The top health stories of 2022

Review of the top health stories for 2022

This is the penultimate edition of the year. 2022 has been a great year.

The public learned of a decision likely to be overturned by the Supreme Court Law vs Wade From a leaked draft. The pharmaceutical industry has seen a rare defeat. As the coronavirus progressed, the White House faced the threat of another infectious disease.

As the year draws to a close, we’ve compiled a list of the health stories we’re still thinking about, from memorable scoops to feature reveals to accountability journalism, from around The Post and beyond.

— Dan Diamond, January A deep dive into President Biden’s handling of the pandemic in a year, Biden struggling to deliver on some of the key promises of his 200-page plan to defeat the virus.

— “This Texas teenager wanted an abortion. She now has twins.” Caroline Kitchener In late August 2021, I wrote about an 18-year-old girl who found out she was pregnant just two days before state laws restricting procedures after fetal heart activity was detected. Less than a week after court overturned constitutional right to abortion went public — The Post-egg America looks like this:

— In mid-May, there was one case of monkeypox in Japan. Three months later, that number had increased to 13,500. Since then, the number of cases has decreased, but. Despite efforts to learn from the country’s coronavirus blunders, federal officials were slow to respond to growing demand for tests, vaccines and treatments early in the first months of a record-breaking outbreak. I had a hard time. Dan Diamond, Fenit Nirapil When Lena H. Sun Reported in August. Meanwhile, public health officials were navigating a delicate balancing act: how to warn men who have sex with men about the virus without promoting hate, Fenit wrote.

— “What would you do if Yale found you?” William Wang revealed that the university pressured the suicidal student to drop out and apply for readmission. Subsequently, current and former students sued Yale University.

— One sober stat: In 2020, more children and adolescents died from firearms than from car crashes, the leading cause of death among young people, according to an analysis by . Dan Keating.

— And around the DC area … Tensions over the role of racism in public health have strained Virginia agencies under Republican governors. Glenn Youngkin. the state’s chief public health officer, Colin Greenrejected the state-sanctioned declaration that racism is a public health crisis and downplayed the role of racism in health disparities — and it left people afraid of their jobs, Jenna Portnoy report.

— Politico’s Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward landed a massive article. Supreme Court majority ready to overturn Law vs Wade, the first draft opinion indicated. The bombshell report quickly turned the political landscape upside down, pushing the issue to the forefront of the upcoming midterm elections.

— Another amazing stat: More than 100 million Americans have medical debt. Noam N. Levey of Kaiser Health News. This is one of the data points in a series examining the scale and causes of health care debt. KHN When NPR.

— American pharmaceutical research and manufacturer lose dominance, Reported by Rachel Cohrs of Stat. The major drug lobby “failed to muster the money or influence” to stop Democrats from passing a bill that would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. This was a big loss for the industry. “PhRMA may have watered down major reforms, but it didn’t apply the pressure it did in the past,” writes Rachel.

— The hospice movement become a commercial hustle, ProPublica’s Ava Kofman takes a deep dive into the industry. Half of Americans die in hospice care, but fraud and exploitation are rampant due to a lack of regulation.

— This story may feel like a long time ago. But in 2022, Politico’s Alex Thompson An internal White House investigation broke the news that Biden’s chief scientific adviser had concluded. Eric Lander, Bullied and insulted his subordinates. Lander resigned hours after the talk came out.

— Indianapolis Stars Shari Rudavsky and Rachel Hladett reported: 10 year old rape victim I traveled from Ohio to Indiana to have an abortion. Across the country, conservatives are pushing for abortion restrictions without exception for rape and incest, and the story of a 10-year-old girl has cast Republicans in an uncomfortable public spotlight.

— Americans enrolled in Medicaid are maintaining that coverage during the pandemic. However, in Mississippi, the state sent letters to postpartum women telling them they were no longer eligible for the program, causing confusion and resistance to seeking care. Written by Isabel Taft of Mississippi Today.

Omni update: Title 42 once again has an important deal pending in Congress.

