Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Mass. Court Upholds $37M Case Against Marlboro Over 'Light' Cigarettes
AP: Massachusetts' High Court Upholds $37M Judgment For Woman Who Smoked Marlboro Lights, Got Cancer
The highest court in Massachusetts has upheld a nearly $37 million judgment for a woman who said she developed cancer after switching to Marlboro Light cigarettes because she thought they were less dangerous than the Marlboro Red cigarettes she had previously smoked. The Supreme Judicial Court’s unanimous ruling on Tuesday said that Patricia Walsh Greene might have smoked less or quit sooner had she not been swayed by Philip Morris’ claims that Marlboro Lights were safer. (5/10)
On transgender health care —
St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Legislature Passes Trans Care And Sports Restrictions
Missouri lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to restrictions on transgender minors receiving gender-affirming care and participating on school sports teams that align with their gender identity. Members of the House voted 108-50 Wednesday to pass the legislation restricting gender-affirming health care and 109-49 to pass restricting sports participation. (Kellogg and Rosenbaum, 5/10)
News Service of Florida: Judge Hears Opening Arguments Over Florida's Ban On Medicaid Coverage For Trans Care
Amid a series of legal and political battles in Florida about transgender people, a federal judge Tuesday heard opening arguments in a challenge to a state decision to prevent Medicaid coverage for treatments such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy. (Saunders, 5/10)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
Public Health Watch: California Regulators Drafting Emergency Rule To Combat Deadly Lung Disease
Workplace regulators in California are drafting an emergency rule to address an epidemic of silicosis — a deadly, preventable lung disease — among fabricators of artificial-stone countertops. In December, Public Health Watch, LAist and Univision revealed what’s believed to be the nation’s biggest cluster of the disease, in the Los Angeles area. The news outlets’ stories — and a petition citing them — triggered a burst of activity by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA. (Morris and Krisberg, 5/10)
NBC News: South Florida's Sugar Burning Season Makes Breathing Difficult For Some Residents
The ash winds up everywhere — it’s in the laundry, on cars and blankets vegetation in backyard gardens. Black snow, as the ash is known, flutters down, covering homes in parts of South Florida from October through May each year, as planned burns are carried out in thousands of acres of sugar cane fields to help the crops. (Gaines, 5/10)
Chicago Tribune: Medical Debt Initiative On Track To Erase $80 Million In Unpaid Doctor Bills For Nearly 73,000 Cook County Residents
A Cook County initiative to address the effects of medical debt has so far erased more than $25 million in past-due bills and is expected to wipe out about $55 million more in the coming weeks for 73,000 county residents total, officials told the Tribune. The first round of debt-buying has spent down just $800,000 of the county’s allotted $12 million for the federal funded program. Officials hope to erase $1 billion in debt before its expiration. (Quig, 5/10)
North Carolina Health News: Inaugural NC Summit Focuses On Child Trauma
Kara Kai Sanders knows all about how children face trauma, even when a parent is doing the best they can. In 2019, she struggled to find stable housing, living with her son in temporary shelters, hotels and even their car because living with her son’s father “was not healthy.” They later got kicked out of a hotel because she couldn’t pay on time and lived in their car while waiting for a shelter space to open up. Now she’s on a mission to turn her experiences with housing struggles into advocacy for other parents and children seeking stability. (Fernandez, 5/11)
KFF Health News: Drive-Thru Baby Showers Serve Express Needs Of Pregnant Veterans In Atlanta
When 28-year-old Navy veteran Carisma Carter pulled her car up to the front of the Atlanta VA Clinic, her seat was pushed far back from the steering wheel to make room for her big belly. Carter was 8 months pregnant. “I’m having two boys, twins. It’s my first pregnancy,” she said. Carter knows the pregnancy risks she could face as a Black woman, especially in Georgia, where data shows Black women are more than twice as likely as white women to die during or within a year after a pregnancy. (Mador, 5/11)
