Welcome back to the Friday Breeze! In stories that make you go 鈥淗uh, that聽is 迟谤耻别鈥�: at how advances in modern medicine have actually shaped the Supreme Court (mostly by letting justices live way longer than they did in the time of the Founding Fathers). While we鈥檙e at it, get ready for nominee Brett Kavanaugh鈥檚 .
Now here鈥檚 what you may have missed:
It鈥檚 that special time of year (ahem, election season) when bills become more about winning talking points than something that can be realistically passed (or more so than usual, that is). Case in point, Senate Democrats just introduced a bill to roll back the administration鈥檚 rule on expanding short-term plans. It鈥檚 unlikely to go anywhere, but it would force Republicans to vote on health care (which Dems see as a winning issue on the trail) close to midterms.
Oops? A group of Republicans introduced a bill last week to tuck protections for preexisting conditions into the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act聽鈥� but it may backfire for some GOP candidates. At least Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is using it to point to the fact even Republicans know they鈥檙e putting the popular provision at risk.
So, how鈥檚 the law actually faring? Uninsured numbers remained pretty steady, though deep geographical disparities remain.
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A Texas teacher鈥檚 $109,000 surprise medical bill for his heart attack sparked enough outrage this week that the hospital knocked the price he had to pay down to $332. But the reduced bill came only after the teacher was featured as part of KHN and NPR鈥檚 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥� series, which was then widely picked up by social media and other news sites. So what does that mean for people who don鈥檛 have an investigative journalist to shine a light on the problem? (If that鈥檚 you, please send us your bill! It鈥檚 an ongoing series.)
A Jolt To The Jugular! You鈥檙e Insured But Still Owe $109K For Your Heart Attack
And see KHN鈥檚 editor-in-chief Elisabeth Rosenthal talk about it on CBS here.
But those sky-high surprise bills aren鈥檛 the only ones that have collectors knocking. Many bills are modest聽鈥� $600 or less聽鈥� and can still ding a patient鈥檚 credit.
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After months of feet dragging, we have a new Puerto Rico death toll from Hurricane Maria:聽2,975. (For reference, the original official one? 64.) That places it among one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. A day after the number was changed, President Donald Trump defended his administration鈥檚 response: 鈥淚 think we did a fantastic job.鈥�
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There鈥檚 a showdown brewing on the horizon between the Trump administration and the city of San Francisco, and it has to do with safe-injection sites. They鈥檙e popular with advocates (and the science is there to back them up), but also tend to provoke strong reactions from people who see them as promoting drug use. It may come to a head soon, because just as Justice officials vowed 鈥渟wift and aggressive鈥� action against any attempts to set them up, California lawmakers approved a pilot program for San Francisco.
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Public health had a rough week: U.S. joined Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela to make up half of the annual worldwide 251,269 gun deaths. In other countries, the chance of getting shot was 1 in 1 million. In the U.S, the odds are 100 times higher.
More bad news piled on: The country鈥檚 STD rate has hit a record high. The most worrying part? We鈥檙e swiftly entering an era where the diseases are becoming resistant to treatments, and drug companies lack almost any incentive to develop new antibiotics.
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A gut-wrenching and visually captivating (must-read) story on mentally ill inmates and their deaths is kicking off my miscellaneous file this week, along with a tragic play-by-play of a medical emergency that fell through the cracks during Hurricane Harvey.
Also: A wave of lawsuits makes it seem as if universities are fumbling when it comes to suicidal students, but what should they be doing?
And, a year ago, billionaire聽Patrick Soon-Shiong seemed like the savior of a deeply indebted California hospital system. Today, it鈥檚 on the brink of bankruptcy. What happened?
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Sen. John McCain is being laid to rest this week after a battle with . Out of the two dozen experimental drugs tested in the past decade, zero improved survival for those newly diagnosed. More research, experts say, is the only hope.
Have a lovely holiday weekend!