Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Expanding Prior Authorization Creates Barriers To Care; Reproductive Rights Help The Climate
Dallas Morning News: UHC Should Reverse Course On Prior Authorization Policy
Insurers delaying and denying care without good reason is absolutely unacceptable when your doctor says you need a procedure to determine whether you have cancer. Yet that is what many fear will happen due to UnitedHealthcare’s new advance notification policy, which lays the groundwork for far-reaching prior authorization requirements for most gastrointestinal colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures. (Rajeev Jain, 7/13)
Newsweek: Supporting Women's Reproductive Health Is Key To Climate Goals
World Population Day has been observed on July 11 each year since 1990. This year, as people across the globe experience record-breaking heat, wildfires, smoke, storms, and floods, it's an opportune time to consider the often overlooked but profound connections between population and climate change. (Kathleen Mogelgaard, 7/11)
CNN: The Surprising Second Life Of The Supreme Court’s Abortion Decision
In Ohio, Republicans seeking to defeat a ballot initiative creating a state constitutional right to abortion have seized on another culture war issue: gender-affirming care. An ongoing ad campaign, initiated by anti-abortion group Protect Women Ohio, claims that the Ohio measure would allow minors to get gender-affirming care without parental consent. Those ads have been debunked — the ballot initiative says nothing about gender identity and has no impact on gender-affirming care. But there may be a surprising connection between abortion and gender-affirming care after all — one developed by conservatives, a reinvention of the Supreme Court’s decision destroying federal abortion rights. (Mary Ziegler, 7/12)
Stat: The New HIV Moral Panic
In May, just before Pride Month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released news worth celebrating: 2021 saw the lowest numbers of new HIV diagnoses in decades. New HIV infections were down 12% from 2017 to 2021, thanks to successful prevention efforts, including PrEP. The end of the epidemic may finally be in our grasp. But lawmakers and judges may undo this progress by cashing in on the political capital of renewed moral panic about HIV. (Meredithe McNamara, 7/13)
Scientific American: How My Mother's Dementia Showed Me Another Side Of Neurodiversity
After a series of tests, our mom was diagnosed with vascular dementia, one of the forms of age-related cognitive decline that currently devastates 57 million people worldwide. (Steve Silberman, 7/12)
