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In its first abortion case for the reason that overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, the Supreme Courtroom this week seemed unlikely to uphold an appeals court docket ruling that might dramatically prohibit the supply of the abortion capsule mifepristone. However the court docket already has one other abortion-related case teed up for April, and abortion opponents have a number of extra challenges in thoughts to restrict the process in states the place it stays authorized.
In the meantime, Republicans, together with former President Donald Trump, proceed to take intention at standard well being packages like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Inexpensive Care Act on the marketing campaign path — a lot to the delight of Democrats, who really feel they’ve a bonus on the difficulty.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Publish.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
No less than two conservative Supreme Courtroom justices joined the three extra progressive members of the bench throughout Tuesday’s oral arguments in expressing skepticism concerning the problem to the abortion drug mifepristone. Their questions targeted totally on whether or not the docs difficult the drug had confirmed they had been harmed by its availability — in addition to whether or not the most effective treatment was to broadly prohibit entry to the drug for everybody else.
A ruling in favor of the docs difficult mifepristone would have the potential to scale back the drug’s security and efficacy: Specifically, one FDA resolution topic to reversal adjusted dosing, and switching to utilizing solely the second drug within the present two-drug abortion capsule routine would additionally barely improve the danger of problems.
Two conservative justices additionally raised the applicability of the Comstock Act, a long-dormant, Nineteenth-century legislation that restricts mail distribution of abortion-related gadgets. Their questions are notable as advisers to Trump discover reviving the unenforced legislation ought to he win this November.
In the meantime, a Democrat in Alabama flipped a state Home seat campaigning on abortion-related points, as Trump once more discusses implementing a nationwide abortion ban. The problem is constant to show thorny for Republicans.
At the same time as Republicans attempt to keep away from working on well being care points, the Heritage Basis and a bunch of Home Republicans have proposed plans that embody adjustments to the well being care system. Will the plans do extra to rev up their base — or Democrats?
This Week in Medical Misinformation: TikTok’s algorithm is boosting deceptive details about hormonal contraception — and in some circumstances leading to extra unintended pregnancies.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information’ Tony Leys, who wrote a KFF Well being Information-NPR “Invoice of the Month” function about Medicare and a really costly air-ambulance journey. You probably have a baffling or outrageous medical invoice you’d wish to share with us, you are able to do that right here.
Plus, for “additional credit score,” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week they suppose you need to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: KFF Well being Information’ “Overdosing on Chemo: A Widespread Gene Take a look at May Save A whole bunch of Lives Every 12 months,” by Arthur Allen.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Stat’s “Fetal Tissue Analysis Positive aspects in Significance as Roadblocks Multiply,” by Olivia Goldhill.
Sarah Karlin-Smith: The Washington Publish’s “The Complicated, Worrying Ordeal of Flying With a Breast Pump,” by Hannah Sampson and Ben Brasch.
Lauren Weber: Stateline’s “Lethal Fires From Cellphone, Scooter Batteries Depart Lawmakers Enjoying Catch-Up on Security,” by Robbie Sequeira.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
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