Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Shifting Definition Of Healthy Eating
The New York Times: Foods Loaded With Sugar, Salt And Fat? Bring It
Dark chocolate is in. So, too, is beef jerky. And full-fat ice cream? You bet. Driven by fast-changing definitions of what is healthy to eat, people are turning to foods they shunned just a couple of years ago. Studies now suggest that not all fat, for example, necessarily contributes to weight gain or heart problems. That has left companies scrambling to push some foods that they thought had long passed their popularity peak — and health advocates wondering what went wrong. (Strom, 4/22)
The Huffington Post: Bernie Sanders: Tax Cigarettes, But Not Soda
Bernie Sanders on Sunday came out against a plan being considered by the city of Philadelphia to tax soda as a means of paying for universal pre-kindergarten programs. He argued on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it would be regressive, affecting the poorest families who often buy soda precisely because it is inexpensive. (Bassett, 4/24)
And Kaiser Health News looks at the health struggles former Maryland inmates have upon their release and the lack of pharmacy options in Baltimore —
Kaiser Health News: Thousands Leave Maryland Prisons With Risky Health Problems But No Coverage
Stacey McHoul left jail last summer with a history of heroin use and depression and only a few days of medicine to treat them. When the pills ran out she started thinking about hurting herself. ... Jail officials gave her neither prescription refills nor a Medicaid card to pay for them, she said. Within days she was back on heroin — her preferred self-medication — and sleeping in abandoned homes around Baltimore’s run-down Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. Thousands of people leave incarceration every year without access to the coverage and care they’re entitled to, jeopardizing their own health and sometimes the public’s. (Hancock, 4/25)
Kaiser Health News: In West Baltimore, Scarce Pharmacies Leave Health Care Gaps
The immense new CVS dominates the corner of Pennsylvania and West North avenues. ... CVS, its front shelves crammed with brightly-packaged processed foods and household cleaning supplies, is an island of abundance for this West Baltimore neighborhood, one of the city’s poorest. It’s a contrast that shows what’s changed and what hasn’t in the past year, since Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, died of injuries sustained in police custody, unleashing days of protests. ... But if 2015’s protests emphasized police brutality and race relations, the absence of more stores like CVS that are easily accessible to people in impoverished, predominantly black neighborhoods underscores Baltimore’s other persistent inequities. (Luthra and Snow, 4/25)
