Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Autopsy Of Obamacare Repeal; Raising A Terminally Ill Child; And Netflix's 'Thirteen Reasons Why'
Vox: Why Obamacare Repeal Failed
Republicans’ seven-year quest to repeal Obamacare ground to a halt at 1:30 am on Friday when Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) approached the podium in the Senate chamber, raised his arm, and gave the clerk a thumbs down. Obamacare repeal was, for the foreseeable future, dead. (Dylan Scott and Sarah Kliff, 7/31)
Cosmopolitan: What It's Like To Raise A Child With A Terminal Illness In America
It was late, between 10 p.m. and midnight in May 2008. Erin and Joe Koesters sat in their then-4-year-old daughter Emily’s hospital room in Omaha, Nebraska. Joe had just donated his right kidney to his little girl, and it was functioning well, but Emily had spiked a fever, and the doctors became concerned. (Andy Kopsa, 8/1)
The Atlantic: Democrats Say They Are Ready To Deal On Health Care
As soon as three Republican senators torpedoed the GOP’s latest repeal-and-replace push early Friday morning, a simmering question bubbled back up again. Is it finally, at long last, after seven years of one-party efforts, time for bipartisanship on health care? The short answer is maybe. (Russell Berman, 7/28)
WIRED: Science Says 13 Reasons Why May Be The Public Health Scare People Thought
In March, when Netflix began streaming its original teen suicide mystery series 13 Reasons Why, it took a few days for people to start freaking out. But soon, schools started sending home notes warning parents about the show’s graphic depictions of suicide and rape. Psychologists wrote op-eds denouncing its disregard for the World Health Organization’s suicide portrayal guidelines. News outlets published more than 600,000 stories about it. And then there was Twitter. (Megan Molteni, 7/31)
Vox: I Was Skeptical That The Anti-Vaccine Movement Was Gaining Traction. Not Anymore.
Let’s be clear about something up front: Most American children still get their shots. More than 90 percent of kids receive vaccines for polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, and chickenpox, though the coverage rates are slightly lower for other routine vaccines. Most American parents also say they support school-based vaccine requirements. (Julia Belluz, 7/28)
The New Yorker: The Threat To Birth-Control Access In The Trump Era
ast week, as Senate Republicans continued their attempt to repeal, replace, or simply undermine the Affordable Care Act, the White House moved forward with a plan to gut a provision that has been vital to protecting women’s reproductive rights. In addition to pursuing funding cuts to Title X, Planned Parenthood, Medicaid, and other programs that provide women’s health services, particularly to low-income women, the Administration is expected to amend the federal regulation that requires employers to provide health-insurance plans that offer preventive care and counselling—which the Department of Health and Human Services has interpreted to include contraception—at no cost. (Alexis Okeowo, 8/1)
