Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Kamala Harris Needs To Discuss Her Health Care Plan; There's A Way To Combat Vaccine Hesitancy
The New York Times: Kamala Harris Had A Great Health Care Idea In 2019. She Should Embrace It.
From the moment Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee, Republicans have sought to paint her as a far-left California liberal. After all, they argue, she supported getting rid of private health insurance in her 2019 presidential campaign. But Ms. Harris didn’t seek to eliminate private insurance in 2019. (Jacob S. Hacker, 8/14)
Stat: Better Safety Studies Could Restore Confidence In Vaccines
In February 2021, I received my second Covid-19 shot — the newly developed vaccine that would eventually save millions of lives worldwide — with great anticipation. It proved to be a life-changing event: Two hours later as I was driving home, the shock of a sudden loud and high-pitched whistling nearly caused me to veer off the road. It was as if an audible dog whistle began blaring right next to me. But it wasn’t a dog whistle. It was the acute onset of tinnitus, a ringing in the ear with no external source. (Gregory A. Poland, 8/14)
Modern Healthcare: The Patient Experience? Some Providers Don’t Seem To Care
The receptionist checking me in for an early morning medical appointment could not have acted more disinterested: no eye contact, few words and papers pushed at me with no explanation. Maybe she was just having a rough morning. But maybe she wasn’t. (Mary Ellen Podmolik, 8/12)
The Washington Post: The Next Balancing Act In Health Equity: Obesity
It’s fair to say that if obesity has a stranglehold on America, it has a death grip on Black America. Nearly half of Black Americans — including almost 60 percent of Black women — are living with obesity, which kicks the door wide open to hundreds of other related conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke and high blood pressure. (Al Sharpton, 8/14)
Stat: Ultra-Processed Food Trend Mirrors History Of Regulating Tobacco
At the start of the clinic where I see patients with colorectal, stomach, pancreatic, and other gastrointestinal cancers, I remarked to a colleague, “Every new patient on my schedule is under 45.” She replied, “Three of mine are … this is too many young people with cancer.” We felt as though we were in the trenches and didn’t know where the bullets were coming from. (Nicholas DeVito, 8/14)
