Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Job Market Would Get Healthy Boost From 'Medicare For All'; Louisiana Abortion Law Does Nothing to Protect Safety Of Women
The Washington Post: Medicare-For-All Would Be A Boon To The U.S. Job Market, Study Finds
Proponents of a national, single-payer health care system, like one favored by presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have long argued it would make medical care accessible to millions of Americans who currently can’t afford it and potentially drive down national health care spending overall. Opponents, on the other hand, tend to focus on how it would rework the economy: 2 million jobs lost, higher taxes to pay for it, the concentration of market power in the government. (Christopher Ingraham, 3/5)
Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Needs To Preserve Abortion Rights In Louisiana
Opponents of a woman’s right to an abortion are so relentless that nothing seems to stop them. Even a clear Supreme Court precedent doesn’t serve as a deterrent. Four years ago, the court took on one of the favorite tropes of abortion opponents — that to ensure women’s safety, doctors providing abortions need to have admitting privileges at hospitals near the clinics where they work. In that 2016 decision, Whole Woman’s Health vs. Hellerstedt, the justices struck down a Texas law that required abortion providers to have admitting privileges, finding that it was an unnecessary obstacle (or “undue burden” in court parlance) to women seeking abortions and did not enhance the safety of an already very safe procedure. (3/5)
WBUR: As The Supreme Court Revisits Roe V. Wade, Prepare For The Ravage Of Abortion Rights
After nearly five decades of tenuous existence, Roe v. Wade turned 47 this January. This week, a newly minted anti-choice majority on the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear its first major abortion case -- June Medical Services LLC v. Russo. The court is poised to quietly eviscerate Roe, and 2020 will mark the beginning of what I call "the pseudo-Roe era." Here’s what it will look like. (Sarah Boonin, 3/4)
The Wall Street Journal: The OB-GYNs Who Play Politics With Women’s Lives
As the Supreme Court gets ready to hear another abortion case, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists—the specialty’s main professional organization—has weighed in with a friend-of-the-court brief. ACOG is offering a medically unsound recommendation in the furtherance of its extreme position on abortion. At issue in June Medical Services v. Russo is a Louisiana law requiring abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the site of the abortion. ACOG’s brief argues that the requirement isn’t “medically justified” and therefore constitutes an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to abortion. (Christina Francis, 3/3)
NBC News: I Told The Supreme Court About My Abortion So Strangers Won't Tell Women They Can't Have One
I’ve had an abortion. I was a year out of college, in an unhealthy relationship that didn’t seem overtly toxic until that pregnancy test screamed positive, and was in no way ready, willing, or able to be a parent. Unlike the people who live in 90 percent of the counties who do not have an abortion provider, a local Planned Parenthood was a short five-minute drive (on a bad traffic day) away from the apartment I shared with my then-partner. (Danielle Campoamor, 3/4)
The Wall Street Journal: Joe Biden’s Stock-Market Tonic
Divining the logic of stock-market moves is tricky business, but that sure was some rally on Wednesday. While coronavirus cases continued to spread, investors seemed pleased that the political threat of a Bernie Sanders Presidency has receded. Stock indexes closed up as much as 4.5%, and notably the rally was led by health-care companies. Insurer stocks in particular such as Molina (16.4%), Centene (15.6%), Anthem (15.6%), UnitedHealth (10.7%) and Cigna (10.7%) soared. Mr. Sanders wants to abolish private health insurance with Medicare for All, and health shares had taken a beating after Mr. Sanders’s surprisingly large victory in Nevada two Saturdays ago. They’ve revived along with Joe Biden’s campaign resurrection. (3/4)
Stat: It Will Take A Village To Solve The U.S. Epidemic Of Maternal Deaths
The phrase “maternal deaths” tends to conjure up images of awful complications of delivery: uncontrollable bleeding after birth or the Cesarean section that goes terribly wrong. But these heartbreaking catastrophes account for the minority of maternal deaths. Two-thirds of them happen either before birth or more than a week after delivery. In most cases, the woman is home when whatever will kill her — uncontrolled high blood pressure, heart failure, blood clots, suicide, drug overdose — initially strikes. (Adam Wolfberg, 3/5)
New England Journal of Medicine: Misguided Changes To SNAP — Defending A Public Health Intervention For The Poor
On April 1, 2020, the Trump administration plans to implement the first in a series of three proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal safety-net program formerly known as “food stamps.” More than 36 million Americans, the majority of whom are extremely poor, currently receive SNAP benefits of an average of $1.39 per person per meal.1 Forty-four percent of SNAP beneficiaries are children. By restricting eligibility for this program, the proposed changes would represent a retreat from our collective obligation to the most vulnerable members of society. They would also leave millions of Americans hungry and have profound and long-lasting consequences for their health. (Drs. Aaron Richterman and Louise C. Ivers, 3/4)
The Baltimore Sun: Give People A Place To Use Drugs Safely
If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the past 35 years, it’s that housing is health care. But until our nation reinvests in affordable housing, the daily realities of homelessness remain devastating to health. People without homes are far likelier than their housed counterparts to die prematurely. Their deaths result from increased exposure to violence and the elements along with a variety of health conditions, including addiction. (Kevin Lindamood, 3/3)
Stat: Doctors Need To Embrace The 'Power Of Yet'
I believe in the power of yet. Doctors should, too, especially the one who used my daughter’s “case” as grist for a short-sighted article without her permission. The power of yet is a concept promoted by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck as part of her research on the differences between growth and fixed mindsets. It tells us that there is always room to learn and to grow through practice, discovery, and research. There is — or at least there should be — a lot of “yet” involved in medicine, especially when it comes to diagnosing and treating tick bites. (Sue Ferrara, 3/4)
Bangor Daily News : Lawmakers Should Ensure Tobacco Settlement Funds Go Toward Public Health Needs
Each year, Maine receives a significant sum of money as part of a settlement with the tobacco industry. That money, expected to total nearly $45 million this year, is intended to go toward reducing tobacco use, especially among young people, and to other public health efforts, with an emphasis on prevention. But, many times since the settlement money started arriving in 2000, Maine lawmakers, like those in other states, have used the tobacco settlement money for other things, often to fill holes in the state’s Medicaid budget. Next, year the Medicaid payments are expected to total more than $30 million, eating up most of the $35 million the state is projected to receive from the settlement in 2021. (3/3)
