Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Trump's Latest Attack On Transgender People Is The Most Devastating So Far; Lessons On Organ Donations, Saving More Lives
The Washington Post: This Is The Cruelest Thing The Trump Administration Has Done To Trans People Yet
The Trump administration announced a proposal Friday that would essentially allow health-care providers to discriminate based on gender identity. For the 1.4 million transgender people in the United States, it’s the cruelest move yet from a government that’s been openly hostile to us. The proposed rule, which must go through a public comment period before being finalized at a later date, would replace an Obama-era rule that included gender identity and sexual orientation under the definition of sex discrimination, as many courts have ruled. (Katelyn Burns, 5/29)
The New York Times: I Thought I’d Seen The Worst Of Trump
Sometimes I wonder if, as far as the news is concerned, I’ve begun to resemble the protagonist in “The Princess Bride,” who develops an immunity to a poison, iocane powder, simply by ingesting a little bit of it every day. Incredibly, the monstrousness of our age no longer shocks me, not least because I spend part of each day taking it all in. But on Friday, for the first time, I read the newspaper and just collapsed in a chair and wept actual hot tears. My wife and son came over and held me in their arms, fearing, perhaps, that I felt unloved. But that’s not why I wept. (Jennifer Finney Boylan, 5/29)
The Washington Post: Let’s Change The Rules For Organ Donations — And Save Lives
Three a.m. — that’s the hour we find ourselves sitting in a soulless lounge waiting for someone to die. This person, whose death is imminent, at some point wanted to donate their organs. Now, he has severe, irreversible brain damage but doesn’t fulfill the criteria of brain death. His family’s only option to save lives in the wake of his death is “donation after circulatory determination of death” — DCDD in medical lingo — in which life support is removed and his heart must arrest on its own before he can donate. As two transplant recovery surgeons, we cannot be near the donor while his heart still beats, so we remain in that lounge, watching the minutes creep by. (N. Thao N. Galvan, Abbas Rana and Matthew Goss, 5/29)
The Wall Street Journal: The GOP’s Duty: Explain The Cost Of ‘Free’
Progressives are changing the Democratic Party’s focus from building stronger safety nets for the disadvantaged to subsidizing everything for everybody. Whereas Barack Obama once appeared radical for subsidizing health-care costs for the middle class as well as the poor, Democrats now promise free college, free health care and more—for everyone. Republicans can’t outspend Democrats, but they can make the case for freedom and against the idea that everything is “free” without sounding like Scrooge. (Bobby Jindal, 5/29)
The New York Times: Cash, Food And Health Care All Help The Poor, But Something’s Still Missing
To battle poverty at home or abroad, we provide cash and food, clean water and medical care — and all of this is important. But a growing body of evidence suggests that the most fundamental need may be for something less tangible. It is hope. When aid breaks the cycle of poverty, the mechanism often seems to be that it raises self-confidence and engenders a new sense of possibilities that people then work harder to achieve. (Nicholas Kristof, 5/29)
The Hill: There's A War On Clean Air And Our Children Will Suffer The Consequences
The EPA has recently demonstrated that the health of any American comes second to the goals of industry. Despite the established connection between air pollution and human health, the current administration has relaxed policies that protect clean air, helping those very industries that are spewing chemicals into our air.Recently appointed officials and staff have ties to the industries that are poisoning Americans. (Colleen Chierici, 5/29)
The Washington Post: Climate Deniers, Anti-Vaxxers, Flat Earthers: Are We Becoming Too Stupid To Govern Ourselves?
Measles was declared eliminated in 2000, but so far this year 940 individual cases have been reported throughout the country. All because a growing number of parents, in thrall to “anti-vaxxer” conspiracy theories, refuse to follow medical advice and immunize their children. This is terrifying, and not just because measles is a life-threatening disease. The revival of measles is an indication of a serious political problem. The case for democracy is that voters in the aggregate will make better decisions than a lone monarch or dictator would. But does majority rule still work when so many people believe so many things that simply aren’t so? (Max Boot, 5/29)
The Hill: Congress Makes Headway To Improve Mental Health Care For Veterans — But Is Not Done
Our coalition of GOP legislators is proud to be represented by 13 veterans spanning every branch of the military. Since this also is Military Appreciation Month, we recognize and thank Sens. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), Paul Cook (R-Calif.), Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Brian Mast (R-Fla.), Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) and Steve Watkins (R-Kan.) for their service. Though no longer on the front lines, these members continue to serve and protect the well-being of their veteran colleagues by addressing the mental health crisis plaguing the military community. (Sarah Chamberlain, 5/29)
The Washington Post: Want Millennials To Get Married And Have Babies? Change The Policies That Stop Us.
When I interviewed for my first job with The Post at age 25, I wore an oversize jacket in hopes of concealing the fact that I was pregnant. (The ruse failed to fool any of the seasoned journalists who interviewed me.) I knew that it is technically illegal to discriminate against pregnant women in hiring, and I knew that it happens anyway. A trove of pregnancy-obscuring wardrobe advice posts scattered across mom forums suggests that plenty of women find themselves facing the same dilemma: When you’re badly in need of a job, why add one more downside for potential employers? (Elizabeth Bruenig, 5/29)
The Hill: The Wrong Way To Make Policy About Heritable Genome Modification
It’s time to step back from the brink, and to deliberate carefully and collectively about whether the future to which we aspire should include any form of heritable genome modification. Until then, the law of the land should keep the door closed on clinical uses of these techniques. Otherwise individual scientists will race ahead, and it will be too late for us to decide. (Marcy Darnovsky, 5/29)
Stat: Access To Medical Cannabis: A New Health Care Disparity
The vast majority of Americans — nearly 95% of us — support the use of medical cannabis. Thirty-three states plus the District of Columbia have legalized it, and that number is likely to rise.But like all swiftly embraced changes in public health, there can be unintended consequences of legalizing cannabis for medical uses. My colleagues and I are seeing this one: the rise of a new health care disparity, because it is harder for poor people to access medical cannabis than it is for wealthier people. (Julia Arnsten, 5/30)
