Three health stories you might have missed

Catching up after Thanksgiving: Long-term coronavirus treatment, abortion in Georgia, federal judge

At Capitol Hill, we’re sprinting for our next holiday break. This morning, we dive into three of his stories you may have missed and why they matter.

• Long-distance COVID-19 survivors are turning to treatments for which there is no solid scientific evidence Proponents are frustrated by the slow pace of research on the condition.
• Georgia’s Supreme Court has reinstated most abortion bans As access to the procedure remains restricted throughout the South.
• Senate Democrats will continue to approve federal judges next year. However, the composition of the courts has not changed significantly in the last two years.

Manufacturers are often marketing an array of treatments aimed at treating long-term covid with little data behind them. , Covid-19 long-haul haulers desperate for relief. resort to expensive and unproven treatmentsour colleague Francis Stead Sellers report.

A non-profit organization promotes ivermectin. Food and Drug Administration Approved to treat some parasites.leading expert groups such as American Medical Association, Opposing the use of drugs outside of clinical trials, It has not been shown to effectively treat acute covid-19. A process known as ‘blood washing’ in Cyprus and $25,000 stem cell therapy in the Cayman Islands, not regulated by the FDA Some advertise nutritional supplements.

However, research on government-funded conditions lags behind.of National Institutes of Health has long been working to understand the biological underpinnings of covid and recently announced its intention to investigate whether antiviral pax robid Helpful for long covid — but the result is not expected Until 2024.

Important reasons: Some outside experts argue that more federal funding is needed to advance the country’s long-term understanding of the novel coronavirus and to develop treatments.However As we reported last week, Congress very unlikely to meet Biden administration demands $750 million For long covid amid Republican resistance to more pandemic aid.

Most abortions are pause again After Georgia’s Supreme Court reinstated a ban on procedures after fetal heart activity was detected.

of 1 page order Wednesday came in response to an urgent petition from the state, of the Post Kim Belware report. Georgia’s Republican Attorney General immediately appealed. Judgment on November 15 From the Fulton County judge who wrote it an important part of the law “It was clearly unconstitutional when it was drafted, voted on and enacted.”

Its legal basis is novel, essentially saying that the abortion ban would not be constitutional if it had been passed before Law vs WadeThe decades-old protection of Overturned. State abortion providers have cautiously resumed scheduling abortions for up to 22 weeks when the moratorium on Georgia’s ban is lifted.

Important reasons: Georgia was poised to become a destination for patient abortions beyond the south If the procedure remains legal. Last week’s order was not final word on the ban, allowing the restrictions to continue while the Georgia Supreme Court considers the state’s appeal.

• At least one major anti-abortion group in the state recently told The Health 202 that it will not pursue new legislation until the state’s Supreme Court has fully resolved the issue. “I think that releasing any of these code sections while they are still pending in court could cause a lot of confusion.” Elizabeth Edmonds Leader of an anti-abortion group Georgia Life Alliance, He said in an interview shortly after the suspension of the ban on November 15th.

Democrats barely hold on to the Senate in the midterm elections, President Biden Ability to continue to shape the federal justice system. Biden has appointed more judges At this point in his presidency, more than his predecessors, they will not have the same clout as those exploited under the former president. Donald Trump, The Post Aaron Blake I am writing.

The reasons for this are complicated, but mostly due to the fact that the Republicans blocked the former president. barack obamaJudge nominations for 2015 and 2016. This strategy filled 17 Trump Court of Appeals vacancies when he took office in 2017, and allowed Republicans to redeploy the most powerful judges under the country’s Supreme Court.

Biden has reduced the recent shortage of Democratic-appointed judges, but only one court of appeals has gone from a Republican nominee majority to a Democratic nominee.

Important reasons: Federal appeals courts have the power to block or uphold the policies of the Biden administration, and a split in Congress could lead to increased administrative action over the next two years. For example, such courts have been critical of temporarily blocking or allowing pandemic measures to continue, such as Biden’s whiplash over vaccine mandates, before the Supreme Court intervened.

