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EVERYTHING
Medicaid Is a Major Insurer for Women in the US. Trump’s Tax Cuts Can’t Exist Without Cutting It.
What: The New York Times’ Margot Sanger-Katz looks at how Trump’s claims to protect Medicaid aren’t really mathematically impossible if Republicans pass $4 trillion in tax cuts *and* somehow cover those costs. Medicaid covers 40% of births and approximately 15-20 million women in the United States.
Key line: “In the current House plan, Medicaid cuts would make up nearly half of the required $2 trillion in spending cuts, if Medicare is untouched. Hitting the target without them would mean revising the bill’s language as well as enormous cuts to remaining programs.”
Source: New York Times
Digging Deeper on Long COVID and Hormones
What: The Washington Post takes a closer look at a January study that found women between the ages of 40 and 54 who were not yet menopausal were at the highest risk of getting long COVID. Women of the same age who had already experienced menopause, or women ages 18 to 39, were no more likely than men to get long COVID.
Key line: “This suggests that hormones involved in menopause, fertility and pregnancy may play a role, and may be protective factors against long covid, said Dimpy Shah, an assistant professor of population health sciences with the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who led the study. During menopause, estrogen levels in women tend to drop. Shah said. And while adult women under the age of 40 have high levels of estrogen, they also tend to have higher levels of progesterone, a hormone that helps to balance and regulate estrogen in the body, she said.”
Source: Washington Post
ABORTION ACCESS
Sepsis Risk Jumps 50% for Pregnant Texas Women Following Abortion Ban
What: After a Texas state committee announced they wouldn’t study recent pregnancy-related deaths, ProPublica bought Texas hospital data from 2018-2023 and reviewed it themselves. They found the rate of sepsis increased more than 50% for women who lost their pregnancies in the second trimester *after* abortion was banned in the state. The rate of sepsis hovered around 3% for second trimester pregnancy losses in the months before Texas’ ban went into effect but shot up to 4.9% in the same time period after.
Key line: “The standard of care for miscarrying patients in the second trimester is to offer to empty the uterus, according to leading medical organizations, which can lower the risk of contracting an infection and developing sepsis. If a patient’s water breaks or her cervix opens, that risk rises with every passing hour. Sepsis can lead to permanent kidney failure, brain damage and dangerous blood clotting. Nationally, it is one of the leading causes of deaths in hospitals. While some Texas doctors have told ProPublica they regularly offer to empty the uterus in these cases, others say their hospitals don’t allow them to do so until the fetal heartbeat stops or they can document a life-threatening complication.”
Source: ProPublica article and methodology
ONCOLOGY
Racial Disparities in Immediate Care After Abnormal Mammogram
What: A study from researchers at the University of Washington looked at 11 years of screening data of women who had abnormal mammograms and checked to see if they got same-day diagnostic imaging and biopsy. They found Asian, Black, and Hispanic patients were less likely to get same-day services, and those in the lowest-income neighborhoods were 58% less likely to get services than those in the highest-income areas.
Key line: “’Getting a screening mammogram is an anxiety-inducing experience for a lot of people, and most patients I encounter want their results as soon as possible,’ [Dr. Marissa Lawson, assistant professor of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine] said. ‘If you’re able to do a diagnostic workup on the same day, instead of making them wait to schedule a follow-up visit — which might create a headache with work or transportation — that’s better for the patient. And if treatment is advised based on imaging and biopsy, we should do all we can to shorten the time between screening and treatment (for those diagnosed with breast cancer).’”
Source: University of Washington
MENOPAUSE
Halle Berry on the Next Menopause Frontier: Med Schools
What: Halle Berry does an interview with Time magazine about her experience with menopause, and the company she pivoted to focus on better treatment for women (some of the products are questionable). But Berry speaking out gets the need for menopause treatment far greater attention—and she’s taking her message to medical schools next.
Key line: “After I get the bill passed in D.C. for more research and clinical trials, I’m going to the universities and putting pressure on them, too. We need to help them understand why this is important and reimagine their curriculum to make menopause and midlife for women more than one chapter in medical-school textbooks. And this isn’t just for gynecologists. This isn’t bikini medicine. Every doctor—every cardiologist, every neurologist, every general practitioner, every rheumatologist—should understand the effect that a woman’s loss of her hormones does to her body and every single one of her organs.”
Source: Time
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