- Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles
- Posts
- Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles
Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles
For the week of June 28-July 5, 2024
If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...
The Top Three...
The Washington Post: How The Supreme Court Has Roiled U.S. Health-Care Agencies Recent Supreme Court decisions curbing the power of federal agencies will hobble government efforts to protect public health, legal experts warn. The rulings will make it harder for some federal agencies to bring enforcement actions, give judges more leeway to second-guess agency decisions and, following a decision Monday, make it easier to challenge long-settled regulations. Legal experts and heath officials expect a gusher of litigation that will complicate the regulation of drugs, tobacco products and cutting-edge medical technologies. The administration of government health insurance programs could be further mired in lawsuits. And decades-old agency decisions may be newly vulnerable to challenges. (Ovalle, Achenbach and Roubein, 7/2)
Politico: Biden Administration Plans Major Cuts To AIDS Relief Programs In Africa The Biden administration plans to cut funding by more than 6 percent in fiscal 2025 from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the 21-year-old program credited with saving millions of lives in Africa, a senior PEPFAR official told POLITICO. The State Department, which oversees the program, confirmed the cuts. The department has gradually spent down a glut in the PEPFAR budget from years in which funding from Congress exceeded State’s ability to spend it, said a department spokesperson who, like the PEPFAR official, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive program decisions. Now the glut is gone and Congress in March held the program’s $4.4 billion budget flat. (Paun, 7/2)
Forbes: Supreme Court Abortion Decision Leaves Patients And Doctors In Limbo Many doctors hoped that last week’s Supreme Court decision regarding emergency care of pregnant women would provide the clarity they need to do their jobs. For now, pregnant Idaho women won’t need to be airlifted out of state for appropriate treatment if they come to an ER with a life-threatening complication of pregnancy such as severe bleeding, impending kidney failure, or an ectopic pregnancy. But instead of issuing a definitive ruling, the Supreme Court returned the matter to lower courts. It also lifted its stay of a lower-court ruling that will allow, for now, emergency abortions at Idaho hospitals to be done if necessary to protect the health of the mother. (Kellermann, 7/1)
For a Deeper Dive...
AP: Biden Administration Tells Doctors They Must Provide Emergency Abortions The Biden administration told emergency room doctors they must perform emergency abortions when necessary to save a pregnant woman’s health, following last week’s Supreme Court ruling that failed to settle a legal dispute over whether state abortion bans override a federal law requiring hospitals to provide stabilizing treatment. In a letter being sent Tuesday to doctor and hospital associations, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure reminded hospitals of their legal duty to offer stabilizing treatment, which could include abortions. (Seitz and Fernando, 7/2)
KFF Health News: Lack Of Affordability Tops Older Americans’ List Of Health Care Worries What weighs most heavily on older adults’ minds when it comes to health care? The cost of services and therapies, and their ability to pay. “It’s on our minds a whole lot because of our age and because everything keeps getting more expensive,” said Connie Colyer, 68, of Pleasureville, Kentucky. She’s a retired forklift operator who has lung disease and high blood pressure. Her husband, James, 70, drives a dump truck and has a potentially dangerous irregular heart rhythm. (Graham, 7/3)
For the Visual Among Us...
A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.
These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.
-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD