Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Drugmakers Switch Gears This Year With Big Bankroll For Democrats
In the final weeks before Tuesday鈥檚 midterm elections, the pharmaceutical industry鈥檚 campaign donations have begun flowing heavily and unexpectedly in a new direction: toward Democrats. The party received a full 63 percent of the industry鈥檚 campaign contributions reported in the first half of October, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. That鈥檚 a new trend to cap off a tumultuous election cycle: Up to this point, just over half of drug industry money has flowed toward Republicans, and the GOP has received substantially more campaign cash from the pharmaceutical and health products industry in the past decade. (Facher, 11/6)
Kaiser Health News: Beyond The Buzz: What Do Americans Mean By 鈥楳edicare-For-All鈥?
KHN's news analysis on "Medicare-for-all" sparks a broader conversation ahead of the midterm elections. (11/6)
In other hotbeds of anti-vaccine sentiment, centrist conservatives who鈥檝e championed similar bills have also been conspicuously missing from this year鈥檚 midterm ballots. Replacing them are candidates backed by well-financed organizations made up of members who either entertain the fraudulent science linking vaccines to autism, who believe their kids have had adverse vaccine reactions, or think the government shouldn鈥檛 dictate what goes in their children鈥檚 bodies. (Molteni, 11/5)
Graduate students at the College of Public Health of the University of Georgia have created a 鈥渘onpartisan, fact-based infographic鈥 detailing the health policy positions of gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp. To avoid political rhetoric, the graphic shows how the candidates describe their own views on health care in Georgia, and does not include how Abrams and Kemp might characterize each other鈥檚 positions. (Miller, 11/5)