Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: In A Country Where Patients Are Taking Medication Made For Fish Because Of Costs, We Need 'Medicare For All'
Even though universal health coverage is the norm in every other developed country on Earth, the idea has long been dismissed as too ambitious for America. But today, a growing Medicare for All movement has propelled the idea into the mainstream; it is now supported by most Democratic presidential candidates, and it enjoyed its first hearing in Congress just two weeks ago. As an ER doctor who supports Medicare for All, I was asked to testify at this historic hearing. While policy experts and economists were present to discuss how we would construct and finance such an ambitious undertaking, I decided to focus on human stories. After all, the specifics of any policy only matter as far as they affect the lives of actual Americans. (Dr. Farzon A. Nahvi, 5/21)
Measles outbreaks聽continue, adding to the historically high聽880 cases聽confirmed as of May 17. But measles may have had their proverbial 鈥15 minutes of fame.鈥 Understandable, perhaps, given the news firehose we are drinking from these days. But lamentable, especially since the聽anti-vaxxers continue聽to push their dangerous nonsense, with the help of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., no less. Make no mistake: Measles is a dangerous, even deadly, disease, for both children聽and聽adults. (Eric R. Terzuolo, 5/22)
"I don鈥檛 want your kind taking care of me!鈥 To an outsider, it might have resembled a standoff from an old Western. But it was taking place in a most modern hospital: the patient, an older white man hunched over with a snarl distorting his face; the physician, a young woman with a patterned hijab wrapped around her head. (Uchenna Ikediobi, 5/23)
The invention of the hypodermic needle and synthesis of heroin in the 19th century forever changed the opiate landscape. The arrival of cheap, accessible and mass-produced synthetic opioids might do the same. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are driving drug overdose deaths in the United States and it is unlikely this will end soon. But unlike prescription pain relievers, the vast majority of synthetic opioid overdoses involve illicit imports from China and Mexico. (Bryce Pardo and Beau Kilmer, 5/22)
鈥淚鈥檓 doing the best I can.鈥 That has聽become my mantra lately.聽I didn鈥檛 make it up. I learned it in group therapy. ... For the past several weeks, I鈥檝e been one of many correspondents working on a series of reports airing across all of our NBC News platforms about children and the alarming rise in mental health issues. We鈥檙e calling it 鈥淜ids Under Pressure.鈥 But what I don鈥檛 say out loud very often is that I am not just an outside observer. In my own life, as the parent of two teenagers, some of the very things I鈥檓 reporting on are a daily struggle. I know I鈥檓 not alone. (Kate Snow, 5/22)
I鈥檝e always been very careful about my personal information (some might say paranoid). I ad-block, I cookie-block, and I use a password manager and a ton of disposable email addresses. I don鈥檛 use fitness-tracking wearables. I even cover my laptop camera. I don鈥檛 like the idea of being profiled or running the chance that a data breach might leave me exposed. If you asked me whether I wanted my data collected, analyzed and shared, I would of course have said no. But then I had a funny experience last year. I make a living by analyzing large data sets, and I was looking into creating an artificial-intelligence app that would tell people whether their symptoms were severe enough to warrant a trip to the doctor or even the emergency room. (Luke Miner, 5/22)
Google 鈥渃hild abuse鈥 on any given day and you will find reports from across the nation. This year, there were reports of Baptist church leaders abusing children, some as young as 3 and the Pope鈥檚 acknowledgment of nuns being abused by church leaders. In both cases, investigations found the majority of the crimes had been long standing and some even continued for decades, but little is said about support for the victims.聽This silence is dangerous; without access to health care, belief from loved ones and support from the community, it can lead to serious mental health consequences. (Ashely Garling, 5/22)
The U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that children and adolescents aged 6 to 17 years should have 60 minutes or more daily of moderate to vigorous physical activity, including muscle- and bone-strengthening activities three days/week. In addition to its substantial physical and mental health benefits, physical activity improves learning and behavior.聽 (Drs. Michael Rosenbaum and William H. Dietz, 5/22)
Police officers should be able to use deadly force only when necessary to prevent death or serious injury to themselves or to others. That standard seems so logical and so based in common sense that it may come as a surprise that it鈥檚 not already the law. It ought to be, and a bill currently before California lawmakers would make it so. Assembly Bill 392 is a measured piece of legislation to improve police practices and enhance accountability. It deserves to pass. (5/22)
I wrote my first novel at a time when I felt powerless. I was 27 in 2016, and there was a public reckoning happening with women鈥檚 bodies, but also a reckoning I was grappling with personally. I had felt so powerless in my body for such a long time that by then there was a comfort to be found in passivity, in going through the motions. I was dimly aware that there was another, stronger me somewhere, but I could barely see or remember her. I felt skinless, afraid. Writing a book laid bare my own reckoning, made me feel worse for a time. But it also opened me to the experience of bridging the gap between powerlessness and power. (Sophie Mackintosh, 5/22)
Just before turning 3, Gavyn Bailey received a kidney transplant. Thereafter, he began to require anti-rejection medications, which create additional health concerns, including thickening of the heart muscle, necrosis of the hip, gastrointestinal issues and bacterial infections. The pain and challenges associated with his chronic condition propelled the now 21-year-old into a deep depression. To cope, Gavyn self-medicated and exhibited other forms of self-injurious behavior.Gavyn's case shows why it's imperative that physical and mental health be integrated. (Kimberly Chavalas Cripe and Christopher DeRosa, 5/21)
