The Host
The nationwide abortion panorama was shaken once more this week as Florida’s six-week abortion ban took impact. That leaves North Carolina and Virginia because the lone Southern states the place abortion stays extensively obtainable. Clinics in these states already have been overflowing with sufferers from throughout the area.
In the meantime, in a wide-ranging interview with Time journal, former President Donald Trump took credit score for appointing the Supreme Court docket justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, however he steadfastly refused to say what he may do on the abortion subject if he’s returned to workplace.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachana Pradhan of KFF Well being Information.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Florida’s new, six-week abortion ban is an enormous deal for the whole South, because the state had been an abortion haven for sufferers as different states minimize entry to the process. Some clinics in North Carolina and southern Virginia are contemplating expansions to their ready and restoration rooms to accommodate sufferers who now should journey there for care. This additionally means, although, that these touring sufferers might make waits even longer for native sufferers, together with many who depend on the clinics for non-abortion companies.
- Passage of a invoice to repeal Arizona’s near-total abortion ban nonetheless leaves the state’s sufferers and suppliers with loads of uncertainty — together with whether or not the ban will quickly take impact anyway. Plus, voters in Arizona, in addition to these in Florida, could have a chance in November to weigh in on whether or not the process ought to be obtainable of their state.
- The FDA’s determination that laboratory-developed checks should be topic to the identical regulatory scrutiny as medical units comes because the checks have turn into extra prevalent — and as considerations have grown amid high-profile examples of issues occurring as a result of they evaded federal assessment. (See: Theranos.) There’s an inexpensive probability the FDA can be sued over whether or not it has the authority to make these modifications with out congressional motion.
- Additionally, the Biden administration has quietly determined to shelve a possible ban on menthol cigarettes. The difficulty raised tensions over its hyperlinks between well being and prison justice, and it in the end seems to have run into electoral-year headwinds that prompted the administration to place it apart fairly than threat alienating Black voters.
- In drug information, the Federal Commerce Fee is difficult what it sees as “junk” patents that make it harder for generics to come back to market, and one other court docket ruling delivers unhealthy information for the pharmaceutical trade’s combat towards Medicare drug negotiations.
Plus, for “further credit score” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you need to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: ProPublica’s “A Physician at Cigna Mentioned Her Bosses Pressured Her To Evaluate Sufferers’ Circumstances Too Rapidly. Cigna Threatened To Fireplace Her,” by Patrick Rucker, The Capitol Discussion board, and David Armstrong, ProPublica.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Related Press’ “Dozens of Deaths Reveal Dangers of Injecting Sedatives Into Folks Restrained by Police,” by Ryan J. Foley, Carla Okay. Johnson, and Shelby Lum.
Sarah Karlin-Smith: The Atlantic’s “America’s Infectious-Illness Barometer Is Off,” by Katherine J. Wu.
Rachana Pradhan: The Wall Road Journal’s “Hundreds of thousands of American Youngsters Are Caregivers Now: ‘The Hardest Half Is That I’m Solely 17,” by Clare Ansberry.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
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