Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Illinois Detects West Nile Virus In Mosquitoes For First Time This Year
CBS News: Illinois Department Of Public Health Reports First 2 Mosquito Batches Of 2024 To Test Positive For West Nile Virus
Two batches of mosquitoes in Illinois have tested positive for West Nile Virus for the first time this year, the Illinois Department of Health announced on Friday. The Northwest Mosquito Abatement District collected the first batch of mosquitoes in Hoffman Estates, Cook County, on Tuesday. A second batch was found in Jacksonville, Morgan County, on Thursday. (Bizzle, 5/17)
The Washington Post: Mosquitoes Are Swarming Houston After Flooding, Storms And Warm Weather
After flood-inducing rain pummeled much of Texas over the past few weeks, another sort of inundation is now swamping the Houston region: Mosquitoes. Lots of them. More than many longtime residents can ever remember. (Keyser and Grandoni, 5/18)
In Medicaid news —
Houston Chronicle: Texas Children's Health Plan Poised To Lose Key Medicaid Contract
The Texas Children’s Health Plan is pushing back on the potential loss of a major state contract to provide Medicaid STAR and CHIP coverage for children in low-income families and pregnant women, as well as some other adults. The loss of the contract would mean most of its 450,000 members throughout Southeast Texas will have to find new insurance plans by next year — a disruption that health plan officials say will be especially burdensome for a vulnerable population. (Gill, 5/17)
KFF Health News: Medicaid Unwinding Deals Blow To Tenuous System Of Care For Native Americans
About a year into the process of redetermining Medicaid eligibility after the covid-19 public health emergency, more than 20 million people have been kicked off the joint federal-state program for low-income families. A chorus of stories recount the ways the unwinding has upended people’s lives, but Native Americans are proving particularly vulnerable to losing coverage and face greater obstacles to reenrolling in Medicaid or finding other coverage. (Orozco Rodriguez, 5/20)
More health news from across the U.S. —
New Hampshire Public Radio: NH Missed A Court Deadline To End ER Boarding. But It's Making Some Progress.
For the last year, New Hampshire has been staring down a deadline for ending a persistent problem: patients languishing in emergency rooms for days or weeks, due to a lack of inpatient mental health care. Last May, a federal judge ruled that had to end and gave the state 12 months to fix it. That deadline is today, May 17. But state officials say they need more time — because the backlog of patients in hospital emergency rooms is just one symptom of larger challenges facing New Hampshire’s mental health system. (Cuno-Booth, 5/17)
CBS News: Spanish-Speaking Pediatric Clinic At Children's Hospital Colorado Aims To Boost Healthcare Accessibility
If you've ever had to take your child to the hospital or undergo a major procedure yourself, you know it's not always easy to understand what your doctor is saying. For Spanish-speaking families, those conversations can be even more challenging. Children's Hospital Colorado's Clínica de Cirugía Pediátrica -- Pediatric Surgery Clinic -- is the first of its kind in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. (Arenas, 5/19)
AP: After The Only Hospital In Town Closed, A North Carolina City Directs Its Ire At Politicians
Weeds have punctured through the vacant parking lot of Martin General Hospital’s emergency room. A makeshift blue tarp covering the hospital’s sign is worn down from flapping in the wind. The hospital doors are locked, many in this county of 22,000 fear permanently. Some residents worry the hospital’s sudden closure last August could cost them their life. “I know we all have to die, but it seems like since the hospital closed, there’s a lot more people dying,” Linda Gibson, a lifelong resident of Williamston, North Carolina, said on a recent afternoon while preparing snacks for children in a nearby elementary school kitchen. (Seitz and Bree, 5/20)
KFF Health News: Newsom Boosted California’s Public Health Budget During Covid. Now He Wants To Cut It.
When a doctor in Pasadena, California, reported in October that a hospital patient was exhibiting classic symptoms of dengue fever, such as vomiting, a rash, and bone and joint pain, local disease investigators snapped into action. The mosquito-borne virus is common in places like Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Latin America, and when Americans contract the disease it is usually while traveling. But in this case, the patient hadn’t left California. (Hart, 5/20)
