Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: The Mortality Of The Working Class; Strategies To Undermine The Opioid Crisis
Bloomberg: How To Help The White Working Class Live Longer
The U.S. white working class is in big trouble. The data is piling up. Economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have a new paper out, exploring mortality trends in the U.S. The results confirm the finding of their famous 2015 study -- white Americans without college degrees are dying in increasing numbers, even as other groups within and outside of the country live longer. And the negative trends continued over the past year. (Noah Smith, 3/29)
The Wall Street Journal: Opioids Shouldn’t Be A Doctor’s First Resort
Percocet, my patient announced, was the best antidepressant she’d ever had. An orthopedist had prescribed her the drug for back pain resulting from a fall. When the patient, who suffered from depression, asked for more, I refused, explaining the opioid’s high addictive potential. Still, I worried that if I didn’t give her a prescription, another doctor would. (Marc Siegel, 3/28)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A Simple Step To Fight Opioid Addiction
The opioid epidemic ravaging the nation does not discriminate against any state, gender, income bracket or ethnicity. More than 33,000 people died in 2015 from opioid overdoses, including over 1,000 Missourians. Every day, a mother loses her son or a father loses his daughter to a drug overdose. Each lost life is a future missed wedding, birthday party or graduation. As a former Republican governor and secretary of Health and Human Services, I was responsible for protecting the health and well-being of the American people. I also never lost sight of how closely linked that mission was to our economic growth and prosperity. (Tommy G. Thompson, 3/28)
The Charlotte Observer: My Son Died Of An Overdose. A New Bill Could Protect Other Parents From My Pain.
My son passed away six months ago due to an opioid overdose. Nothing prepared me for that Sunday morning when I found Ryan in his bedroom. Since then, our family is struggling and learning to live without him. Addiction rocked our family’s core to unfathomable levels and forever changed our lives. As with many other people affected by opioids, my son’s risky behavior began in middle school when he experimented with diverted pills from a friend. His addiction progressed and eventually became a disease that could not be controlled. I often think of what could have been different if he hadn’t started with those pills. Like many families, we didn’t realize the danger lurking in our own medicine cabinets until it was too late. (Elaine Moffatt, 3/28)
Boston Globe: Ambitious New BMC Drug Treatment Center May Have Found Its Ideal Leader
The Grayken Center is being established by a $25 million gift from billionaire investor John Grayken and his wife, Eilene. They want to destigmatize drug addiction, in addition to supporting research into its causes and treatment. The search for someone to lead the program wasn’t lengthy. Botticelli resigned from his White House post during the presidential transition, and he was a widely respected figure with close ties to Boston Medical Center. (Adrian Walker, 3/29)
Stat: We Need To Invest In Public Health To Keep America Great
Public health efforts appear headed for the chopping block under the Trump administration’s recently released budget. That’s a threat to national security.A warning to the president and Congress: A nation cannot be great if it isn’t healthy. Public health, that often invisible science that promotes the well-being of families and communities, is a bulwark of strong defense. We need the hard power of health to keep Americans safe. (Ruth J. Katz, 3/28)
The Des Moines Register: Global Health Leadership Role At Risk In Trump Budget
We live in a time when pandemics cross borders faster than ever. Yet to the horror of many of us working in global health, President Trump’s budget would completely eliminate the National Institutes of Health’s Fogarty International Center — one of the most effective tools we have to fight global diseases. (Michele Barry and Derek Yach, 3/28)
Stat: New Cancer Treatments Should Inform Patients About Quality Of Life
When I first started my career as an oncology/hematology nurse practitioner and educator more than 25 years ago, the main goal of cancer treatment was usually to extend life, no matter what the quality of that extra life was. Joey’s experience made me face a moral dilemma — was this the right approach, or should we ensure that whatever extra time we are giving to patients is actually worth living? (Jennifer Simpson, 3/28)
Los Angeles Times: Are We Subsidizing A Public Health Crisis By Allowing The Poor To Buy Soda With Food Stamps?
A major study of the grocery-buying habits of millions of Americans released late last year found that people using food stamps generally make the same unhealthy food choices as everyone else in America. Too many sweets, salty snacks and prepared desserts. Junk food, in other words. (3/29)
WBUR: Trump Abandons The Environment For An Illusion
With the signing of executive orders Tuesday, President Donald Trump made clear his intention to scrap the centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change agenda, ostensibly to aid the moribund U.S. coal industry and create jobs. Killing the Clean Power Plan, the set of Obama-era regulations that strictly limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, makes no sense. This is purely an ideologically motivated move that will benefit a tiny segment of the economy and hamper the nation’s efforts to fight climate change. (Frederick Hewett, 3/29)
