Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: 340B Is Driving Up Hospital Prices; Measles Dramatically Alters Lives Of Immunocompromised
The Washington Post: How Corporate Welfare For Hospitals Is Raising Health Care Costs
A drug discount program has fueled consolidation and incentivized prescribing more expensive medications. (4/18)
Stat: Measles Outbreak Means My Immunocompromised Son Can’t Leave The House Without Extreme Safety Measures
My teenage son has Okur-Chung neurodevelopmental syndrome (OCNDS), an ultra-rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation on the CSNK2A1 gene, which creates the CK2 protein present in every cell in the body. The North Carolina measles outbreak has ended my family’s ability to socialize or leave the house without extreme planning and safety measures. (Penelope Gatlin, 4/20)
Stat: Teen Birth Rates Are Not The Problem
While it is shocking to now see declining birth rates framed as a concern, we should not be surprised. Both narratives — that teen birth rates are too high or too low — problematize teen pregnancy and childbearing. This negative framing stems from a desire to control adolescent sexuality and reproduction, typically for political or economic reasons or in service of conservative social goals related to marriage and family. (Riley J. Steiner, 4/20)
Undark: Medicine Misses The Mark On African And Black Hair Health
Dermatologists lack the cultural knowledge to treat alopecia, or hair loss, in Black and African patients. (Spencer Kwabena Annor-Ampofo, 4/16)
Bloomberg: Cheap Weight-Loss Drugs Are Great — When They're Legal
Hims & Hers Health Inc. has a proposal for American consumers to have access to health care similar to the rich, with its pitch appearing to be working as subscribers have more than doubled to 2.5 million in four years. (4/20)
