Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Medicaid Expansion Needed To Keep Rural Hospitals Open; Monkeypox Messaging Is Important
When having a stroke, a 10-minute versus 40-minute ambulance ride could mean the difference between walking again or not. Unfortunately, rural hospital closures have made these kinds of delays more and more common for many Tennesseans. In the past 10 years, 17 rural hospitals have closed, and 16 more — over a third of the rural hospitals left in the state — are in immediate danger of closing from being unable to cover expenses. (Alexander Gimeno and Ellen McMahon, 7/19)
“Anyone can get monkeypox. Countless public health experts have uttered statements such as this in the past two months. Members of the media and politicians have parroted the message ad nauseam without stopping to dissect what it implies or obscures. (Benjamin Ryan, 7/18)
The night in July 2020 when my husband, Ira, was diagnosed with a brain tumor, he told me he was confident he was going to do his best to beat this disease. (Sandy Bornstein, 7/20)
The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on the disparities in healthcare delivery and outcomes for traditionally underserved and vulnerable communities. But those of us who have dedicated our careers to equity in medicine did not need a generational public health crisis to know that the current healthcare ecosystems are broken—at the national and local levels, and especially for community-based providers. (Brenda Battle, 7/19)
This week the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to take up the Right to Contraception Act. The bill, introduced by Rep. Kathy E. Manning, a Democrat from North Carolina, establishes a federal right to contraception — meaning women would have the right to use birth control and medical providers and pharmacies the right to provide it. (7/19)
With abortion now restricted or even penalized in nearly half of U.S. states, there’s likely to be an increase in the number of mothers using safe haven laws to anonymously relinquish their newborn babies. (Micah Orliss, 7/20)
Hiring was particularly robust in healthcare last month, accounting for some 15% of all jobs filled in June. (Mary Ellen Podmolik, 7/19)
