Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: US Health Care Needs Ransomware Protection; Bill 3752 Provides Texans Affordable Healthcare
Newsweek: America Has To Make High-Tech Medicine Hack-Proof
The hack that shut down the Colonial Pipeline has most Americans worried about threats to the nation's computer network. According to a recent survey by Rasmussen Reports, 85 percent of Americans are at least "somewhat concerned" about the safety of the nation's computer infrastructure.Their concerns are not idle ones—they exist across vital sectors of the economy. Over the last decade, the health care industry has become increasingly vulnerable to ransomware attacks like the one we've just been through in the energy sector. Experts have been raising the alarm but thus far their warning cries have not received the attention they deserve. (Peter Roff, 5/26)
Dallas Morning News: Texas Conservatives Finally Have A Plan For Lower-Cost Health Insurance
Like many Americans, we share concerns with giving the government too much control over health care. But we also know that too many American families are choking on their doctor and hospital bills and wondering how they can pay for their next prescription. That includes a vast number of working people who make too much to qualify for federal aid but too little to afford the high cost of private insurance, with its ever-growing premiums and deductibles. (5/27)
Scientific American: The Vaccine Rollout Is Changing How We Think About Prescription Meds
America’s successful COVID vaccine rollout is having profound short-term effects, leading more cities and states to reduce restrictions and reopen parts of their economies—and most recently, leading the CDC to relax its guidance on wearing masks. It’s also likely to have lasting effects that could change how millions of people live their lives. One of those will be what prescription medicines people choose to take. In a new survey, my company, M Booth Health, found that a seismic shift has already begun. People are changing the ways they talk to their doctors about all of their medicines, and in particular, which prescription medications they accept or reject. (Mark Westall, 5/26)
Stat: Create The Advanced Research Projects Agency For Health Wisely
The U.S. needs a bold initiative to achieve transformative progress in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and countless other diseases that cut lives short or hold them back. The best way to do this is by building on the incredible scientific discoveries emerging from, or funded by, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and from the nation’s biotech and pharmaceutical research centers. (George Vradenburg and Ellen V. Sigal, 5/27)
Roll Call: These Pro-Life Amendments Could Be On The Biden Budget Chopping Block
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden followed through on a major campaign promise to the abortion lobby — and broke with decadeslong bipartisan consensus — by signing a massive stimulus bill without pro-life Hyde Amendment protections. In the guise of COVID-19 relief, the so-called American Rescue Plan was the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortion since Obamacare. Now with the administration’s budget proposal expected this week, a slew of life-saving policies modeled after Hyde could also be on the chopping block. (Marjorie Dannenfelser, 5/25)
