Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Medical Journals Are Crucial To Americans’ Health; Cutting Medicaid Will Devastate Hospitals
With Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, threatening to bar government scientists from publishing in our journals in favor of in-house, government-run publications, this moment demands a clear reminder of why the current system exists. Just as democracy depends on a free and independent press to hold power accountable, medical progress depends on independent journals to vet, challenge and advance science without political interference. (Eric J. Rubin and Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, 7/21)
As an ER doctor in New York City, I am terrified about the coming cuts. A recent study from the Rand Corporation confirms that ERs across the entire country are dangerously overstretched and underfunded. About a fifth of emergency visits each year are never paid for, amounting to nearly $5.9 billion in care costs absorbed by hospitals. (Sophia Spadafore, 7/22)
In the next few weeks, Congress will vote on what may be the most important question lawmakers have had to decide about HIV this century: whether to continue on the path toward the elimination of the disease or to allow the country to slip back into the 1980s-era nightmare of an uncontrolled surge of the virus. (Charles LeBaron, 7/23)
Information, in the second Trump administration, is a currency of power and fear. Last week, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi announced sweeping subpoenas targeting physicians and medical providers who offer care for transgender youth. The aim is not to initiate prosecutions: Indeed, the legal theories upon which such prosecutions might rest are tenuous at best. (Aziz Huq and Rebecca Wexler, 7/22)
More and more, we are seeing news articles pop up about how to access needed medications if caught in a climate disaster, or how to prepare for climate disasters if you have a disability. Some governmental steps are being taken to help. For instance, in May, the Missouri governor signed an executive order to assist individuals affected by recent storms in receiving prescribed medications, even if their prescriptions were lost or destroyed, their records are unavailable, or their original prescribing physician is unavailable. However, that won’t help people on methadone. (Leslie W. Suen, Kate E. Roberts and Rachel Luba, 7/23)
