Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Funding Cuts Won't Stop Rising Cancer Rates In Young Women; Free Health Clinics Need More Money
Once considered a disease of aging, cancer is now showing up more often in people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s times when they are launching their careers and starting families. (Mary Beth Terry, 7/18)
It will be years before the U.S. feels the full weight of the recent sweeping Medicaid cuts. But the free and charitable clinics that act as the last line of defense for the health and well-being of uninsured Americans are already preparing to pick up the pieces. (Ariana Gordillo De Vivero and Harley Jones, 7/18)
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will be one big disaster for Massachusetts health care system and those who rely on it. How big? Approximately 326,000 Massachusetts residents almost 5 percent of the entire state population are expected to lose insurance coverage under the bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office. (7/17)
Last week, I explained why it matters if the United States were to lose its status of having eliminated measles. That prompted many readers to ask what additional precautions they should take to protect themselves against the virus, which I wanted to answer here. (Leana S. Wen, 7/17)
Last Thursdays mass overdose in Baltimores Penn North neighborhood a disaster of the strictly manmade variety that sent 27 people to area hospitals in a 24-hour period, all of whom somewhat miraculously survived was easily the worst episode of its kind in recent memory. There was no tornado, no breaking dam, no 10-car freeway pileup to vex first responders and justify so many ambulance runs, just a bad batch of street drugs consumed by local users, perhaps free samples of a new opioid blend. (7/17)