Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Demands Sweeping Changes For Supreme Court
President Biden called Monday for a constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court鈥檚 recent decision awarding former presidents immunity for crimes they commit while in office鈥攁nd endorsed proposals for a mandatory ethics code and 18-year term limit for justices. 鈥淚n recent years, extreme opinions that the Supreme Court has handed down have undermined long-established civil rights principles and protections,鈥 Biden said, speaking at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. He cited decisions that the court鈥檚 right-leaning majority views as landmark achievements, including rulings that limited federal voting-rights protections, overturned Roe v. Wade and ended affirmative action in college admissions. (Bravin, 7/29)
Under Mr. Biden鈥檚 term-limit plan, presidents would appoint a new Supreme Court justice every two years. If that rule had already been in effect over the past two decades and each justice had served the full 18-year term, the court鈥檚 ideological split would be flipped, as this chart shows. (Shao, 7/29)
In other Supreme Court updates 鈥
A small hospital in Washington state and 800 other so-called 鈥渢weener鈥 hospitals could gain an important label and more financial security in a post-Chevron world. The 67-bed Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, Washington, is too large to be considered a critical access hospital and too small to be a rural referral center. Critical access hospitals with no more than 25 beds are paid 101% of their costs for many Medicare services.聽(Kacik, 7/29)
As Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sought to privately battle cancer, federal prosecutors said Monday, her health records reached a dark corner of the internet where users floated antisemitic conspiracy theories. Her information, according to prosecutors and court testimony from an FBI agent, was accessed by a former organ transplant coordinator while she was under the care of George Washington University Hospital in 2019 and then posted to the online message board 4chan, which is known for salacious and conspiracy-themed discussions. (Rizzo, 7/29)
In news from Congress 鈥
The Senate is expected to pass legislation Tuesday that is designed to protect children from dangerous online content, pushing forward with what would be the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm that they cause. The bill has sweeping bipartisan support and has been pushed by parents of children who died by suicide after online bullying. It would force companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm on online platforms frequently used by minors, requiring them to exercise 鈥渄uty of care鈥 and ensure that they generally default to the safest settings possible. (Jalonick, 7/30)
MultiPlan CEO Travis Dalton, whose data analytics company is under fire from providers and lawmakers amid allegations that it is colluding with health insurers, said his recent meetings on Capitol Hill couldn鈥檛 have gone better. Following demands from Congress for the DOJ and FTC to open investigations into MultiPlan鈥檚 business practices, Dalton held several meetings with Senate staffers over the past few weeks, during which he defended his company and showed how it uses publicly available data to recommend how much providers should be paid for out-of-network care. (Hooper, 7/30)
LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr is tapping into the Washington lobbying world amid legislative battles over reproductive health care access. The 鈥淕lobal Gayborhood鈥 has hired The Daschle Group, founded by former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, to lobby on 鈥淗IV prevention; LGTBQ family formation challenges including surrogacy and IVF,鈥 according to federal disclosures filed last week. (Florko and Owermohle, 7/29)