Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Unwinding Of Medicaid Coverage Will Affect Millions
Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Redeterminations By State: How Many Will Lose Coverage?
Medicaid enrollees and the health insurance companies that cover them face major disruptions in the coming months as states resume removing people who no longer qualify from the program. (Tepper and Broderick, 3/15)
Axios: Millions Could Lose Health Coverage During Medicaid Redetermination
About 15 million people may drop off Medicaid rolls in the coming year as states redetermine program eligibility with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of state officials found. (Dreher, 3/16)
Axios: The Next States That Want To Try "Medicaid For Food" Programs
From New Mexico to Maine, a handful of states have pending waiver requests to tap Medicaid funds for food in pilot programs. This signals growing support for "food is medicine" and food-based health interventions that are being echoed at both federal and state levels, despite mixed pilot reviews. (Horn-Muller, 3/16)
On transgender health care —
AP: Arkansas Lawmakers Send Gov. Sanders School Bathroom Bill
Transgender people at Arkansas public schools would not be able to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity under a bill lawmakers sent to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday. The bill approved by the majority-Republican House applies to multi-person restrooms and locker rooms at public schools and charter schools serving prekindergarten through 12th grades. The House, which approved an earlier version of the bill last month, passed the bill on a 77-15 vote without any debate. (DeMillo, 3/15)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Senate Bill Would Require Insurers To Cover Gender-Affirming Care
Health insurance providers may soon be required to cover treatments for gender-affirming care under a bill heard by Nevada lawmakers Wednesday morning. (Avery, 3/15)
WFSU: Transgender Community Pushes Back As A Bill On Kids' Gender-Affirming Care Moves Ahead
A Florida Board of Medicine rule that bans gender-affirming care, such as puberty blockers, for most minors goes into effect Thursday. On Monday, a bill that codifies those rules advanced through a state Senate committee. As lawmakers prepared to hear the bill, hundreds of transgender people and their supporters filled the Capitol’s fourth floor. They were people like Paula Pifer, whose daughter Hunter is a model pictured wearing Valentino in this month’s issue of Vogue. "She’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. You would never know that this young woman was born in the wrong body," Pifer said. (McCarthy, 3/15)
The Texas Tribune: Texas AG Ken Paxton Appeals Injunction Halting DFPS Investigation
Attorney General Ken Paxton, in an appeal, is asking the courts to lift an injunction that stopped the state from conducting child abuse investigations over transition-related medical care for transgender youth. Paxton argued that the families — belonging to PFLAG, an LGBTQ advocacy group — did not suffer injuries as a result of the Department of Family and Protective Services’ investigations. (Melhado, 3/15)
In other health news from across the U.S. —
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Magic Mushrooms In Nevada May Be Decriminalized For Some Under Bill
North Las Vegas veteran Gerald Mayes says psilocybin — hallucinogenic fungi also known as “magic mushrooms” — helped him with his post-traumatic stress disorder and alcoholism. (Hill, 3/15)
Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds' Education Bill May Make HPV Instruction Optional In Iowa
Folded into versions of the governor's broad education bill are changes to schools' health curriculum that would remove the requirement to teach students about certain sexually transmitted infections, including HPV. Iowa school districts would still need to maintain a health curriculum that includes "age-appropriate and research-based information regarding the characteristics of sexually transmitted diseases." (Ramm, 3/15)
San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Regulators Vote To End Sales Of Key Gas Home Appliances
Bay Area pollution regulators Wednesday voted to embark on the most ambitious plan in the country to phase out two types of home appliances — gas-powered water heaters and furnaces — that foul the air. The target is smog-forming nitrogen oxides, also called NOx, churned out by appliances run on natural gas. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District moved to slash these emissions, which means that in as soon as six years, those trusty gas furnaces won’t be available to buy. (Johnson, 3/15)