Senate leaders aimed to pass the bill $1.7 trillion We spent the package early this morning as the government is set to run out of funds for the weekend. However, the two parties are currently fighting over the Senate amendment. Mike Lee According to The Early 202, maintain pandemic-era rules that allow the U.S. to quickly deport immigrants at its borders.

latest: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.) said both sides were “very close” to a deal in the House at 2 a.m. The Senate will convene at 8:00 am.

In 2021, life expectancy will decline for the second consecutive year

U.S. life expectancy continued its steady and alarming decline last year, 76.4 years From born in 2021 77 In 2020, according to final data released this morning: National Center for Health Statistics.

That means Americans can expect to live as long as they did in 1996. Lenny Bernstein writing.

• In all, 3.46 million who died in the United States in 2021, 80,502 more than the previous year.
• At birth, women can expect to live 79.3 years last year men 73.5 — Life expectancy has both declined sharply since 2020.
• coronavirus killed 416,893was due to a drug overdose 106,699 fatalities (number.

Zoom in: drug overdose 14 percent in 2021 five times in twenty years. two-thirds Deaths from methamphetamine and cocaine also rose sharply last year, but most of the deaths were from the potent synthetic fentanyl.

Heart disease and cancer remained the leading causes of death. But flu and pneumonia have fallen off the list of the top 10 causes of death in the United States, perhaps because parts of the population remained masked against the coronavirus virus.

Biden Administration Releases Tamiflu Stockpile

of Department of Health and Human Services Releasing additional doses of prescription flu medicine Tamiflu from national reserves to meet surging demand for drugs as the United States faces a severe and early flu season.

Last week, states and territories were granted access to their own Tamiflu stockpiles previously set aside for pandemic preparedness.Jurisdictions that have depleted supplies of antiviral therapy may now require additional doses Strategic National Stockpile.

Big picture: of Food and Drug Administration Although Tamiflu is not listed as being in short supply, pharmacists and consumers report difficulty finding generic versions of the drug in some parts of the country. CNN report.

CBS News’ Margaret Brennan spoke with former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb about Sunday’s request:

Hundreds of US hospitals suing patients over unpaid pills

Many U.S. hospitals are using legal action or other aggressive tactics to pursue patients for unpaid bills despite mounting evidence of medical debt damages. . Kaiser Health News found.

Individual hospital systems have come under scrutiny in recent years for their collection practices, but according to KHN’s analysis: 500+ facilities indicates that the policy is widespread and suggests most of the country’s broad policy 5,100 hospitals deploy such tactics. Among the findings:

• is more than two-thirds Sue the patient or take other legal action against the patient, such as wage garnishment or property lien.
• almost 25 percent You sell a patient’s debt to a debt collector, who can track the patient for unpaid bills over the years.
• almost one-fifth Denies non-urgent care to people with outstanding debts.

Many hospital officials say patients have a duty to collect what they owed, but emphasize the industry’s efforts to help patients who cannot pay their bills.Most U.S. hospitals Charity care is available in and non-profit health care systems must offer financial assistance as a condition for not paying taxes.

However, many medical centers have difficulty finding information about financial assistance. About one-fifth of the hospitals surveyed by KHN do not post their support policies online. Also, the criteria for eligibility for assistance vary widely, applying for assistance can be very complicated, and patients must complete thorough information and personal financial records, KHN’s. Norm N. Levy writing.

• State health officials again call on people to wear masks Protect against three respiratory virus threats this holiday season. But unlike past winters of the pandemic, they expect Americans to voluntarily respond to the plea. Fenit Nirappil, Henry Rogers, Vanessa Keldsen When Samantha Aguilar post report.
• FDA fully approved monoclonal antibody actemra To treat covid-19 in hospitalized adult patients, Genentech Announced yesterday.
• China can be have a hard time keeping count Coronavirus cases and deaths, expert in world health organization It warned yesterday amid concerns about the lack of complete and reliable data from countries battling a surge in infections. Adam Taylor report.

Secret Abortion in Texas (Stephania Talladrid | The New Yorker)

Medicare’s home hospital program may soon get a lifeline from Congress. Can you prove its worth? (Mario Aguilar | Stat)

TikTok Trending Ozempic Sells Out, Makes People With Diabetes Dizzy And Scared (By Emma Court | Bloomberg News)

thank you for reading! see you tomorrow.