Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Vaccine Hesitancy Led To Measles Reemergence; Tennessee's Almost-Total Abortion Ban Is Alarming
The Washington Post: Key Lessons From Recent Measles And Marburg Outbreaks
Measles is one of the most contagious respiratory viruses — even more so than the highly transmissible coronavirus variants. An unvaccinated person has a 90 percent chance of contracting measles if they are around someone infected with it. (Leana S. Wen, 2/23)
The Tennessean: Tennessee’s Near-Complete Abortion Ban Is Dangerous
Tennessee's near-complete abortion ban is creating shockwaves throughout the health care provider community. (Carole R. Myers and Tracey Stansberry, 2/23)
Dallas Morning News: Texas Lawmakers Can Make Employer-Provided Health Insurance More Affordable
As the chief executive of the Texas Association of Business, I continually hear from employers that the rising cost of health care is unsustainable and it is an ongoing barrier to providing health insurance to employees. It’s been the top concern of small business owners since 1986. (Glan Hamer, 2/24)
Stat: To Fix U.S. Public Health, Physicians Need To Take A Backseat
A classic warning in public health goes like this: “A society that spends so much on health care that it cannot or will not spend adequately on other health enhancing activities may actually be reducing the health of its population. ”No nation is as guilty of this practice as the United States, with its extremely high health expenditures alongside abysmal population-level health outcomes. (Eric Reinhart, 2/24)
Stat: Getting Health Companies To Play Fair With Patient Data
As a health policy wonk and health economist who has worked in pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Latin America, and Europe, I’ve seen vast volumes of data generated, gathered, aggregated, analyzed, shared, and resold by health care companies and organizations. In my studies with the world’s top medical statistics experts at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, I’ve also seen how flawed many datasets are, missing critical data pieces and definitions, and yet still used by the industry to make key decisions. (Jennifer Hinkel, 2/24)
