Category: Health Policy
Abortion has been common in the US since the 18th century – and debate over it started soon after
From the nation’s founding through the early 1800s, pre-quickening abortions – that is, abortions before a pregnant person feels fetal movement – were fairly common and even advertised.
Sex matters in biomedical research: Many conditions affect men and women differently
Though men, women and gender-diverse people share many similarities, understanding how sex differences are expressed through physical health is paramount to improving everyone’s quality of life.
Lifesaving COVID Medications Can Be Hard to Come By
Early in the pandemic, states competed for the limited supply of ventilators, personal protective equipment and tests in a chaotic free-for-all. To avoid a repeat, the federal government is buying millions of doses of the COVID-19 therapeutic medications and allocating those to states, which in turn distribute them to pharmacies or hospitals. In many places, what is arriving is far less than the need.
Polio, Chickenpox, Measles, Now Covid. It’s Time to Consult History on School Vaccine Mandates
History holds lessons for why low vaccination rates for children are so risky and why officials should strongly consider school mandates for the covid vaccine.
Missouri’s War on Public Health Shows Extent of National Rift
At least 1 in 5 Americans live in places that had lost their top local public health official amid a wave of threats to the profession and chronic stress that led to firings, resignations, and retirements since the pandemic began. Such blows endanger the public health system’s ability to respond to other issues in the future, public health officials said.
Justices Block Broad Worker Vaccine Requirement, Allow Health Worker Mandate to Proceed
The OSHA rules are opposed by many business groups, led by the small business advocacy organization the National Federation of Independent Business. It argued that allowing the rules to take effect would leave businesses “irreparably harmed,” both by the costs of compliance and the possibility that workers would quit rather than accept the vaccine.
Social factors are as important as pills and vaccines in the battle against Covid
Socioeconomic status, occupation and economic mobility and the primary drivers of unequal health outcomes.
Telehealth’s Limits: Battle Over State Lines and Licensing Threatens Patients’ Options
If you live in one state, does it matter that the doctor treating you online is in another? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, and the ability to conduct certain virtual appointments may be nearing an end.
U.S. health system ranks last among 11 high-income nations, study finds.
Remarkably, a high-income person in the U.S. was more likely to report financial barriers than a low-income person in nearly all the other countries surveyed: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.K.
Compliance and Defiance: States React to New CDC Mask Guidelines
CDC’s reversal on mask recommendations led to more disagreement between Republican and Democratic politicians over masks and other pandemic-related public health precautions.
New State Laws Hamstring Public Health Officials
Newly minted state laws may prevent many public health measures—or at least make them difficult to impose.
Benjamin Franklin’s fight against a deadly virus
Colonial America was divided over smallpox inoculation, but he championed science to skeptics
What the Media Gets Wrong About Red-State Vaccine Hesitancy
Poor White people expressing hesitancy typically have strong religious beliefs, face disproportionate economic and access barriers to vaccination, and have legitimate reasons to mistrust the medical system.
How Patent Extensions Keep Some Drug Costs High
Many of the granted patents are for minor tweaks, such as combining two drugs into one or altering the dosage — changes that aren’t inventive
Supreme Court Declines to Overturn ACA — Again
Justices ruled that the suing states and the individual plaintiffs lacked “standing” to bring the case to court.