Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Chest Pains, Xanax And Nightmares: How The Election Is Taking A Toll On The Electorate
Are you suffering from election stress disorder? It seems like everyone I know has it. Last week my kindergartner woke up at 5 a.m. with nightmares about 鈥渢wo people running for president.鈥 One friend wrote on Facebook that she is barely sleeping at all and now fills the pre-dawn hours canning fruit.聽I鈥檝e heard reports of chest pains and short-term Xanax prescriptions within my circle聽as Nov. 8 draws near. (Netburn, 11/4)
More than half of Americans are experiencing election-related stress聽comparable聽to that often attributed to聽work, money, or聽the economy, the American Psychological Association has said. And while the good news is the presidential contest will end next week, the bad news is that because of the ferocity of the campaign, the mental damage may linger. And for some groups, it may get even worse鈥攄epending on who wins...The hope is that once this election is over, and the constant barrage of negativity via聽television, radio, and mobile phone ends, things may return to some semblance of normal. But not聽everyone is so optimistic. 聽(Shanker, 11/4)
In other election news聽鈥
In an election season in which the presidential campaign 鈥渋ssues鈥 have ranged from 鈥渉ot mics鈥 to emails, some down-ballot campaign ads highlight a wonky, far less racy topic: a tax on medical devices. Really? Why? (Appleby, 11/4)
If Colorado voters pass a first-in-the-nation statewide universal health care proposal this year, a typical elderly couple on Social Security and Medicare would save nearly $2,000 per year, according to the proponents鈥 campaign.聽Or they would end up paying nearly $1,800 extra聽per year, a separate analysis finds. Or perhaps they might pay more than that, opponents of the measure warn. When it comes to Amendment 69, the universal health care measure known as ColoradoCare, the simplest question 鈥 How much would I pay? 鈥 is fraught with disagreement. That鈥檚 because many of the decisions that would聽determine exactly what ColoradoCare would look like, what it would cover and even how much it would ultimately cost individuals wouldn鈥檛 be made until after it is passed 鈥 including some decisions that would be made by people not in Colorado. (Ingold, 11/3)