Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Single-Payer Debate Again Heating Up In Calif.; Baltimore Woman Was Having Psychotic Episode, Lawyer Claims
The political battle lines over single-payer healthcare in California are growing starker, with an alliance聽of doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners and other health providers ramping up聽their opposition to the proposal. In a letter to legislators, the coalition, unveiled Wednesday, blasted Senate Bill 562聽as a proposal that 鈥渨ould dismantle the healthcare marketplace and destabilize California鈥檚 economy.鈥 (Mason, 1/17)
The attorney for a woman left outside a Baltimore hospital wearing only a patient gown and socks on a cold night last week said the medical institution turned its back on her when she was having a psychotic episode. J. Wyndal Gordon, who said Wednesday that he was hired to represent the patient on behalf of the family, said the woman named Rebecca was now at an undisclosed inpatient facility undergoing mental health treatment. (McDaniels and Cohn, 1/17)
Some call it Medicare-for-all or single-payer health insurance, but the concept is the same: A system that provides everyone with health care regardless of their ability to pay. Patients at the free clinics would benefit from such a system because they can鈥檛 afford health insurance. (Ochoa, 1/18)
Public health officials are reporting a second case of measles in a person who was at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the nation's third-largest airport by passenger volume. The Illinois Department of Public Health said Wednesday that the case is unrelated to one reported last week. The department says there's no measles outbreak at O'Hare, which served 78 million passengers in 2016. (1/17)
In what looks like a typical doctor鈥檚 office, Gary Newcomer, 26, waited to have his blood drawn for the last time as a participant in a trial for a Zika virus vaccine.Newcomer has visited Saint Louis University鈥檚 Center for Vaccine Development 16 times since November 2016. But a cut in federal funding is bringing a halt to the trial before a vaccine can be developed. (Chen, 1/17)
Mathilde Krim, who crusaded against the scourge of AIDS with appeals to conscience that raised funds and international awareness of a disease that has killed more than 39 million people worldwide, died Monday at her home in Kings Point, N.Y. She was 91. (McFadden, 1/17)
One nursing home resident died after becoming trapped between a mattress and the bed鈥檚 grab bar. A resident of a different nursing home died after a staff member failed to follow the physician鈥檚 orders for care. In both cases last year, allegations of neglect by the east metro nursing homes were substantiated, according to reports released by the Minnesota Department of Health last week. Both nursing homes, in Roseville and Stillwater, respectively, are appealing the decisions. The identities of the residents were not released in either case. (Chavey, 1/17)
With babies placed in incubators with tubes and monitors, it can be hard for new mothers to bond with them when they have serious medical conditions, as Tristan and the other infants in the NICU do. To help overcome that difficulty, Children鈥檚 Hospital has offered a program since 2016 that teaches families ways to bond with their medically fragile children. (Richman, 1/17)
The vote to honor a tax-increment-financing (TIF) subsidy promise to Illinois largest Catholic health system was 31 to 18. (Spielman, 1/17)
The Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission is plowing ahead with its preparations for the debut of recreational pot sales in July, despite a recent change in federal law enforcement policy that has put a cloud of uncertainty over the marijuana industry. The commission has voted to negotiate a contract with Franwell Inc., a Florida-based software firm whose 鈥淢etrc鈥 product tracks all the marijuana sold legally in Colorado and most other states with recreational markets. (Adams, 1/17)