Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Idea For Medicaid Work Requirements Is Truly Flawed; Small Towns Lack Adequate Access To Mental Health Care
The New York Times: Do Poor People Have A Right To Health Care?
The 16 Kentuckians who recently won a lawsuit challenging the legality of Medicaid work requirements include a law student with a rare heart condition, a mortician with diabetes, a mother of four with congenital hip dysplasia and a housekeeper with rheumatoid arthritis. It’s a mixed bunch, united by two grim facts: They live at or below the federal poverty level, and they’re caught in the cross hairs of a debate over what society owes its neediest members. (7/7)
Des Moines Register: Health Care Crisis: Rural Americans Are Most Vulnerable To Suicide
While the highly publicized deaths of celebrities frequently shock America, rural areas are suffering the most. Each year, thousands of Americans in small towns take their own lives after suffering — often for years — without adequate access to mental health professionals. (Jagdish Khubchandani, 7/9)
The Baltimore Sun: It's Time To Talk About Suicide
There is an approximately one in 10 chance that you or someone you know will attempt to end their life. Over 45,000 Americans kill themselves every year — more than all the annual deaths from terrorism across the world combined. In fact, there are twice as many suicides every year as there are homicides. And more than 500,000 people are treated in U.S. emergency rooms each year for injuries related to self-harm. Yet we rarely talk about suicide. Why? Because there is a strong sense of shame, guilt and stigma associated with mental health challenges and suicide. People are afraid to initiate conversations, as if talking about it will increase the incidence of suicide. Nothing can be further from truth. (Mansoor Malik, 7/8)
The Hill: To Improve Minority Mental Health, Research Must Put Patients First
As physicians, we care for patients with acute and chronic diseases every day, doing whatever we can to help them achieve the best health outcomes possible and live long, productive lives. But as leaders of the two largest physician organizations dedicated to health advocacy for racial minority populations in the United States, we know that far too many of the patients our members treat will have less access to the care they need, and see poorer outcomes, than non-minorities. We see these disparities across all conditions, but one of our greatest challenges is in helping patients in minority communities live with serious mental illness. One in six U.S. adults has an illness like depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety disorder, but African Americans are 10 percent more likely, and Latinos 40 percent more likely, to experience serious psychological distress than non-Hispanic whites. And those minority populations are only half as likely to receive needed treatment or counseling as non-Hispanic whites. Statistics are even worse for American Indians and Alaska Natives. (Elena Rios and Doris Browne, 7/7)
The New York Times: Seriously, Juice Is Not Healthy
Obesity affects 40 percent of adults and 19 percent of children in the United States and accounts for more than $168 billion in health care spending each year. Sugary beverages are thought to be one of the major drivers of the obesity epidemic. These drinks (think soda and sports drinks) are the largest single source of added sugars for Americans and contribute, on average, 145 added calories a day to our diets. For these reasons, reducing sugary beverage consumption has been a significant focus of public health intervention. Most efforts have focused on sodas. But not juice. Juice, for some reason, gets a pass. It’s not clear why. (Erika R. Cheng, Lauren G. Fiechtner and Aaron E. Carroll, 7/7)
The Hill: Don't Turn A Blind Eye To Nearsightedness In Kids
We’ve all heard of peanut allergies — a problem that was hardly existent when we were kids, but now is everywhere, with various warnings and awareness campaigns to make sure our kids stay safe. Because allergic reactions to peanuts may be life threatening, it garners massive attention from the medical community, parents, educators, lawmakers and the media. But there is another medical problem for our children, growing every year but getting much less attention: myopia, or nearsightedness. It is a condition that allows people to see things clearly close-up, but view objects at a distance as blurry. (Ed Towns, 7/6)
The New York Times: For Whom The Trump Trolls
One of the more chilling things I’ve heard recently came from Jaron Lanier, the Silicon Valley founding father whose new book is “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now.” Lanier, who met Trump a couple of times back in the real estate developer’s New York heyday, thinks the president’s addiction to tweeting is rewiring his brain in a negative way. As Trump picks up speed on Twitter, the Oval Office is becoming a Skinner box. Like other “behavior modification empires,” as Lanier calls social media sites, Twitter offers positive reinforcement for negativity. (Maureen Dowd, 7/7)
The Hill: Here's Why We Must Continue To Study Kratom And Other Opioid-Like Drugs
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently gave final approval for the first non-opioid drug shown to lessen the severity of opioid withdrawal symptoms. Meanwhile, President Trump signed into law groundbreaking “right to try” legislation allowing the terminally ill to explore unapproved medical treatments as a last resort. In light of these developments, researchers and advocates of the botanical Kratom were hopeful for increased support for the study of the herb as a new treatment for opioid withdrawal symptoms, acute and chronic pain, and a range of mood disorders.Instead the FDA has spoken out against Kratom, ignoring a history of safe use and existing research. By overstating safety concerns, the FDA has dismissed any possibility that Kratom might have benefits. (Paula N. Brown, 7/7)
The New York Times: Sometimes Patients Simply Need Other Patients
When Jodie Ofosuhene learned she had breast cancer at age 29 in 2016, she got more than standard medical care. She was connected with Noel Peters, a former patient who serves as a mentor to new ones. “Noel helped me tremendously,” Ms. Ofosuhene said in an interview. “Every time I had a question about my response to treatment — whether it was normal — she had answers from her own experience.” In an ideal world, when we are faced with a new health problem, a clinician is available to sit down and address all our questions and anxieties about the condition and its treatment. This ideal is rarely met in the United States health system. More typically, we’re rushed through doctor visits that fly by too quickly for us to gather our thoughts. (Aaron E. Carroll and Austin Frakt, 7/9)
Sacramento Bee: Legislature Must Not Slight Seniors In Mental Health Money
An important measure to expand access to mental health care services in California is going through the Legislature, but it would make it more difficult for counties to serve older adults. Senate Bill 1004, which was approved by the Assembly Health Committee on June 19, would amend Proposition 63, passed by voters in 2004 to provide funding for county mental health services with a 1 percent tax on annual incomes of more than $1 million. (Cheryl Brown, 7/6)
