Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: The Dark Side Of Doctor-Assisted Suicide; Some Red States Passing Less-Strict Abortion Rules
The CT Mirror: Physician Assisted Suicide - Second Thoughts
I believe in choice and in bodily integrity. The choices I have believed in included the right to choose the manner of one’s death. To be able to say that “enough is enough.” To be able to choose to end one’s suffering. Nothing seemed clearer. But then I had second thoughts. (Nancy Alisberg, 2/18)
The New York Times: Why Some Red States Aren’t Going For Broke On Abortion — Yet
A Supreme Court decision that’s expected to come down this summer is likely to strike down Roe v. Wade, either in deed or in word, making it possible for states with anti-abortion leadership to ban the procedure altogether. It might seem curious, then, that legislators in some conservative-leaning states are spending these months before the likely downfall of Roe working to pass less extreme abortion measures than they did in 2019. Now seems like the time for anti-abortion legislators to go for broke. The fact that some of them are pursuing a different strategy offers clues about what a post-Roe America could look like, and how that landscape could be more complex — and less predetermined — than some Americans had assumed. (Mary Ziegler, 2/17)
Dallas Morning News: Dallas Should Extend Mental Health Leave To Firefighters
The Dallas City Council will soon consider a new policy that would allow firefighters and paramedics who experience a traumatic event while on duty to take paid time off to care for their mental health. We wholeheartedly support it. The city approved a similar provision for police in October, after a new state law went into effect requiring law enforcement agencies to create mental health leave policies for peace officers impacted by an on-duty traumatic incident. But that law didn’t require firefighters or other high-stress jobs to be included. (2/18)
Newsweek: It's Time For Tech Creators To Take On The Hospital Crisis
Stories from across the country show the dire situation the nation's hospital emergency departments are facing. "Emergency rooms are at their breaking point with patients waiting for days," read a Fortune headline. "ERs are overwhelmed as omicron continues to flood them with patients," NPR explained. Some patients are being boarded in emergency department hallways, and some ERs have turned people away. Unvaccinated COVID-19 patients are pushing "hospital systems past the brink," Bloomberg reported. (Tashfeen Suleman, 2/17)
The CT Mirror: We Can End Period Poverty
Unlike other normal bodily functions, the menstrual cycle is stigmatized and often a financial burden for many throughout Connecticut. No one should have to choose between food, a roof over their head, their education, and access to menstrual products; and yet, every day in Connecticut, menstruators are forced to make exactly that choice. Periods do not stop during pandemics and neither have the barriers for many menstruating individuals in our state to menstrual products. (Kate Farrar and Joy Ren, 2/18
Stat: Many Nonprofit Hospitals Aren't Earning Their Tax Exemptions
Most U.S. hospitals are nonprofit organizations that receive sizeable subsidies in the form of exemptions from state and federal income taxes, sales tax, and property tax. They can also issue tax-exempt bonds and receive tax-deductible charitable contributions. In return for these financial perks, nonprofit hospitals must provide community benefits such as charity care, unreimbursed care for people covered by Medicaid, improvements in community health, education for doctors and other health care workers, and research. We wanted answers to two important questions about these institutions: What do nonprofit hospitals have to do in exchange for these subsidies? Do they provide enough community benefit to earn these exemptions? (Ge Bai and David A. Hyman, 2/17)
Stat: Three Urgent Priorities For The NSC To Strengthen Global Health Security
In a planned transition, Beth Cameron, the Biden administration’s top official for global health security and biodefense, leaves her post at the White House National Security Council this month. After more than a decade spearheading biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, she will be replaced by U.S. global malaria coordinator Raj Panjabi — a primary care physician who has been a stalwart advocate for community-based health care programs as the former CEO of Last Mile Health. Panjabi’s appointment could signal a potential shift in U.S. health security policy. (Arush Lal, 2/18)
Stat: Public Health Officials Should Be Elected, Not Appointed
In the United States, the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the widespread firing and resignation of public health officers. According to one analysis, more than 300 state and local health officials were fired, resigned, or retired between April 1, 2020 and Sept. 12, 2021. One reason for this unprecedented exodus of health officers was the unresolved tension between them wanting to use their legal authority to “follow the science” by imposing restrictions on businesses versus their public legitimacy and the permission granted them by governors or other elected officials for them to actually use that authority. In September, Florida’s top health official resigned, and the governor immediately replaced him with a physician who, similar to the governor, dismisses the benefit of business restrictions, vaccines, masks, and testing to control Covid-19. (Jay Varma, 2/18)
