Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Texas Parental Consent Law Leaves School Nurses In Limbo Over Care
The Texas Tribune: Texas Parental Consent Law Confuses School Nurses
A new state law requiring schools to obtain parental consent before administering health care services to students has triggered confusion among campus nurses who worry they could face punishment for routine acts like offering bandages or handing out ice packs. (Edison, 9/5)
Minnesota Public Radio: Medical Debt Lawsuits In Minnesota Soar To 5-Year High
Medical debt lawsuits across Minnesota have surged to the highest level in five years, according to a new analysis by independent nonprofit Pew. When patients are unable to pay their medical bills and fall into debt, hospitals and health care providers often turn over that debt to collection agencies, and eventually they can be sued by the provider or a collection firm for payment. Lester Bird, a senior manager with Pew Charitable Trusts, said those lawsuits can come with financial repercussions such as having your wages garnished, and it can also have emotional consequences. (Work, 9/7)
Kansas City Star: Fentanyl Keeps Killing Toddlers In MO & KS Despite Progress
In late March, a 3-year-old Leavenworth boy known as EJ fell asleep for the night on a neighbor’s couch after eating grapes. Before sunrise the next morning, the little boy who loved Spiderman and wanted to play sports when he got bigger wasn’t breathing. Officers tried to resuscitate him, doing repeated CPR on his small body, as his mother sat in her neighbor’s apartment watching police try to save him. (Bauer and Green, 9/7)
KFF Health News: Researchers Shift Tactics To Tackle Extremism As Public Health Threat
Rebecca Kasen has seen and heard things in recent years in and around Michigan’s capital city that she never would have expected. “It’s a very weird time in our lives,” said Kasen, executive director of the Women’s Center of Greater Lansing. Last November, a group of people were captured on surveillance video early one morning mocking a “Black Lives Matter” sign in the front window of the center, with one of them vandalizing its free pantry. That same fall, Women’s Center staff reported being harassed. (Sisk, 9/8)
On Medicaid and state funding cuts —
The Washington Post: States Face Massive New Costs Under Trump Budget Cuts
States are scrambling to prepare for an unprecedented shift of costs and responsibilities under President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending plan, which will force them to make difficult decisions about cuts to state programs to offset the new financial burdens. Unlike the federal government, states must balance their budgets each year. That means deep cuts and changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will require state legislatures and governors to cope with hundreds of millions of dollars in new costs each year. (Abutaleb and Reston, 9/7)
Modern Healthcare: What Medicaid Work Requirements Might Learn From The Unwinding
A year after concluding a long, messy process to trim the Medicaid rolls of ineligible beneficiaries, states, insurance companies and others in the healthcare system are bracing for impact as work requirements loom. President Donald Trump enacted a sweeping tax law in July that cuts Medicaid spending $960 billion over 10 years and includes significant new restrictions on enrollment. Work requirements promise to be the most impactful. (Early, 9/5)
