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PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Trump and Vance Plan Could Make Pregnancy Pre-Existing Condition
What: Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, recently said the ticket wants to change regulations in a way that would bring back health insurers denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, including…pregnancy. As Shefali Luthra reports: “The proposal — based on the few details Trump and Vance have offered — could particularly affect people who can become pregnant. Before the Affordable Care Act took effect, health insurance plans were not required to cover pregnancy-related health care, which can be incredibly expensive, involving multiple doctors’ visits, medical tests, and labor and delivery itself.”
Why it matters: “’What JD Vance is talking about is a very substantive change that would be a complete replacement of the ACA, and would look much more similar to what coverage looked like before,’ said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling and journalism organization.”
Source: The 19th
Pathologists Plea: Save the Placenta!
What: A group of pathologists have issued a plea to save placentas after delivery, in an effort to better understand any adverse outcomes in pregnancy – especially those beyond stillbirth, when placentas are most commonly studied. They want to understand what health effects they may reveal for the mother *going forward*. In other words, it’s not just about the pregnancy, but the health of the patient.
Why it matters: “’Placentas should not be considered a waste tissue,’ says senior author Mana Parast, MD, PhD, professor of pathology at University of California San Diego School of Medicine. ‘They can teach us a lot about not just what went wrong in a pregnancy, but also inform about subsequent pregnancies for the health of the pregnant person and baby.’”
Source: Cell Press
ABORTION ACCESS
Deadly Delays Thanks to Florida Abortion Bans
What: Rolling Stone reports on the mundane-yet-dystopian details of Florida’s abortion bans from health practitioners, including a woman who had to get five ultrasounds to get normal miscarriage treatment, a woman with terminal cancer who had her chemo treatments paused as the hospital gathered the documents necessary to get permission for an abortion, and an ectopic pregnancy that nurses were afraid to treat.
Why it matters: “A third doctor spoke of being hamstrung by unnecessary paperwork while trying to treat a patient experiencing a premature rupture of membrane, an emergency condition that can be fatal without intervention. ‘Let us roll in with a brochure of state paperwork. Let us start filling it all out together, because — even though you know what you want — we have to do all this paperwork,’ the doctor recalled. ‘There is still a delay that occurs with all of this that seems unnecessary in a situation where delay potentially could increase the chance of infection.’”
Source: Rolling Stone
CARDIOVASCULAR
Women Less Likely to Get Treatment, More Like to Die from Severe Heart Attack
What: An NIH-funded study found not only are men more likely to be hospitalized for a heart attack, women are less likely to get treatments, such as a catheterization or bypass, and more likely to die from a severe heart attack. The study looked at over 1.5 million adults ages 66 and up in the United States, Canada, England, Netherlands, Taiwan, and Israel.
Why it matters: As the researchers wrote in the conclusion of their abstract: “Sex disparities seem to transcend borders, raising questions about the underlying causes and remedies.”
Source: NIH
ONCOLOGY
Black Women Die of Breast Cancer At Higher Rates Than White Women
What: A study from Mass General Brigham found that Black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, regardless of what kind of breast cancer they have. The risk of death for Black women was “17% to 50% higher depending on the type of breast cancer, underscoring the ongoing racial disparities in healthcare.”
Why it matters: “’These findings underscore a stark reality in our healthcare system: Black women are facing higher risks of death from breast cancer compared to their white counterparts, across all types of the disease. This disparity isn’t just about biology,’ added co-author Paulette Chandler, MD, associate epidemiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. ‘It’s a call to action for healthcare providers, policymakers, and communities alike to confront these inequities head-on and strive for meaningful change in breast cancer outcomes.’”
Source: Inside Precision Medicine
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