Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

The Top Three...

With so much going on, it can be hard to know what to read. If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

Reuters: Democratic Win In New York Signals Power Of Abortion Issue In Midterm Vote A New York Democrat who campaigned on abortion rights and the future of U.S. democracy won a special congressional election in a swing district on Tuesday, a victory that Democrats hope could signal a fundamental shift in national voter sentiment ahead of the November midterm elections. Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro 51.3% to 48.7%, with 99% of the vote counted, Edison Research said, after a hard-fought contest for an open seat in New York's 19th Congressional District, which spans part of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains region and is known as a bellwether. The district voted for Barack Obama in 2012, Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. (Beech and Warburton, 8/24)

National Journal: Key Senate health committee could be led by Paul, Sanders in 2023. Between retirements and the 2022 midterms, the helm of the Senate health committee could see quite a few changes next year. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee could look very different as the top Republican Sen. Richard Burr retires and current Chair Patty Murray is in line to be the top Democrat on the appropriations committee after Sen. Patrick Leahy’s retirement. Under Murray’s leadership, the committee has focused on various issues like the opioid crisis, reproductive health care, the COVID-19 response, and drug pricing. But the coming months could lead the committee in a drastically different direction. (Durkin, 8/22)

Stat: Biden Admin Stands Firm On Method For Resolving Surprise Billing Disputes In a final rule published late Friday, the government said the entities that are meant to settle disputes between insurance companies and out-of-network providers must start their considerations with the median in-network payment rate for the service in question. Many providers don’t want the arbiters to rely on the median in-network payment rates, because they’ll get paid less if those in-network charges are taken into account. Already eight provider groups have sued the government on this point. (Bannow, 8/19)

For a Deeper Dive...

The New York Times: Marijuana And Psychedelics Use Soars Among Young Adults, Study Finds The findings, part of the government’s annual survey of drug use among young Americans, also found that nicotine vaping and excessive alcohol consumption continued to climb in 2021 after a brief pause. Another worrying trend among young people, ages 19 to 30: mounting consumption of alcoholic beverages suffused with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. But there were some bright spots in the survey. Cigarette smoking and opioid abuse among young adults dropped last year, a continuing trend that has heartened public health experts. (Jacobs, 8/23)

Politico: White Coats In The State Capital: OB-GYNs Become Political Force In Abortion Wars Red state lawmakers rushing to pass new abortion restrictions are being stymied by an unexpected political force — OB-GYNs. These physicians — many of whom have never before mobilized politically — are banding together in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, lobbying state lawmakers, testifying before committees, forming PACs, and launching online campaigns against proposed abortion restrictions. Legislators who are themselves physicians are using their medical backgrounds to persuade colleagues to scale back some of the more restrictive and punitive portions of anti-abortion laws being considered. (Ollstein and Messerly, 8/22)

Fox News: Dr. Birx: CDC At 'Inflection Point,' Expects Real Change Following Watershed Admission Former White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx praised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for its rare admission of missteps in how the agency responded to COVID-19. "A lot of directors would have just tried to tweak [it], and tweaking the agency at this point was not going to be successful," Birx said during an appearance on "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "This is an inflection point." (Aitken, 8/21)

Axios: Hospitals Bounce Back But See A Shaky Financial Future Ahead Some of the biggest hospital chains are seeing business rebound to pre-pandemic levels, but the industry as a whole is pressing for more federal relief before year's end, citing inflation, labor and supply cost pressures. (Dreher, 8/25)

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