Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Do Health Tracking Devices Help Or Harm?; Medication Abortion Lets Patients Self-Manage
Scientific American: Big Data, Questionable Benefits And My Girlfriend's Magic Ring
My girlfriend, “Emily,” who likes to hack her health, recently purchased a clever little gadget called the Ōura Ring. From the outside, it looks like an ordinary silver ring, but it’s lined with sensors that monitor heart rate, respiration, temperature, body motion and other variables. Algorithms analyze data and draw conclusions, displayed on her iPhone. The ring tells Emily how much exercise and sleep she’s getting, and it advises her, in a gently bossy way, on how she might change her routines to be healthier. Maybe go to sleep a little earlier tonight, exercise a little more tomorrow. The Ōura app even provides recordings of boring stories, read by someone with a wonderfully soporific voice, to help her fall asleep. The ring is an almost magical piece of engineering. All that sensory and analytic power packed into that tiny, elegant package! And the logic behind the ring seems, at first glance, unassailable. The ring transmits more and more data from users to its maker, Ōura, which keeps refining its algorithms to make its “precise, personalized health insights” more accurate. Ideally, the ring will help you cultivate healthier habits and alert you to problems requiring medical intervention. That’s Emily’s hope. (John Horgan, 9/30)
Stat: With Medication Abortion, Clinicians Don't Need To Be Gatekeepers
I have come to think that people who provide abortion care are models of the ideal health care provider. Practicing this stigmatized work requires them to be nonjudgmental, ask open-ended questions and let patients take the lead. In the face of a building wave of restrictions against abortion, I’ve seen providers move heaven and earth to get people care — staying past closing time and finding lawyers, childcare, lodging, and funding for costs. They’ve had to become experts in deciphering policy, legal decisions and health care financing just to provide patients a service they need. (Jennifer Karlin, 10/1)
The Atlantic: The Texas Abortion Law Could Backfire On Its Supporters
One month ago today, abortion opponents in Texas won a major victory: The Supreme Court allowed a novel and near-total ban on abortion to go into effect, making the state the first since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973 to effectively outlaw the procedure. The law now faces multiple challenges in the lower courts after two out-of-state men sued a Texas abortion provider; they say they plan to collect a bounty if they win, making the stakes of the law—and its Wild West absurdity—remarkably clear. The Department of Justice has sued Texas over the law, aiming to prevent its enforcement; the first hearing on that case is happening today. (Jill Filipovic, 10/1)
The Boston Globe: How Black Women Are Advancing The Cause Of Reproductive Justice
When it comes to the new abortion wars, fueled by GOP state lawmakers passing increasingly draconian bans, race matters — particularly for Black women, who are uniquely threatened by these policies. The extreme “abortion car” bans passed by Republican-led legislatures in Texas, Mississippi, and elsewhere were designed to give the Supreme Court ample opportunity to strike down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional privacy protection it affords to all child-bearing people. I know this includes white people, particularly poorer ones. (No need to flood my Twitter mentions or inbox with the usual excoriations I get each time I write, tweet, or publicly comment on the impact of a policy on the most marginalized Americans.) (Kimberly Atkins Stohr, 9/30)
The New York Times: The Broad Uses Of Disability Rights Protections
In the fight between red state governors and the federal government over measures to control the pandemic, the Biden administration has deployed an unexpected weapon: disability rights law. Citing the Americans with Disabilities Act (A.D.A.), President Biden’s Department of Education launched investigations into five states that have prohibited schools from requiring masks. Already, a Federal District Court has blocked Iowa’s ban on mask requirements, citing the A.D.A. The legal reasoning is simple: by prohibiting mask mandates, these states may be pushing disabled students — who are at greater risk from Covid — out of the classroom. (Ari Ne'eman, 10/1)
Newsweek: Suicide Prevention Must Be Taught In Every Middle And High School
As students head back to school, many administrators across the country have made valiant efforts to prioritize students' health and safety by implementing measures to protect them from the COVID-19 virus. Yet, COVID-19 is not the only public health threat schools need to be prepared to address this year. As the chief medical officer at Crisis Text Line—and a parent of two teenagers—I believe that suicide prevention education in every middle and high school across the country is essential. Suicide is the leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24. And with the right measures in place, it's largely preventable. (Shairi Turner, 9/30)
The Washington Post: While Democrats Bicker, Our Unacceptable Health-Care Status Quo Continues
For all of Americans’ political divisions, on some issues there is more agreement than many of us may realize. Medical care is one such area. A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents want the federal government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over prices for prescription drugs covered by Medicare, polling this summer shows. Here’s another point of agreement: Most U.S. adults think Medicare should offer dental coverage. Simply put: We need both. The United States is the only first-world country that does not negotiate or regulate what Big Pharma can charge for its offerings. Not surprisingly, Americans pay more for pharmaceuticals than citizens in other nations. Public Citizen reported this week that Americans shell out more for the top 20 bestselling prescription drugs than the total paid by every other nation on the planet combined. (Helaine Olen, 9/30)
Dallas Morning News: Most Senior Citizens Want To Grow Old At Home. Texas Can Do More To Make That Happen
The number of seniors 65 and older in Texas is likely to more than double from 3.9 million in 2020 to 8.3 million by 2050, and for the first time in our nation’s history, there will be more people over the age of 65 in the United States by 2034 than under 18. More to the point, surveys show that 76% of Americans age 50 and older want to stay in their homes as they age. And that poses major policy challenges and opportunities that Texas must pursue sooner rather than later. (10/1)
