October 8th, 2021
The Out-of-Pocket Health News Digest
|
|
Below you will find briefs about recent health policy news stories. Our hope is for students to have an information outlet at their fingertips to keep up-to-date with the most pressing news stories in health policy.
This compilation is produced by the HPSA Education Committee: Brynna Thigpen, Christopher Whitlock, Easheta Shah, Hannah Lane, Hassan Kourani, Jourdan Clements, and Lizzy Peppercorn
|
|
Democrats are divided over prescription drug prices
by Hannah Lane
|
|
In August, the Senate approved a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, the first step toward passing the spending plan. The plan would transform the U.S. economy over ten years by investing in free community college, climate initiatives, paid leave, child care, and health care. The bill intends for these programs to be funded by tax hikes on the wealthy and larger companies. In order to approve the final legislation, Democrats will have to keep every member of their Senate caucus.
Disagreement brewed when a provision regarding prescription drug prices was called into question. The provision would link prices of certain prescription drugs to the prices that are paid overseas and implement aggressive price caps. Democrats had aimed to save the government around $500 billion over a decade with the pharmaceutical industry footing the bill. Three House Democrats on a key committee voted against the measure resulting in the legislation being defeated. The three Democrats stated that they felt that the bill would harm innovation from drug companies and instead offered a scaled-back measure. The original provision passed in other committees keeping it in play for later in the process. Additionally, Democrats are planning on using reconciliation to push it forward; however, they cannot afford even one democratic opposition in the Senate.
Democrats predicted that the legislation would result in drug prices falling by more than half while also lowering prices for employer and individual health plans. Senators are confident that regardless of this setback, drug pricing reform will make its way into the final bill.
|
|
No Significant Difference in Viral Load Between Vaccinated and Unvaccinated, Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Groups Infected with SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant
by Lizzy Peppercorn
|
|
Prior to this study, it was unknown if the viral load of COVID-19 infected individuals depended on vaccine status and severity of symptoms. Viral load is the amount of virus in an individual. Though there is a range of viral loads in infected individuals, it was unclear what caused the difference. The same viral load impacts people differently and does not always result in the same response to the virus. However, a higher viral load does result in increased infectiousness.
This study was conducted in a two-month period from June 17 to August 31, 2021 while the Delta variant was relatively prevalent. The population included people who were tested for SARS-CoV-2 at a Unidos en Salud (UeS) site in San Francisco and a Healthy Yolo Together (HYT) site through UC Davis. Infections were only considered breakthrough infections if the individual was two weeks out of all necessary doses. The study uses cycle threshold values (Ct-values) to determine the viral load. A low Ct-value indicates a high viral load.
With a total of 869 samples, there was no statistically significant difference in Ct-values of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated samples or in asymptomatic vs symptomatic samples. It was also found that there were similar Ct-values among individuals of the same age, gender, and vaccine types.
Because this study found a high rate of low Ct-values in asymptomatic and vaccinated individuals, this study provides evidence that fully vaccinated and asymptomatic individuals can still spread the virus. However, vaccinated individuals do experience decreases in their viral load more rapidly than unvaccinated individuals, meaning that vaccinated individuals may be contagious for less time. The conclusion of this study is that while vaccination does reduce the rate of transmission for COVID-19, it is important for vaccinated, unvaccinated, symptomatic, and asymptomatic individuals alike to follow public health guidelines such as mask wearing, consistent testing, social distancing, etc.
|
|
Federal Judge Temporarily Halts Restrictive Texan Abortion Law
by Jourdan Clements
|
|
On Wednesday, a federal judge suspended the recently passed Texas law, known as Senate Bill 8, that prevents abortions once cardiac activity is detected. Federal District Court judge Robert Pitman supported the Biden administration’s suit to halt the most restrictive abortion law in the United States which entitled anyone to sue Texan doctors, nurses, patients, and even Uber drivers that “aided and abetted” any abortion that was performed after 6 weeks of pregnancy.
At least six Texas clinics began offering abortion services or were preparing to offer them again as of Thursday, but hesitance remains from many providers due to a caveat in the law that allows for retroactive lawsuits if its restrictions are only temporarily suspended. In other words, clinics may suffer penalties if the injunction is lifted for abortions performed when it was in place, leaving many physicians fearful of reinstating services.
This ban is far from the end of attempts at abortion restriction. The Texas law may serve as a blueprint for Republicans nation-wide to propose more constraints on abortion. Another case from Mississippi is soon to appear in the Supreme Court proposing to prevent access to abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. Uncertainty looms for the future of Senate Bill 8 and abortion rights, but one thing is for certain: this law has dramatically shifted the legal fight for abortion rights in the United States.
|
|
-
Congress: Congress voted to raise the national debt limit by $480 billion (for now). The resolution will cover expenses through December (NYT).
-
Obesity: The CDC has recently reported that obesity has surpassed 35% in 16 states. This percentage has nearly doubled since 2018 and can be attributed to "changes in our food supply and increased consumption of processed foods. COVID-19 has also had a hand by increasing stress and sedentary lifestyles (USNews).
-
Boosters: CDC data reports that more people are getting their boosters everyday than their first doses. As of now, over 6 million people have gotten their booster doses (CNN).
-
Puerto Rico: Puerto Rico's power grid is in critical condition. Congress members are concerned about a complete collapse in the near future. The grid's fragile state is a result of a Hurricane Maria in 2017 (NBC).
-
Heartwarming: An ice rank in Utah gave a dog one last chance to play in the snow by delivering buckets of snow to the dog's home. The dog loved playing in the snow all her life, and her family wanted to make her happy one last time (GNN).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
