Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Leqembi Is Proof FDA Needs Conditional Approvals; Foreign-Trained Doctors Can Fill The Shortage
The Washington Post: FDA Should Limit Approval Of New Alzheimer's Drug Leqembi
The Food and Drug Administration is slated to soon give full approval to Leqembi, a new medicine for Alzheimer’s disease that offers only modest benefit, could pose worrisome risks and stands to cost the nation $2 billion to $5 billion per year. (Jerry Avorn, 6/15)
The Boston Globe: Help Foreign-Trained Doctors Get Licensed
When Deeb Salem was a medical student in Boston in 1967, he recalls meeting an older Cuban pediatrician who worked sweeping hospital floors. Occasionally, Salem and fellow students would ask the man, who came to the US seeking asylum, medical questions. (6/15)
Cincinnati Enquirer: State Support Needed To Stem Children’s Mental Health Crisis
We are on the front lines, and we can tell you the situation is dire. Our state’s mental health sector is facing the worst supply-and-demand dynamics in modern history. (John Banchy, Eric Cummins and Paul Haffner, 6/14)
Stat: Should Employer Health Plans Cover GLP-1s Like Ozempic?
We have a knack in the U.S. for blurring behavior and medicine. Look at weight. For a long time, we’ve treated obesity as a moral failing, a lack of willpower. That was wrong. Now we’re treating weight as a medical issue that can be cured by pill or injection. Is this any better? (Owen Tripp, 6/15)
Stat: Beware Reading Your Test Results Before Your Doctor Does
Not so long ago, a father broke down in tears with me over Zoom — tears of relief. When this father had received test results for his child, some of the values in the report appeared in red. That font color made him terrified for his child’s health. It was only when we hopped on Zoom to go over the results that I was able to reassure him: They were in red because the system was comparing them with adult range values. (Christopher Medrano, 6/15)
