Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: With Trump's Nominees, Our Health Is On The Line; Why The Feds Should Pay For Weight Loss Drugs
The Boston Globe: What's Next For Public Health?
The hurricane of nominations by President-elect Donald Trump has the country reeling and trying to understand just how big a storm is coming and what it will bring. There are big winds blowing around the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services, with related health care appointments feeding the storm. At this time of uncertainty for public health, it’s important to understand what these nominations mean for the health of the American people. (Ashish K. Jha, 11/25)
Bloomberg: The Case For Getting The Government To Pay For Wegovy
The Biden administration on Tuesday proposed expanding coverage of weight-loss drugs like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Zepbound to Medicare and Medicaid recipients. Finally. (Lisa Jarvis, 11/26)
Scientific American: Confronting The Dangers Of Silent Spread Is Necessary To Prevent Future Pandemics
COVID has shown that diseases can lead to catastrophic societal harm when they spread without symptoms. Hence, preventing future pandemics requires greater investment in targeted public health interventions to reduce transmission—including from infected individuals who feel fine. (Joshua S. Weitz, 11/25)
UnHerd: RFK Jr Will Disrupt The US Medical Establishment
The American public voted for disruptors like RFK Jr in 2024, and academic medicine now has an opportunity to atone for its Covid-era blunders. If it engages constructively, it can participate in crafting and implementing reforms that would, indeed, make America healthy again. (NIH nominee Jay Bhattacharya and Kevin Bardosh, 11/15)
Stat: Why It’s So Hard To Attract New Doctors To Pediatrics
Two years ago, the RSV epidemic shook pediatric hospitals across the country along with the pediatric residents in them. One of us, Faith, was a resident at the time, and she and her colleagues refer to it as the dark ages: Whether they were arriving for their morning shifts or leaving their night shifts, the number of patients they took care of would not change for weeks at a time. Hospitals were completely filled, and resources were limited. (Jared E. Boyce and Faith Crittenden, 11/27)
