Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Chicago Teens Take On Gun Violence As Peace Warriors; Maryland Prohibits Gay Conversion Therapy For Minors
The Associated Press: For Chicago Teen Activists, Survival Is The No. 1 Goal
At his desk at North Lawndale College Prep High School, Gerald Smith keeps a small calendar that holds unimaginable grief. In its pages, the dean and student advocate writes the name of each student who's lost a family member, many of them to gun violence. And then he deploys the Peace Warriors — students who have dedicated themselves to easing the violence that pervades their world. (5/16)
The Associated Press: Maryland Bans 'Gay Conversion Therapy' For Minors
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed a bill into law on Tuesday to prohibit health professionals from practicing "gay conversion therapy" on minors, as a growing number of states and municipalities are banning it. Maryland is the 11th state to enact legislation against the practice of trying to alter a person's sexual orientation through psychological intervention. Supporters of the ban note the therapy is widely discredited by medical and mental health associations. The law will classify the practice as unprofessional conduct. (5/15)
Boston Globe: What Consumers Need To Know About The State’s New Health Care Website
State officials are launching a website that attempts to make health care costs a little easier for consumers to understand. The long-planned website, MassCompareCare.gov, is scheduled to go live Wednesday. It contains information about health care costs and quality, and includes guides to help patients ask the right questions about their care. (Dayal McCluskey, 5/16)
Georgia Health News: A Political Race That Has Big Implications For Health Care
In what’s shaping up as a pivotal race for Georgia’s next insurance commissioner, many of the prominent issues are related to health care coverage. Three Republicans and two Democrats are on the ballot in next Tuesday’s primaries, and the parties’ nominees will go on to face each other in November as they vie to succeed retiring Commissioner Ralph Hudgens. (Miller, 5/15)
Concord (N.H.) Monitor: N.H. Officials Say Reports Of Unlawful Restraint At Sununu Center Are ‘Unfounded And Irresponsible’
State officials rejected accusations that the Sununu Youth Services Center is rife with abuse and the staff illegally uses physical restraint against the children in their care, saying the center is committed to providing a safe environment for the state’s most at-risk youth. Attorney General Gordon MacDonald and Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers said reports of abuse at the state-run facility in Manchester are “unfounded and irresponsible” in a response released Tuesday. (Willingham, 5/16)
Los Angeles Times: For Years, A Doctor Was Accused Of Bad Behavior With Young Women. USC Let Him Continue Treating Students
For nearly 30 years, the University of Southern California's student health clinic had one full-time gynecologist: Dr. George Tyndall. Tall and garrulous, he treated tens of thousands of female students, many of them teenagers seeing a gynecologist for the first time. Few who lay down on Tyndall's exam table at the Engemann Student Health Center knew that he had been accused repeatedly of misconduct toward young patients. (Ryan, Hamilton and Pringle, 5/15)
Columbus Dispatch: Gov. Kasich Warns Ohio Legislators To Not 'Weasel' On Gun Reforms
Gov. John Kasich warned Republican legislators to not “weasel” on his package of gun-safety changes, which have received a chilly reception before the Ohio General Assembly. (Ludlow, 5/15)
The Associated Press: Governor Signs Bill Regarding Cancer Patients’ Fertility
The governor of Maryland has signed legislation requiring insurers to pay to freeze the eggs and sperm of people with cancer who undergo treatments that could diminish their chances of having children. The Baltimore Sun reports Gov. Larry Hogan signed the legislation Tuesday. The law requires insurers to pay for harvesting and freezing the eggs and sperm, but not the annual storage costs. (5/16)
The Wall Street Journal: Philadelphia’s Soda Tax Goes To Court: What You Need To Know
Should sodas and sugary drinks be subjected to a special tax? Philadelphia has become ground zero in the national debate over whether to tax sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania’s highest state court is set to hear a challenge by the American Beverage Association and others to the city’s soda tax, which went into effect in January 2017. (Armental, 5/15)
The Star Tribune: Minnesota GOP Calls For Crackdown On Child Care Assistance Fraud
Minnesota Republicans said Tuesday they want to crack down on subsidized child-care providers who commit fraud, following a television news report that suggested illegally obtained funds may be going overseas to finance terrorist groups. State and federal officials said Tuesday that they've seen no evidence of a link between Minnesota day-care operators and overseas terrorist groups, but that they welcome any additional resources to investigate fraud against the state's child-care subsidy program. (Serres, 5/15)
Houston Chronicle: UT Physician Group Improperly Shared Patient Email Addresses
A clinic owned by the physicians organization of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston improperly sent out mass emails containing the email addresses of many of its patients. The Davis Clinic sent batches of emails, notification of a doctor leaving the clinic, to patients last week. There were 19 such emails, each of which made visible the email addresses of anywhere from 100 to 300 other people. (Ackerman, 5/15)
California Healthline: California Hospital Giant Sutter Health Faces Heavy Backlash On Prices
Cooking dinner one night in March, Mark Frizzell sliced his pinkie finger while peeling a butternut squash and couldn’t stop the bleeding. The 51-year-old businessman headed to the emergency room at Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Sutter charged $1,555 for the 10 minutes it treated him, including $55 for a gel bandage and $487 for a tetanus shot. “It was ridiculous,” he said. “Health insurance costs are through the roof because of things like this.” (Terhune, 5/15)
Los Angeles Times: Following Golden State Killer Suspect's Arrest, California Lawmakers Want Rape Kits Tested More Quickly
Less than a month after police arrested a man suspected of being the Golden State Killer — one of California’s most prolific serial rapists — state lawmakers in Sacramento on Tuesday said they want to ensure all sexual assault kits are counted and swiftly tested. Under a bill by Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chino), law enforcement agencies would have to submit rape kits to crime labs within 20 days of their collection, and labs would have no more than 120 days to test them. Another bill by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) would require a statewide audit of all untested exams. (Ulloa, 5/15)
The Washington Post: Salmonella Outbreak: Egg Farm Had Rodent Infestation, FDA Says
A North Carolina egg farm that authorities say is responsible for an outbreak of salmonella illness that has sickened several people in nine states has had a heavy rodent infestation and failed to take actions to reverse it, according to an inspection report. Dozens of rodents, some alive and some dead, were found inside Rose Acre Farms’ hen houses in its North Carolina facility. Many, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration report says, were burrowing in manure piles. Insects also hovered around chicken feeds and throughout the farm. Employees were seen touching body parts and dirty surfaces while handling food. (Phillips, 5/15)
NPR: Flavored Tobacco, Vaping Juice Targeted By San Francisco Ballot Measure
San Francisco could become the first city in the nation to ban flavored tobacco products from all store shelves. The ban includes everything from candy-flavored e-cigarettes to conventional menthol smokes. City supervisors last year unanimously approved a ban on the products, but the tobacco industry funded a referendum, Proposition E, to put the issue before voters instead. San Francisco residents will decide in the June 5 election whether the ordinance goes into effect. (McClurg, 5/16)
Reuters: Competition Heats Up For Controversial A2 Milk Company
Stay-at-home mother Anna Wei wanted the best milk formula to feed her firstborn, so she chose the most expensive brand her money could buy: Platinum by a2 Milk Company Ltd. "I always felt that the higher the price, the better the quality," said 28-year-old Wei, who lives in Shanghai. Buyers like Wei have fanned a phenomenal success for New Zealand-based a2 Milk and its controversial milk powder that is marketed as easier to digest than conventional milk because it lacks the A1 caesin protein. (5/16)
