George Consortium member and Northeastern University professor Patricia Illingsworth concludes on the Health Affairs Blog that the Trump administration shows "little interest in addressing the social determinants" of health, such as "education, socioeconomic status, poverty, the physical and social environment, employment, and discrimination, among others..."
Read moreAmerican Beverage Association v. San Francisco: When the First Amendment Jeopardizes Public Health
Last week, while the health law world focused on the Republicans’ renewed attempt to repeal and replace the ACA, the Ninth Circuit struck an ominous blow to public health.
Read more"Graham-Cassidy" Provides Zero Funding to Address the "Opioid Crisis"
One of the few positive provisions of the summer’s Senate “health care” bills was the inclusion of funding to states to “support substance use disorder treatment and recovery support services.” With more than 30,000 people dying from heroin and painkiller overdoses in the United States every year, sufficient funding to address and effectively treat the issue is crucial. Yet the latest version of the “health care” bill has omitted this funding entirely.
Read moreBriefly: Rescinding DACA Will Harm Public Health
In the New England Journal of Medicine, Atheendar S. Venkataramani and Alexander C. Tsai point out that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has proven to have a quite remarkably positive effect on the health of "dreamers":
Read moreFederal 'Right to Try' Legislation - perpetuating a misguided skepticism towards the FDA [From CRITical Thinking] →
George Consortium member Jeanie Kim, with the Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency (CRIT) at Yale Law School, has written a detailed look at the proposed federal "right to try" legislation. Wendy Parmet and Elisabeth Ryan wrote about the Senate bill on PHLW a few months ago; Jeanie's commentary serves as a great companion piece, emphasizing the potential dangers of making an end run around the FDA.
Read moreA Safer Way to Legalize Marijuana [from Health Affairs Blog] →
Eight US states, the District of Columbia, and the country of Uruguay have recently legalized the recreational use of marijuana, with Canada and more US states poised to do the same. The new laws include limits on youth access, operation of motor vehicles when using, and high-volume purchases or possession. However, none of the laws consider which kinds of marijuana products should and should not be legally sold.
Read moreBriefly: Massachusetts Governor Proposes New Crime of Manslaughter for 'Drug Dealers'
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker filed legislation yesterday which would, among other things, create a new crime of manslaughter for drug dealers if a person dies from using their drugs. Specifically, anyone who "manufactures, distributes, or dispenses" any controlled substance would be "strictly liable" if "a death...results from the injection, inhalation, or ingestion of that substance."
Read more"Right to Try" May Do More Harm Than Good
When the Senate approved the “Right to Try Act of 2017” on August 3, Republican sponsor Senator Ron Johnson hailed it as a law that helps “real people facing their mortality with no hope.” The bill allows patients with “a life-threatening disease or condition” who have “exhausted approved treatment options” to go directly to pharmaceutical companies and request access to drugs or devices not yet approved through the traditional process. The bill does not, however, require those drug companies to grant any such requests. It also does not address how much drug companies can charge those patients for access. And the rhetoric hailing it as a savior for patients “with no hope” ignores the fact that the FDA already has an Expanded Access (Compassionate Use) procedure that allows patients to access investigational medical products outside of clinical trials.
Read moreOSHA Erases Data on Worker Fatalities from Its Website
As part of The Pump Handle project by our collaborators at the Public Health Advocacy Institute, Kim Krisberg points out that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has removed data about worker fatalities from its homepage:
Read moreNot Your Grandfather's Preemption: Proposed Federal Preemption of State Medical Malpractice Cases
During this past spring and summer’s debates over Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, GOP leaders insisted that states should be given greater flexibility over health care. Their support for states’ rights relating to health care, however, seems to be fickle.
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