Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: An Economist Is Changing The Organ Transplant Process; Can We Fix Inadequate Mental Health Care?
The New York Times: The Economist Who Helped Patients Get New Kidneys
Roth shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2012 for work he did on practical applications of game theory, including a brilliant system for increasing matches between kidney donors and recipients. He has also worked on better matching of medical students to hospital residencies, children to schools in New York City and Boston and newly minted Ph.D. economists to starting jobs at universities. (Peter Coy, 2/5)
Mankato Free Press: A Failure To Meet Mental Health Needs
Kids needing mental health treatment in Minnesota wait for days in emergency rooms. When kids and adults do get care, the providers are paid about 74% of what the government would pay for Medicaid patients. Woefully inadequate. (2/4)
The New York Times: A Second Trump Term Could Lead To A ‘Backdoor Federal Abortion Ban’
With Donald Trump seemingly unstoppable in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, the law professor Mary Ziegler considers what a second Trump term would mean for abortion rights. (Mary Ziegler, 2/6)
Kansas City Star: Gov. Mike Parson Brags About Harmful Missouri Abortion Ban
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson touted his accomplishments in his recent State of the State address. Huh? Of what is he so proud? Well, for one, it’s been six years since he took over after Eric Greitens resigned. OK, that is a good thing. That guy Greitens is bad news wherever he goes. However, the rest is not so great. For example, Parson suggested that he prevented 8,000 abortions in the state. Ha! Joke’s on him, as most of those desperate women, if they could afford it, went to neighboring states of Kansas and Illinois to get the health care they needed. Because abortion is health care. (Sue Homberg, 2/6)
Stat: The Philips CPAP Disaster Exposes Public Health Shortcomings
Millions of Americans’ bedtime routine includes wearing a mask attached to a respiratory machine that pushes air into their lungs, supporting their breathing during sleep. These airway pressure machines, known as CPAP or BiPAP depending on their design, are sophisticated medical devices that have been used for decades by patients with sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea. In 2021, Philips Respironics recalled more than 15 million of these machines after it was revealed that internal foam components were degrading into debris and other particulates that propelled into patients’ lungs, exposing them to potentially toxic material. (Kushal T. Kadakia, Joseph S. Ross, and Vinay K. Rathi, 2/6)
