Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Florida Panel Allowed To Subpoena Some Gender Care Medical Records
Politico: GOP-Led Florida House Panel Approves Subpoenas To Groups Supporting Gender-Affirming Care
A GOP-led Florida House panel authorized subpoenas seeking records from two medical organizations that support gender-affirming treatment for minors, the latest move in an ongoing legal and political fight over transgender care in Florida. The House Committee on Health & Human Services on Monday approved subpoenas demanding records from the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Florida Psychiatric Society — two organizations that are party to a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn state regulations that ban Medicaid from covering ban gender-affirming care for minors. (Sarkissian, 4/24)
AP: ACLU Sues To Block Missouri Rule On Transgender Health Care
The Missouri ACLU on Monday sued to block new state restrictions on both adults and children seeking gender-affirming health care, which are set to kick in Thursday. ACLU, Lambda Legal and Bryan Cave Leighton LLP attorneys representing transgender Missourians and health care providers asked a St. Louis County judge to stop the first-of-its-kind rule from taking effect. (Hollingsworth and Ballentine, 4/24)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
Houston Chronicle: More Than A Million Texans Expected To Be Dropped From Medicaid Rolls
More than a million Texans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage over the next 12 months as the surge in federal health care spending during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be pulled back. The moves are expected to further strain the state’s health care system at a time hospitals are already struggling financially. (Osborne, 4/24)
Billings Gazette: Medicaid Provider Rates See Boost During Budget Amendments
An unexpected amendment from Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, added $15 million from the general fund to increase Medicaid reimbursement for certain provider types in Montana. The amendment to the state budget saw bipartisan support on the Senate floor with 49 votes to approve and only one vote in opposition. (Schabacker, 4/24)
Axios: New Washington Law Aims To Simplify Death With Dignity Access
A new Washington law aims to make it easier for patients to access aid-in-dying services under the state's Death with Dignity Act. A measure Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law earlier this month will cut down the wait time between when patients first ask for life-ending medication and when they can receive it. (Santos, 4/24)
Bangor Daily News: Maine Shrinks Scope Of ‘Do Not Eat’ Warning For PFAS-Infected Wildlife
Hunters in and around Fairfield should be able to consume wild game with fewer concerns this year after testing of animals in the area revealed that high PFAS levels were only present in a concentrated area. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, in conjunction with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, on Monday issued a revised PFAS wildlife consumption advisory for the Fairfield area that reduces the size of the original advisory area by 80 percent. (Warner, 4/24)
KUNC: Groups Work To Ditch The Soda In Tribal Communities, Where Water Scarcity Feeds Childhood Obesity
Dorian Hale is playing outside his family’s hogan – a one room home on the Navajo Nation reservation in Shiprock, N.M. His mother says Dorian’s growing well for a three-year-old. “He’s a taller and bigger boy,” she says. “When I would go to his appointments, they would always tell me, like, he's going to grow over 6-foot-2.” Not every kid on the Navajo Nation, an area roughly the size of West Virginia, is on such a healthy trajectory. Dorian and his mom have benefitted from an initiative designed to counter the factors – including the lack of access to clean drinking water – that contribute to the prevalence of childhood obesity on the Navajo Nation and across Indian Country. (VandenEinde, 4/24)
Stat: Maryland Pushes Bill To Promote Alternatives To Animals In Research
Amid a push to use fewer animals in medical research, Maryland is on the verge of becoming the first state to adopt a law that would make a dedicated investment in alternative approaches. (Silverman, 4/24)
KFF Health News: Did A Military Lab Spill Anthrax Into Public Waterways? New Book Reveals Details Of A US Leak
Unsterilized laboratory wastewater from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, spewed out the top of a rusty 50,000-gallon outdoor holding tank, the pressure catapulting it over the short concrete wall that was supposed to contain hazardous spills. It was May 25, 2018, the Friday morning before Memorial Day weekend, and the tank holding waste from labs working with Ebola, anthrax, and other lethal pathogens had become overpressurized, forcing the liquid out a vent pipe. (Young, 4/25)
