Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Rigged Drug Prices; Doctors And Midwives; Treating Hep C
Tarbell: Rigged Drug Prices At Pharmacies And Hospitals
Drug stores and hospitals make good money selling you medicines but prefer to lay low in the pricing debate. They do it by cloaking their charges in private contracts and convoluted billing. (Randy Barrett, 5/29)
Vox: The Culture War Between Doctors And Midwives, Explained
A deeper look at history explains why when it comes to midwife use, the US falls behind other affluent countries. Video. (5/29)
The Atlantic: Why Egypt Is At The Forefront Of Hepatitis C Treatment
Just five years ago, with the best medical therapies available, the odds of curing a person infected with hepatitis C were no better than a coin toss. Eliminating the disease from a whole country was unthinkable. But today, Egypt is wiping the disease from its population at an unprecedented pace. (Ted Alcorn, 5/29)
Wired: 23andMe Is Suing Ancestry Over Some Pretty Ancient IP
Genealogy products—tests that tell people where their ancestors hailed from and match them with distant family members—have captured the consumer imagination: People are much more likely to send in their saliva if it will tell them where they came from than if it will tell them their risk for Parkinson’s disease. The methods for finding these long-lost cousins aren’t that complicated. But it just got a whole lot more complicated for Ancestry to keep using using them. (Megan Molteni, 5/30)
The Atlantic: Witnessing A Public Suicide Can Be Traumatic
A suicide can be dangerous to those closest to the victim, leaving family and friends vulnerable to depression and self-harm. When the act is committed in public, any incidental observers are left to grapple with it, too. While studies on witnessing strangers’ suicide are scarce, a small body of research—alongside a larger body of anecdotes—has begun to show that the experience can be damaging, even traumatic. (Alice Robb, 5/25)
