Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Medicare-For-All, What Cancer Takes Away & The Measles Threat
Vox: Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-For-All Plan, Explained
The Sanders plan envisions a future in which all Americans have health coverage and pay nothing out of pocket when they visit the doctor. His plan, the Medicare for All Act, describes a benefit package that is more generous than what other single-payer countries, like Canada, currently offer their residents and includes new income taxes on both employees and employers. (Sarah Kliff, 4/10)
The New Yorker: What Cancer Takes Away
The surgeon says the greatest risk factor for breast cancer is having breasts. She won’t give me the initial results of the biopsy if I am alone. My friend Cara, who works for an hourly wage and has no time off, drives out to the suburban medical office on her lunch break so that I can get my diagnosis. In the United States, if you aren’t someone’s child or parent or spouse, the law does not guarantee you leave from work to take care of them. (Anne Boyer, 4/8)
WIRED: New York's Vaccine Order Shows How Health Laws Are Failing Us
The threat of bigger measles outbreaks is turning the political tides, making public health officials more willing to take draconian steps. (Megan Molteni, 4/10)
FiveThirtyEight: Our Organ Donation System Is Unfair. The Solution Might Be Too.
At any given time, there are about 13,000 people waiting for a liver transplant in the United States. Whether the cause is a virus, alcoholism or a bit of genetic bad luck, they’re all suffering while sick and scarred livers struggle to clean their blood. Over time, their intestines bleed. Fluid builds up in their legs and their chests. Their skin turns sallow. Confusion sets in. The only cure is to swap the old liver for a healthy one. Each year, about 8,000 people will get that chance. The rest will wait, getting sicker. (Maggie Koerth-Baker, 4/3)
The Atlantic: Invisible Middlemen Are Slowing Down American Health Care
Lynn Lear finished her final round of chemotherapy for breast cancer in December. To help keep the cancer from coming back, Lear’s doctor told her about a new medication she could take called Nerlynx. Lear, who is 46, wanted to do everything she could to remain healthy, so she asked her doctor to order the drug for her. (Olga Khazan, 4/9)