Fraud and exploitation plague the hospice industry

The hospice boom is spreading across the country, Weak industry oversight Behind end-of-life care services, a wide range of opportunities for fraud, abuse and exploitation are created for dying people and their families, a joint investigation this morning revealed. New Yorker When pro publica.

The purpose of hospice is to make people as pain-free as possible so that they can spend their final days with loved ones.of $22 billion The industry is primarily funded through Medicare. Medicare pays hospice companies a set rate per patient per day, regardless of the amount of care the hospice company actually provides.

However, once hospices are up and running, oversight is generally poor and federal regulators rarely go after bad actors. Some for-profit hospices try to increase their patient roster by enlisting friends and family as pretend clients, promoting them as free home health care and getting them into programs, stealing personal information and ” Phantom” is reportedly registered. Patience. ”

In some ways, the way federal regulators have designed hospice benefits rewards providers for recruiting patients whose death may not be imminent. , because stable patients need less expensive drugs and supplies than on the final day. Ava Coffman I am writing.

But enrolling in hospice can harm patients who don’t die right away, because you must agree to forgo curative care in order to be eligible for services. For example, some registrants reported being unknowingly denied admission to waiting lists for kidney dialysis, mammograms, life-saving drug coverage, and liver transplantation.

white house prescription

Federal health officials say they hope RSV cases have peaked

White House health officials were cautiously optimistic yesterday about a possible spike in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases among children. pointedoffers a glimmer of hope as the country struggles to respond Triple win for respiratory disease.

“RSV peaked last week and probably declined.” Ashish Jahthe White House coronavirus response coordinator said yesterday ABC‘s “This week.” “I obviously hope this trend continues.”

Anthony Fauciretiring director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseasesechoed Jha of CBS “Please face the country.” he told the host Margaret Brennan Based on how the virus behaves in other countries, he expects cases in the United States to decline.

Main context: health care providers nationwide Rise and early start of flu season it matched An example of a rapid increase in RSV and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Margaret Brennan, host of “Face the Nation”:

• New am: almost 9 out of 10 deaths from covid in people over the age of 65, This is the highest rate ever. Ariana Eunjung Cha When Report by Dan Keating, Citing analysis of CDC data by The Washington Post.
• U.S. abortion rates fell slightly in 2020,that’s all 80 percent It was carried out before the 9th week of pregnancy, according to. new data from the CDC.
• Measles isimminent threat In all regions of the world”, World Health Organization and the CDC warned joint report I found most of them last week 40 million Kids missed vaccinations last year, The Post’s Andrew Chong report.

The Senate resumed its session today. House will be back tomorrow. Here’s what we’re seeing this week:

Tuesday: of house rule committee Examine you legislation aimed at improving the health and wellness of Imprisoned pregnant women and their babies. The chamber is going to vote About the law later this week.

See you on Tuesday… The Post is hosting a meeting with the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks When burn pit 360 co-founder Rosie Torres new government investment aimed at supporting Physical and Mental Health of Veterans.

Wednesday: a Senate Help Subcommittee We are holding a public hearing about our support. youth mental health as they move from high school to college.of Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Investigate access for Native American veterans. VA Healthcare and Benefits.

and on thursday… The Post Yasmine Abu Taleb teeth sit together Anthony Fauci,director National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseasestalks about the pandemic situation, the future of public health, and the lessons he’s learned from more than half a century of public service as he prepares to step down from his government post. next month.

Covid has hospitalized him for 453 days. Now he is home on vacation. (Andrea Salcedo | The Washington Post)

The short life of baby Serhiy, who was killed in a Ukrainian maternity ward (Samantha Schmidt and Serhiy Korolchuk | Washington Post)

Rare protests against China’s ‘zero-coronavirus’ policy erupt nationwide (By Lily Kuo | The Washington Post)

thank you for reading! see you tomorrow.