Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Extreme Heat Worries Shift To Pacific Northwest As Northeast Cools
Heat alerts blanket the Pacific Northwest, including much of Oregon and Washington state, where temperatures are set to spike to 110 degrees in the days ahead. Northern California will also be affected, the atmospheric blowtorch coming as wildfires, including the swiftly moving Oak Fire, have triggered evacuations and a state of emergency. (Cappucci, 7/25)
Texas Governor Greg Abbott can maintain his ban on school mask mandates, a federal appeals court ruled. A three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday said that a group of disabled students failed to show that their allegedly increased risk of contracting Covid-19 due the mask mandate ban was an injury the courts could address. (Brubaker Calkins, 7/25)
A key piece of the Affordable Care Act is on trial Tuesday as a group of Texans challenge the law’s requirement that insurers cover preventive services — everything from STD screenings and HIV prevention drugs to depression checks and flu shots. (Miranda Ollstein, 7/25)
Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday a post-pandemic surge in obtaining health care services is partly to blame for a proposed increase in premiums for public employees, although he stopped short of saying what his administration plans to do to mitigate the hikes. (Han, 7/25)
Fueling Tampa's rent increases are thousands of people relocating to the area during the pandemic, as well as rising interest rates that discourage buyers and few protections for tenants. But it's not just Tampa — rents have been soaring throughout much of the U.S. (Strassman, 7/25)
Lawyers for Michigan’s former health director asked a judge Monday to sanction prosecutors who are trying to instantly turn invalid indictments into a fresh round of charges in the Flint water scandal. (White, 7/25)
