Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: FDA Can't Act Fast Enough To Stem Rise Of Teen Vaping; Get Rid Of Racial Biases To Make Pregnancies Healthier For All Women
Bloomberg: Vape ‘Epidemic’: FDA Should Act Fast On Youth E-Cigarette Use
Teen vaping has skyrocketed in just a few years: Between 2017 and 2018, the share of high-school students using e-cigarettes rose by 78%, to one in five. Unlike other tobacco products, e-cigarettes have not been subject to a government health and safety review because of multiple decisions by FDA delaying that review. At long last, the FDA now says it wants to end this regulatory limbo, and move up a deadline for manufacturers to show that their products meet basic standards by two years — requiring action in 10 months, rather than by 2022. Even that is too long to wait. (7/9)
Stat: Take Aim At Implicit Bias To Reduce Pregnancy-Related Deaths
Pregnancy-related deaths occur 3.3 times more often among black women, and 2.5 times more often among Native Americans and Alaska Native women, than they do among white women. To right this wrong, we need to do three things: prioritize women’s health throughout their lives; take concrete steps to address racism and implicit bias in health care; and spread information about what we know works to keep all women safe and healthy. What does it mean to make women’s health a lifelong priority? For starters, women need health insurance coverage and access to primary and behavioral health care from the cradle to the grave. (Laurie Zephyrin, 7/10)
The Washington Post: We Need Answers On The Border Patrol’s Inhumane Treatment Of Migrants
The crush of migrants that overwhelmed U.S. border facilities in the spring, producing appalling conditions for migrant children at Customs and Border Protection stations, has eased with summer’s arrival as scorching temperatures and deterrent measures adopted by Mexican authorities drove down border-crossing arrests by nearly a third between May and June. Together with the $4.6 billion in supplemental funding enacted by Congress and signed by President Trump, that is taking pressure off the government’s capacity to manage the flow of migrants, especially the families and minors that have transformed the immigration landscape. (7/9)
WBUR: How The Opioid Settlement Could Truly Help The Addicted
The proposed settlement seeks to treat these cases like a class action settlement where the class members would consist of the current plaintiffs and grow substantially to include other local government-related and tribal victims. All would then receive the settlement payments by defendants. This may be the fairest and most effective way for everyone to resolve the tens of thousands of pending and potential claims. (Mark A. Gottlieb, 7/9)
USA Today: People Who Use Drugs Need Compassion, Not Judgment
As a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, I didn’t start thinking about America’s problems with pain and drugs through dispassionate research. I got there thanks to a motorcycle accident, after which I was given lots of prescription opioids and then left to my own devices. The result was that I formed a profound dependence on the drug, and then went through the agony of withdrawal as I tried — with no help from my doctors — to get off the meds. That experience gave me a new perspective on the risks and benefits of prescription opioids, as well as a deep desire to help the millions of Americans who are suffering from addiction (and to prevent some of the tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year). (Travis Rieder, 7/9)
Stat: We Need Trustworthy Data From Consumer Health Devices
Americans collectively spend more on pregnancy and childbirth than any other nation yet have the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world. The U.S. is the only developed country in which maternal mortality is rising. And as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently, the U.S. has seen increases in preterm births for four consecutive years as well as alarming rates of pregnancy-related deaths among black and Native American women. It’s a complex problem made worse by a lack of maternal health data, scant research funding, and fear that commercial and public investments in anything pregnancy-related are too risky. ...Data sourced from consumer health devices can accelerate clinical research and help fill this gap in medical knowledge faster than traditional methods. But this consumer-generated data must be held to standards used in medical research. (Eric Dy, 7/9)
The Washington Post: Why Don’t Americans Talk About Child Care?
The Democrats recently held two nights of debate, each two hours long, and in both sessions the two words that most American families talk about, worry about and sweat about behind closed doors were barely mentioned. Those two words are “child care.” Finding it is a challenge; paying for it can be crippling; it’s an issue that resonates with voters regardless of party, race or geography; and, as of yet, we aren’t talking about it in a serious way. (Michele L. Norris, 7/9)
The Hill: It's Time To End The Senseless And Cruel Policy Of Cannabis Criminalization
For the first time in a generation, there will be a candid conversation in the Judiciary Committe about the failures of marijuana prohibition in the United States and how Americans have been impacted under the blanket policy of criminalization. Specifically, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will hold a hearing this Wednesday entitled “Marijuana Laws in America: Racial Justice and the Need for Reform” to discuss pathways forward as Congress prepares for a substantial shift in public policy. (Justin Strekal, 7/9)
The Washington Post: After The Virginia Beach Shooting, Let’s Replace ‘Thoughts And Prayers’ With ‘Votes And Laws’
“The victims are in our thoughts and prayers.” We’ve all read and even offered our own variations of this condolence after every tragic shooting that makes the headlines. All too often Virginians have felt the pain of senseless death — 12 people murdered by a co-worker in Virginia Beach; 32 students and faculty gunned down at Virginia Tech; a little girl fatally shot at a Memorial Day picnic in Richmond. (Eileen Filler-Corn and Dick Saslaw, 7/9)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: A Court Sees Through Missouri's Abortion 'Emergency.' Now It's Up To The Voters.
An appellate court ruling allowing abortion-rights advocates to launch a ballot challenge of Missouri’s draconian new anti-abortion-rights law is a major victory for women’s control over their own bodies. The clock is now ticking; those advocates will have a little over a month to gather the more than 100,000 signatures needed to prevent the law from going into effect in late August and putting the issue on the statewide ballot next year. With the Legislature’s Republican supermajority radicalized and relentless on this issue, it’s crucial that organizers not drop the ball on this one. Missourians need to be rallied to sign those petitions as soon as possible, and to follow up at the ballot box next year. (7/10)
