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Too many American families know the struggle of caring for an aging parent who doesn’t want to leave their home but can no longer fully take care of themself. According to the Niskanen Center, more than 14 million Americans require long-term support services. That number is projected to grow to 24 million by 2030. (10/9)

In early 2020, as Covid began its relentless spread, I and other public health experts urgently warned the Trump administration and senior advisers about critical shortages in medical supplies and the desperate need for a coordinated national response. Our recommendations, grounded in decades of pandemic preparedness planning, were not just ignored — they were actively suppressed. (Rick Bright, 10/10)

The ink had scarcely dried on new federal rules for enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 when U.S. health plans threatened potential legal action to block them. (David Lloyd, 10/10)

Normally, hospitals are, well, flush with IV fluids. But right now, that isn’t the case. In addition to the physical damage to many hospitals and clinics in the region, Hurricane Helene knocked out one of the primary manufacturing plants for IV solutions. The Baxter manufacturing plant in Marion, N.C., which produces about 60% of the IV solutions for the U.S., is not currently operational. (Andrew Pasternak, 10/9)