Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Connecticut Senator Urges HHS To Reverse Trump Medicaid Cuts
In response to a lawsuit filed by three disabled women in Connecticut over a Trump-era rule on Medicaid cuts, a top Democrat in the state Senate is calling on the Biden administration to rescind the regulation that critics say violates a law providing pandemic relief. (Hagen, 8/17)
Since April 2020, 52-year-old Mary K has fought off one health problem after another: First, it was the rare flesh-eating bacterial infection necrotizing fasciitis and then infection with MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant strain of staph. Then came a case of pneumonia. (Donnelly-DeRoven, 8/18)
A coalition of transgender-rights organizations is preparing to sue Florida to stop the state’s Medicaid regulator from banning coverage of gender-affirming treatments. Simone Chriss, director of the Southern Legal Counsel’s Transgender Rights Initiative, said on Wednesday that the coalition is expecting to file the case in federal court and will seek a preliminary injunction to halt the ban from going forward. (Sarkissian, 8/17)
According to research from the University of Georgia, between 1980 and 2009, 58 football players around the country died from heat-related illness. Most of them were in high school. The study, published in 2010, found that the number of football players dying from the heat was going up over time. Georgia was one of the worst states, leading the country in high school football player heat-related deaths. (Samuel, 8/17)
On gun violence —
Bullets strike thousands of people in front of kids every year, but for the often-overlooked victims present when their moms and dads are gunned down, the trauma is unique and immense. (Cox, 8/17)
Attorneys for Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz reversed course Wednesday and said they will not present at his ongoing penalty trial results of a highly contentious brain exam they had said supports their contention the mass murderer suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. (Spencer, 8/17)
The man accused of fatally shooting a man inside Richland’s Fred Meyer store was ordered to take mental health medications. Superior Court Judge Joe Burrowes ruled Tuesday that Eastern State Hospital can require Aaron Kelly, 40, to take the anti-psychotic Abilify to treat an unspecified schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorder, Tri-City Herald reported. (8/17)
