Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawmakers Seeking No-Cost Coverage For Mammography For Younger Women
CQ Healthbeat: House, Senate Bills Seek To Preserve Copay-Free Mammograms
A bipartisan cadre of female lawmakers are working to keep a mandate for insurance companies to cover mammography for women in their 40s free of copay charges, a step intended to again overrule the findings of an influential federal task force. Reps. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., in recent weeks introduced bills (HR 3339, S 1926) that would stop the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force from issuing a lukewarm review about the potential benefits of routine mammography for women in their 40s. (Young, 8/12)
Politico: Sexual Politics Boosts Bid For ‘Pink Viagra’
A drug company that makes so-called pink Viagra — a libido-boosting pill for women — is on the verge of FDA approval for the drug after enlisting thousands of women’s activists and members of Congress in a campaign about gender double standards and sexual politics. The only problem? The medical evidence that the drug actually works safely is weak. (Karlin, 8/13)
The Associated Press: First Lady’s Healthy Kids Director Aims To Get Things Done
Seven months ago, Eschmeyer’s path led her to the White House. She’s the senior policy adviser for nutrition policy and, perhaps more important, the newest executive director of Michelle Obama’s five-year-old initiative to reduce childhood obesity. A lifelong child nutrition advocate, Eschmeyer says: “I’m used to getting things done.” On her to-do list: protecting a federal law that introduced healthier foods in schools. (Superville, 8/13)
