Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Women,Especially Surgeons, Need To Become Better Allies In Medicine; What Happened To Trump's Really Good Plan To Reduce Drug Costs?
Stat: Women In Medicine: Unite (Or At Least Stop Repressing Each Other)
The #MeToo and #NeedHerScience movements have inspired women to take a stand against sexism in health care. What I see missing from the movements are women in medicine confronting their own discrimination toward other women. (Bonnie Y. Chien, 2/28)
The Hill: Trump Should Dust Off Last Year's Drug Reform Plan
Voters generally approve of Donald Trump’s economic policies — but give him low marks on health care, according to recent polls. The president, unsurprisingly, is grumbling. He recently chewed out Alex Azar, ordering his Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary to make faster progress on reducing drug prices. (Merrill Matthews, 2/27)
WBUR: Forced Family Separation Isn't Just Traumatic. It's Torture
The United Nations Convention against Torture, which the United States has ratified, defines torture as an act which causes severe physical or mental suffering, done intentionally, for the purpose of coercion or punishment, by a state official or with state consent. Clearly, the U.S. family separation policy meets those criteria. (Katie Peeler, 2/28)
The Wall Street Journal: How A Boy’s Blood Stopped An Outbreak
It isn’t every day that a school physician’s work gets published in a medical journal. But it happened in 1934, and the story contains a lesson for the coronavirus epidemic. A Pottstown, Pa., boy identified as C.Y. was exposed to measles. The boy was quarantined in the Hill School’s infirmary; he developed a severe case of measles but recovered. Yet he infected two other students, who exposed others. (Arturo Casadevall, 2/27)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Keep Lawmakers Out Of Family Medical Decisions
HB 513 named, "Protect Vulnerable Children Act," will not in fact protect vulnerable children. This bill would prevent transgender youth under 18 from receiving health care that would help them physically transition to the gender they identify with and would criminalize the medical professionals who treat them. This bill will take away our rights as parents to make medical decisions regarding our child. HB 513 gives Ohio elected politicians equal footing to trained medical professionals, who have graduated medical school and received in-depth specialty training. (Jessica Cicchinelli, 2/27)
Des Moines Register: Abortion Amendment: Iowa's Real Crisis Is Maternal Health
The Iowa Legislature held a public hearing this week on House Joint Resolution 2004, which, if passed, would move the state closer to a constitutional amendment that strips Iowans of the right to abortion and any funding for it. To pass such a bill would lead us closer to taking away Iowans’ right to make reproductive health care decisions based in the reality of our circumstances and take us closer to deeper state interference in women’s lives and the lives of our families. (Renee Ann Cramer, 2/28)
