining and the Washington Monument is closed to visitors. These events aren’t outliers; they are the signs of a new era of more frequent and intense heat waves that will test infrastructure, public health systems and communities. (Ashley Ward, 6/25)
Stat: The Hidden Link Between Screen Time, Sleep, And Teen Health
With all the discussion around the adolescent mental health crisis, a prime suspect has gone relatively unnoticed: sleep. I have treated thousands of youths struggling with mental illness over the past 25 years. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I have observed a remarkable shift in their everyday habits thanks to screen time. ... Sleep-deprived adolescents sometimes fall asleep in school, but more often, nap after school and crash on the weekend, temporarily meeting their sleep debt but failing to undo most of the related damage. That damage is considerable. Sleep deprivation impairs learning considerably, strongly predicting declining grades. It also predisposes youth to depression, anxiety, suicidality, and obesity. (Paul Weigle, 6/25)
Stat: What The Supreme Court Doesn’t Understand About Medical Care For Trans Youth
Recently, I prescribed estrogen to a young woman with primary ovarian insufficiency — a condition in which her body doesn’t make enough estrogen naturally. This hormone replacement is standard care, medically necessary, and entirely uncontroversial. Yet if I were to prescribe the identical medication to a transgender girl experiencing gender dysphoria, I could face felony charges in six states. (Candice Mazon, 6/25)
The Washington Post: The One Big Beautiful Bill Would Tie Obamacare In Red Tape
Republicans in Congress have dropped the mantra to “repeal and replace” Obamacare that they repeated so often during President Donald Trump’s first term. This time, their “big beautiful bill” would instead undermine the Affordable Care Act in subtle ways. (6/24)
The New York Times: ‘Motherhood Should Come With a Warning Label’
Some people scoff at the idea that parents should ever complain about the financial stress of raising children in the United States, where our social safety nets are some of the flimsiest in the developed world. Pretty consistently, I get responses that boil down to: If you can’t afford kids, that’s on you. You chose to have them. But I think that’s both unempathetic, and shortsighted. There’s evidence that our society’s disdain for mothers is affecting them emotionally. In May, a large study was published showing that self-reported mental health had become significantly worse for American mothers from 2016 to 2023. (Jessica Grose, 6/25)
