Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
How COVID Is Affecting Voting
Reuters: Early Voting Begins In Crucial Florida As Campaign Enters Closing Stretch
Early voting for the Nov. 3 presidential election begins in the crucial battleground state of Florida on Monday as a record 28 million Americans have already cast ballots with barely two weeks remaining in the campaign. President Donald Trump, running out of time to change the dynamics of a race that polls show him losing, will visit Arizona on Monday after holding a rally in Nevada on Sunday and urging his supporters to vote amid signs that Democrats are leading the surge in early voting. (Ax, 10/19)
Reuters: Young U.S. Poll Workers Brace For Election Day As Virus Fears Keep Elders Home
After scrambling to replace an aging force of poll workers most at risk from the coronavirus, U.S. election officials face the challenge of running the Nov. 3 voting with untested volunteers tasked with following strict health protocols in an intensely partisan environment. A nationwide drive that recruited hundreds of thousands of younger poll workers - the people who set up equipment, check in voters and process ballots - means most battleground states will not be understaffed, a Reuters review of Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin found. (Harte and Whitesides, 10/18)
NPR: Emergency Rooms Sign Up New Voters Ahead Of Election
This year, there aren't as many large public events with volunteers signing people up to vote in the weeks before the election, due to the pandemic. But doctors' offices are stepping in to fill the void, through programs like VotER and Vote Health 2020, nonpartisan efforts to register patients in free clinics, community centers and emergency rooms. (Silver, 10/18)
Also —
Scientific American: Physician-Politicians Tout Medical Credentials In Key U.S. Congressional Races
Hiral Tipirneni spent nearly a decade working in emergency medicine in Arizona. She started out 23 years ago at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in downtown Phoenix, treating patients with broken bones, failing hearts and a lot of other problems. Then some health tragedies hit home. “Our family suffered a great loss to cancer: my mom and nephew,” she says. Tipirneni felt she should do something to combat the illness that took her loved ones. In 2010 she accepted a position as a scientific review officer for the Society of Research Administrators International, a global research management group overseeing cancer studies. But when Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2016, “I was terrified of the threats of ‘repeal and replace’ of the Affordable Care Act,” she recalls. “After years spent in the ER seeing thousands of families come through with no access to health care..., it was too much to stand by. That prompted me to throw my hat into the ring.” (Dickie, 10/15)
KHN: Health Care Groups Dive Into Property Tax Ballot Fight, Eyeing Public Health Money
A November ballot initiative to raise property taxes on big-business owners in California is drawing unconventional political support from health care power players and public health leaders. They see Proposition 15 as a potential savior for chronically underfunded local health departments struggling to respond to the worst public health crisis in more than a century. The initiative would change California’s property tax system to tax some commercial properties higher than residential properties, which backers say could generate billions to help local governments pay for critical public health infrastructure and staffing. (Hart, 10/19)
