Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Signals Cuts To Poor Americans' SSI Disability Benefits
Axios: White House Looking To Cut Certain Disability Benefits
Hundreds of thousands of poor Americans are poised to get their disability benefits cut, as the Trump administration moves to reverse a Biden-era change. It would hurt low-income and disabled Americans at a time when inflation is driving up the cost of food and shelter; and further cuts to Medicaid and food benefits are on tap. (Peck, 9/8)
CalMatters: Why California May Ban Fees For Veterans' Disability Claims
California may soon ban unaccredited consultants from charging fees for helping veterans prepare disability claims, a practice that some view as exploitative. (Ashton, 9/4)
On domestic violence —
The 19th: Trump Downplays Domestic Violence
President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed the severity of domestic violence crimes, saying that were it not for “things that take place in the home they call crime,” the administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., would have resulted in a bigger statistical reduction in crime. (Barclay, 9/8)
More military health care news —
Chicago Tribune: Lawsuit: The VA's Failure To Treat An Infection Forever Changes Man's Life
Anthony Walker always liked to think of himself as “the man.” He always liked to think of himself as “tough Tony.” That’s how he felt jumping out of planes while in the Army and stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. He felt it later, too, as a small-business owner, husband and a father to six children. (Carter, 9/8)
Military.com: Transgender Military Kids Face 'Profound Harm' From Health Care Restrictions, Lawsuit Alleges
Military families with transgender children are suing the Pentagon over the Trump administration’s efforts to cut off gender-affirming health care to military dependents. In a lawsuit filed Monday, three families are alleging that the administration’s moves go beyond a law that was passed last year to restrict gender-affirming care for military children and violate a separate law that says federal regulations cannot be “arbitrary and capricious.” (Kheel, 9/8)
On the EPA and the effects of climate change —
Bloomberg: How Trump’s War On Climate Science Impacts All Americans
In late July, President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal so bold it would have once seemed unthinkable: to reverse the endangerment finding, a legal determination under which the agency regulates planet-warming pollution. The 2009 finding rests on a vast body of scientific evidence showing greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change and threaten public health. The agency held a public hearing on the move last month. (Hirji, Roston and Kahn, 9/8)
AP: Study Finds That In A Warming World, Americans Eat More Sugar
Global warming in the United States is amping up the country’s sweet tooth, a new study found. When the temperature rises, Americans — especially those with less money and education — drink lots more sugary beverages and a bit more frozen desserts. It amounts to more than 100 million pounds of added sugar (358 million kilograms) consumed in a year, compared to 15 years earlier, according to a team of researchers in the U.S. and United Kingdom writing in Monday’s Nature Climate Change. (Borenstein, 9/8)
MedPage Today: Alzheimer's Disease Exacerbated By Air Pollution, Autopsy Study Suggests
Worse outdoor air quality was tied to worse Alzheimer's disease pathology in older adults, an autopsy study showed. Among 602 autopsy cases, higher exposure to fine particulate matter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) before death raised the odds of more severe Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change (OR 1.19, 95% CI 1.11-1.28), said Edward Lee, MD, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, and co-authors. (George, 9/8)
