Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Missouri Repeals Voter-Approved Paid Sick Leave Provision
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri’s Paid Sick Leave Law To End In August After Repeal
Seven months after voters endorsed a plan requiring Missouri employers to provide paid sick leave benefits to workers, Gov. Mike Kehoe signed legislation overturning the initiative. The measure, which will go into effect in August, was among a handful of bills acted upon by the Republican chief executive Thursday, including a plan to cut the state’s capital gains tax that will reduce state revenues by an estimated $400 million annually. (Erickson, 7/10)
The Hill: YWCA Kalamazoo's Medicaid Challenge Rejected
A Michigan judge rejected a challenge to the state’s longtime ban on taxpayer-funded abortions for low-income residents. The lawsuit argued that the ban had no standing after Michiganders voted in 2022 to pass a constitutional amendment ensuring the right to an abortion. Judge Brock A. Swartzle ruled the group that filed the lawsuit had no standing to file the challenge. The Michigan American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), along with the law firm Goodwin Procter, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the YWCA Kalamazoo, which provides financial help to people seeking abortion care. (O’Connell-Domenech, 7/10)
New from New Mexico and Texas —
Axios: Trinity Test-Area Residents To Finally Get Reparations 80 Years Later
New Mexicans impacted by the Trinity Test are getting closer to receiving compensation after eight decades of health problems and rare cancers stemming from the world's first atomic explosion. (Contreras, 7/10)
The Guardian: Doctor Who Lost Job Over ‘Regrettable’ Texas Flood Post Says Sorry
A pediatrician who is no longer working for a chain of clinics affiliated with a prominent Houston hospital system after a social media post that wished voters in a Donald Trump-supporting county of central Texas “get what they voted for” amid flash flooding that killed nearly 120 – including many children – has publicly apologized. “I speak to you as a mother, a neighbor, a pediatrician, and a human being who is deeply sorry,” Dr Christina Propst wrote after Blue Fish Pediatrics announced on Sunday she was no longer an employee there because of a social media post that the clinic said did “not reflect the value, standards or mission” of the chain. (Vargas, 7/10)
The Washington Post: Budget Limits And Bureaucracy At DHS Delayed FEMA’s Texas Deployment
Two days before torrential rains turned the Guadalupe River into a raging flood, a veteran official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told The Washington Post that one of the main concerns for this disaster season was the agency’s ability to quickly deploy specialized search and rescue teams. The Trump administration’s new rules mean disaster specialists can no longer “make decisions” on their own. (Sacks and Natanson, 7/10)
Settlement developments —
San Francisco Chronicle: California Health Insurance Settlement: How To File A Claim
A proposed $228.5 million class action settlement could mean cash payments for thousands of Northern California residents and employers who paid for health insurance premiums between 2011 and 2021. The case stems from claims that Sutter Health used unfair contract terms that forced insurance companies to overpay for hospital services. Plaintiffs argue that this resulted in inflated premiums for individuals and businesses. (Vaziri, 7/10)
KFF Health News: Who’s Policing Opioid Settlement Spending? A Crowdsourced Database Might Help
After years of legal battles, state attorneys general won billions of dollars in opioid settlements from drug companies accused of fueling the addiction crisis. They declared victory at press conferences, and some touted the deals during their gubernatorial campaigns. But now that the windfall is being spent, are attorneys general doing enough to ensure it’s used for the intended purposes? (Pattani, 7/11)
