Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Vaccine Hesitancy Led To Measles Reemergence; Tennessee's Almost-Total Abortion Ban Is Alarming
Measles is one of the most contagious respiratory viruses 鈥 even more so than the highly transmissible coronavirus variants. An unvaccinated person has a 90 percent chance of contracting measles if they are around someone infected with it. (Leana S. Wen, 2/23)
Tennessee's near-complete abortion ban is creating shockwaves throughout the health care provider community. (Carole R. Myers and Tracey Stansberry, 2/23)
As the chief executive of the Texas Association of Business, I continually hear from employers that the rising cost of health care is unsustainable and it is an ongoing barrier to providing health insurance to employees. It鈥檚 been the top concern of small business owners since 1986. (Glan Hamer, 2/24)
A classic warning in public health goes like this: 鈥淎 society that spends so much on health care that it cannot or will not spend adequately on other health enhancing activities may actually be reducing the health of its population. 鈥漀o nation is as guilty of this practice as the United States, with its extremely high health expenditures alongside abysmal population-level health outcomes. (Eric Reinhart, 2/24)
As a health policy wonk and health economist who has worked in pharmaceutical companies in the United States, Latin America, and Europe, I鈥檝e seen vast volumes of data generated, gathered, aggregated, analyzed, shared, and resold by health care companies and organizations. In my studies with the world鈥檚 top medical statistics experts at the University of Oxford鈥檚 Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, I鈥檝e also seen how flawed many datasets are, missing critical data pieces and definitions, and yet still used by the industry to make key decisions. (Jennifer Hinkel, 2/24)