Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Rite Aid Closes Its 89 Remaining Stores Across The US
CNN: Rite Aid Closes All Remaining Stores After 63 Years In Business
Rite Aid, once one of America’s biggest pharmacy chains, shuttered its remaining 89 stores this week after filing for bankruptcy in May for the second time in less than two years. “All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support,” the company said in a statement on its website. (Bacon, 10/4)
On transgender care —
Stat: How This Week’s Supreme Court Case On Conversion Therapy Could Impact The Regulation Of Medicine
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in Chiles v. Salazar, which challenges a Colorado law banning licensed mental health practitioners from trying to change a young person’s sexual or gender identity — a practice widely known as conversion therapy. (Gaffney, 10/6)
More health news from across the U.S. —
AP: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham Boosts Food Assistance Amid Federal Cuts
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a package of bills Friday aimed at shoring up food assistance, rural health care and public broadcasting in response to recently enacted federal cuts. The new legislation responds to President Donald Trump’s big bill as well as fear that health insurance rates will rise with the expiration of COVID-era subsidies to the Affordable Care Act exchange in New Mexico. (Lee, 10/4)
Wyoming Public Radio: Wyoming Hospitals' Finances Teetering
Out of the 30 hospitals in Wyoming, only five are generating a profit. Multiple actions taken at the state and federal levels are hurting the already fragile financial system of these health care providers. This includes what has been at the heart of the federal government shutdown: the healthcare Marketplace's enhanced premium tax credits. (Kudelska, 10/3)
ProPublica, KUOW: Seattle Paid For Shelter Beds That It Left Vacant Despite A Massive Need For Housing
When Brenna Poppe moved into the Civic Hotel off the damp streets of Seattle in late 2022, she cried with joy. During her next year at the city-sponsored homeless shelter, she’d meet other guests who felt the same way — overwhelmed by the sudden realization that tonight, they would not sleep outside. The Civic got quieter last year, however. Rooms around her, their doors still painted bright yellow from when the hotel was a boutique property, started to empty out. A “deafening silence” crept in, she recalled. The 53-room hotel was converted to a shelter in the early days of the pandemic, and the city of Seattle kept it going. (Hiruko, 10/6)
AP: Miami Street Medicine Offers Lifeline To Homeless People
Jonas Richards became homeless several years ago after losing his job as a truck driver. Despite suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, seeing a doctor hasn’t been a major priority since then. “When you’re homeless, it’s not easy,” Richards said. “You find yourself hustling, trying to keep a little money in your pocket, trying to find something to eat.” But Richards recently had his first visit with doctors from Miami Street Medicine while sitting on a curb outside a homeless shelter. (Fischer, 10/5)
The Washington Post: Pharma Has Paid Billions In Opioid Settlements — But Not To Many Victims’ Families
The room was small and she shared a bed with her granddaughter, but after two decades of financial hardship, Jackie Lewis was grateful just to have a roof over her head. She had drained her retirement funds and sold her home trying to save her son, Shaun, from opioid addiction, pouring money into rehab and lawyers and slipping him $20 here and there to pay off debts to dealers. When he died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022, his funeral cost $14,000. Lewis charged it to a credit card. (Lati, 10/4)
The Baltimore Sun: Drug Treatment Providers Urge Collaborative Approach To Tackle Baltimore's Opioid Crisis
Early data show opioid overdose deaths are continuing to decline across Maryland this year, including in Baltimore. But the crisis is still entrenched in the city, which endured one of its largest mass overdose events on record in July, when more than two dozen people were sent to the hospital after ingesting a tainted batch of drugs in the Penn North neighborhood. (Ibrahim, 10/4)
