Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Those Who Have Contracted Deadly Diseases Know The Value Of Vaccinations; 'Medicare At 55' Is The Politically Feasible Step We Should Be Taking
Stat: My Polio-Stricken Mother's Advice To Parents: Immunize Your Kids
I was 1 year old in 1949 when polio struck my mother. As I got older and could understand why she was in a wheelchair, she told me about her time in the hospital — more than a year — most of it an iron lung. Late at night she would lie awake, listening to the rhythmic pumping of the iron lungs on her polio ward and to the whooping cries of babies with pertussis that echoed down the hospital’s corridors. (Fred Leonard, 4/19)
The Hill: 'Medicare At 55' Is A Better Bet Than 'Medicare For All'
Trump’s decision to put health-care reform on hold until at least 2020 signifies another two-plus years of rising costs for Americans who are already living paycheck to paycheck. Rather than sitting idly by, to tame rising health-care costs, there are measures we can take now that work in tandem with the Affordable Care Act or any future program that might replace it. So long as Medicare exists, there’s an economically viable way to extend it to more Americans at little or no net cost to the government, which will ultimately control otherwise rising health-care costs. (Richard Vague, 4/18)
The Washington Post: School Shootings Didn’t Start In 1999 At Columbine. Here’s Why That Disaster Became A Blueprint For Other Killers And Created The ‘Columbine Generation'
Why Columbine?Why did the April 20, 1999, mass shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado become a blueprint for future shooters? After all, it was hardly the first time that shootings took place on school campuses. This post looks into how “society and culture have reared a Columbine generation,” and what role the media played. It was written by Jillian Peterson, professor of criminal justice at Hamline University, and James Densley, professor of criminal justice at Metropolitan State University. (Valerie Strauss, 4/18)
The Hill: Senate Should Hold Hearings On Background Checks
On March 26 the Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings on extreme risk laws, which allow law enforcement or family members who know that someone is an immediate risk to himself or others to petition a judge that firearms should temporarily be removed from such a person. The hearings were a model of bi-partisan fact-finding that could lead to life-saving federal legislation. At the hearings there was also bi-partisan support for requiring background checks on all gun sales, as in H.R. 8, a bill recently passed by the House. Now it’s time to hold hearings on that issue too. (Griffin Dix, 4/18)
Stat: Medicare Needs A Better Way To Pay Hospitals For Using Antibiotics
Late last year, a retirement community in Vermont was quarantined after an outbreak of antibiotic resistant bacteria swept through the facility, sickening 70 seniors. In pediatric oncology wards, children beating cancer are increasingly felled by drug-resistant bacteria and fungal infections. Every week, we hear more stories of infections that have become untreatable due to resistance. Such alarms, once rare, are becoming more commonplace. Bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that have become resistant to antimicrobial drugs — often dubbed superbugs — thrive in communities with high antibiotic use like nursing homes, hospitals, and preschools. (Kevin Outterson and Helen W. Boucher, 4/17)
The Hill: A Hippocratic Oath For Big Data
The news last week regarding Amazon’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance status for health-related Alexa apps begs the question: will Amazon use health data for other purposes? Responding to increased data production and use for health services and other purposes, privacy advocates have urged greater data use restrictions, while tech giants have advocated for a generally applicable privacy law. However, these proposals restrict data use in ways that could adversely impact both individual patient health outcomes and broader public health goals. (Piers Nash and Charlotte A. Tschider, 4/18)
The Wall Street Journal: How The U.S. Surrendered To China On Scientific Research
Everywhere you turn in the U.S. these days, there is worried talk of China’s rise and the fading of American pre-eminence on the world stage. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sees China as “the greatest challenge that the United States will face in the medium to long term.” The U.S. intelligence community is also uneasy, citing China’s growing technological prowess as a prime concern in its 2019 “Worldwide Threat Assessment.” Just this month, six former senior U.S. military commanders released a statement expressing their alarm over the possibility that “a Chinese-developed” next-generation 5G wireless network may be “widely adopted among our allies and partners.” (Ezekiel Emanuel, Amy Gadsden and Scott Moore, 4/19)
Stat: As A Doctor In The ICU, I Sometimes Feel Helpless. Poetry Provides Solace
The first time I was in an intensive care unit as a medical student, I wondered if I should pray. The patient was unconscious. A tube secured in his mouth connected him to a ventilator, a machine that breathed for him. He was covered by a smooth, white sheet that had been folded over just below his neck. One of my medical school professors had brought several of us to the ICU to learn about lung physiology and the workings of the ventilator. I had never seen anyone in this condition, suspended in the netherworld between the living and the dead. (Colleen M. Farrell, 4/18)
Bloomberg: Why Amazon And Netflix Shouldn't Remove Anti-Vax Books And Videos
The other day, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press wondered if the sudden spate of measles cases in several parts of the country might be the fault of Amazon.com Inc., because until recently it offered books and videos created by anti-vaccination activists. As a big free speech guy, to say nothing of a working writer, I think I’ll go with no. Does this mean what it sounds like? Yes: I think Amazon should still be selling those nutty books about the dangers of vaccination. No, no, I’m not remotely a part of that movement. When our kids were small, they got every single scheduled shot; my wife and I get ours. And if you’re going to tell me that refusing to have children vaccinated is dangerous to others — well, I agree. (Stephen L. Carter, 4/18)
Bloomberg: San Francisco Might Divorce PG&E But Not Wildfire Costs
San Francisco works hard to shake off its stereotype of existing in a bubble. OK, not that hard. Now it’s thinking of extending that splendid isolation to how it gets its power. Mayor London Breed said in an interview with Bloomberg News that she’s “pretty excited” at the prospect of the city taking over its local grid from bankrupt utility PG&E Corp. A feasibility study is due later this month — and it’s not the first one, either. San Francisco has been considering taking its grid out of PG&E’s hands, off and on, since at least the 1990s. (Liam Denning, 4/18)
The Hill: PTSD Can Impair And Age Your Brain
Last week, singer-songwriter Ariana Grande posted images on Instagram showing a scan of her brain as she battles post-traumatic stress disorder. Grande is correct to say that PTSD doesn't only impact one’s physical and mental health, but it can negatively affect one’s brain. What Grande didn’t say, and what she may not know, is that PTSD is also associated with cognitive impairment and accelerated aging. (Joan Cook and Mario Fahed, 4/17)
Sacramento Bee: Sacramento City Council Must Ban Flavored Tobacco Products
Tobacco companies killed 100 million people during the 20th century, according to the World Health Organization. They could kill up to a billion people in the 21st century unless we relegate tobacco addiction to the ash bucket of history. Tonight, the Sacramento City Council has an opportunity to help end Big Tobacco’s reign of death. By banning flavored tobacco, councilmembers can help nip a killer industry’s next generation strategy in the bud. (Gil Duran, 4/16)
CNN: 'Selfie' Deaths: Don't Blame Victims
On Sunday, college student Andrea Norton, just 20 years old, was repositioning herself for a photo, police said, when she fell to her death on a hiking trip in the Ozarks. The same weekend, college student Sydney Monfries fell to her death after climbing the Fordham University bell tower and sending out a video via Snapchat. The coverage of these two tragedies has been less than solemn. Norton, some early news reports said, died taking a selfie (it actually seems she fell after doing what millions of Americans do every day: positioning herself for a photo in a beautiful place). (Jill Filipovic, 4/18)
