Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Naloxone Needs To Be Widely Available; Steps Needed To Clear Up Surprise Medical Bills
Bloomberg: Xylazine-Laced Fentanyl Is Adding To Drug Overdoses. Naloxone Can Help
Fentanyl has become the No. 1 cause of death for American adults under 50. It’s an indiscriminate killer, claiming the lives of quiet teens and young parents, Wall Street traders and celebrities alike. (3/1)
Newsweek: Congress Can Help Reduce Surprise Medical Bills
The Biden administration and Congress have made multiple efforts to crack down on "Surprise Medical Bills" to protect patients from exorbitant out-of-network bills during emergency services. These efforts are a positive step, but are incomplete. (Bobby Jindal and Neil Gheewala, 3/2)
Stat: CMS Vastly Overestimates Transparency On Hospital Prices
More than two years after a federal rule required hospitals to post their actual prices, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finally responded to public pressure about the failure of many hospitals to be transparent about what they charge for their services. Unfortunately, CMS’s new hospital compliance report gaslights American health care consumers by claiming that most hospitals are following the rule. (Cynthia A. Fisher, 3/2)
The Baltimore Sun: It Shouldn’t Require Brain Surgery To See Nurses Are Underpaid
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a nursing shortage going on. It’s thought that increasing demand for all types of nurses — caused in part, by an aging U.S. population and expanded access to health care as well as retirements, turnover and burnout in the nursing profession — have hit many communities quite hard. (Peter Jensen, 2/28)
The New York Times: Why Are Ketamine Ads Following Me Around The Internet?
A few months ago I started noticing that I couldn’t open Instagram or TikTok without getting an ad for ketamine. I previously knew ketamine only as an illegal drug that could cause dissociation, taken by acquaintances in the dank basements of my misspent youth, or as the sedative given to my older daughter when her broken arm needed to be reset in the hospital. (Jessica Grose, 3/1)
Los Angeles Times: COVID Lab Leak? Mask Mandates? Why Are We Still Having These Fights?
On Monday, the White House announced there is no consensus in the Biden administration about whether COVID-19 sprang from a leak in a virus laboratory in China or was the result of a leap from another species to humans. (Robin Abcarian, 3/1)
