Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: 'Pay For Delay' Keeps US Drug Prices Sky High; Hospitals Must Examine Plastic Use
Using a tactic known as 鈥減ay for delay,鈥 brand-name drug companies who hold the patents to blockbuster medications pay other companies to put off introducing generic equivalents. This lets them keep charging high prices. (Sandeep Vaheesan, 6/15)
Every day, U.S. health-care facilities generate 14,000 tons of waste. One patient being hospitalized results in nearly 34 pounds of waste every day. Of that waste, up to 25 percent is plastic. (Leana S. Wen, 6/15)
I know three Black women who nearly died in childbirth. All were in their early 30s, in good health, and they had access to world-class medical care. But during their pregnancies they spoke of doctors who might have been well-intentioned but seemed more eager to allay their concerns than address them medically. (Renee Graham, 6/15)
I have had a stroke diagnosis. There is absolutely nothing intrinsically heroic about this 鈥 my father-in-law had a stroke last summer, and his cognitive function took a bigger hit than mine. In fact, I may not have any cognitive damage; I may never know about cognitive decline until such a thing prevents its full acknowledgment. (David Newman, 6/15)
The current push by Congressional Democrats to pass a federal law guaranteeing that states can鈥檛 prohibit the sale or use of contraception might sound strange on its face. Isn鈥檛 that already protected by the privacy rights implicit in the 14th Amendment? Yes, it is, the Supreme Court said in 1965. That was then. The same legal theory of privacy under the amendment鈥檚 鈥渄ue process鈥 clause undergirded the court鈥檚 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade 鈥 the one the current court鈥檚 conservative majority threw out last year. (6/15)
Doctors do not know exactly why or how breast cancer can go dormant in a patient鈥檚 body for so long, not advancing for years, until it suddenly begins to grow. But that鈥檚 what had happened. Without treatment, Ms. MacKenzie鈥檚 cancer would most likely have made its way to her vital organs and killed her. (Kate Pickert, 6/16)
This year, nearly 6 million dogs in the U.S. will receive a cancer diagnosis. That鈥檚 approximately three times greater than the number of Americans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year, even though humans are estimated to outnumber pet dogs by nearly 4 to 1. Yet the genetic similarities between human and dog cancers may point the way to treatments that can save lives on both ends of the leash. (Christina Lopes and James Zou, 6/16)
