Analysis | Policy reasons make American lives shorter

But the country’s fractured health care system is failing to improve its goals of helping people stay healthy and live longer. And the country faces major policy challenges that make it more difficult to put the country back on a path of increasing American life expectancy.

Today, The Post’s health and science team is launching its second series of stories on America’s longevity crisis. Below are key points from three of the sections, delving into everything from the role of primary care in improving life expectancy in the United States to different policies in other countries. other families to what is on the students’ trays.

The story of two countries is really the story of two very different health systems.

It starts with two sisters. The Costa brothers both have rheumatoid arthritis, but the care Lucilia received was carefully coordinated through the Portuguese National Health Service, which places a high priority on universal access. access primary care services. But her sister Lurdes had to get treatment together in the United States, sometimes paying doctors out of pocket or going to the emergency room when symptoms flared, The Post Seller Frances Stead And Catarina Fernandes Martins write.

These different experiences highlight the structural and philosophical contrasts between the two health care systems.

• The United States spends more per person than any other country on health care. However, life expectancy here fell to 76.4 years in 2021, the shortest in nearly two decades.
• Meanwhile, Portugal offers a promising but imperfect model for early intervention to tackle chronic diseases that shorten life expectancy, experts say. The country spends about one-fifth as much on health care per capita as the United States. The country’s life expectancy has increased to 82 years, and the key factor is the country’s health spending on an integrated approach to primary care.

Primary care providers offer the best hope for reversing the decline in life expectancy in the United States. That is the conclusion that experts studying the US healthcare system have drawn, Frances reported.

But even As this evidence mounts, The field is attracting fewer medical students. Smaller medical facilities are being replaced by concierge offices with expensive membership fees. And the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the problems undermining primary care, although erosion is already occurring.

Feedback? The federal health department has committed to strengthening primary care and is asking for feedback from providers, unpaid caregivers and others to find out how the government can help. Thank. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) has one 26 billion USD bill aims to expand primary care, but it faces a difficult path to being signed into law.

Meanwhile, the primary care business is experiencing many fluctuations. Investors are trying to integrate the industry with pharmaceuticals and specialty care. Big companies like Amazon, CVS And Walmart, are spending billions of dollars to penetrate the market. And venture capitalists are focusing on value-based care, a model that rewards quality outcomes.

All of which raises a big question mark about the future of primary care, Frances writes.

Read the rest of her deep dive here.

How lunch ended up on the school tray

For the first time this fall, eligible Lunchables are being served to virtually 30 millions children after the company re-engineered two of its products to qualify for National School Lunch Program rules, The Post Lenny Bernstein, Lauren Weber And Dan Keating report.

Kraft Heinz would not say how many school districts are purchasing Lunchables this year. Our colleagues spoke with more than 40 school districts, many of which said they would not serve these products due to high sodium content and other nutritional reasons.

American parents are already packing Lunchables for their children’s lunches, so bringing Lunchables to school cafeterias makes sense for them, Lynsey Elve, a Kraft Heinz spokesperson, said in a statement. parents, children and brands.

This comes as the food industry and its congressional allies have stymied repeated federal efforts to institute dietary improvements for children amid America’s obesity epidemic. country is increasing. The latest effort comes from Department of Agriculture, is proposing further restrictions on sodium in school lunches and added sugars in cereals, flavored milks and other foods starting in 2025 over opposition from GOP lawmakers and representatives branch.

Read the rest of the story here.

More on longevity from around The Post:

• An image of road tolls Stress invades the human body.
• Article drawn out after a year-long examination of US life expectancy.
• Missed the first part of the series? Read about it here.

FDA takes important step in banning menthol cigarettes, flavored cigars

The Food and Drug Administration has officially submitted a proposal to ban the sale menthol cigarettes And Flavored cigars to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, one of the final regulatory hurdles before the rules can be finalized.

The agency sent its proposal to the White House on Friday. Those who support restrictions, incl American Lung Association and Campaign for tobacco-free childrenis urging OMB expedite their review so the final regulations could be announced later this year, according to CNNS Jen Christensen.

• True but: The rules will almost certainly face legal challenge. Last year, the tobacco industry achieved growth fierce campaign sought to block California from implementing its voter-approved ban on flavored tobacco products, which ultimately died in the Supreme Court.

Main context: This move is next for the FDA long-term commitment to remove flavors that the agency believes reduce the appeal of smoking, especially to minors. Health officials also say the ban will reduce tobacco-related health disparitiesafter industry Strong marketing products for minority communities for decades.

What we know about Louisiana’s newly elected governor

Republic Jeff Landry won the governorship of Louisiana on Saturday, defeating a crowded field of candidates to win one of three gubernatorial races taking place in this year’s off-election. Below is a summary of his views on some important health policy issues:

• Landry supports a near-total state ban on abortion, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest. Additionally, in February, he was among 20 Republican attorneys general wrote a letter to CVS And Walgreens threatened legal action if retail pharmacies began selling abortion pills by mail in their states.
• He will continue Expand Medicaid. In 2018, Mr Join a federal lawsuit that failed to overturn Obamacare and would destroy Medicaid expansion if successful.
• Landry supports the state’s new ban ABOVE Gender affirming care for adolescents.
• And in June, he joined 18 other state attorneys general signed a letter opposes Biden’s administration rule that would expand health privacy protections for people who seek, perform or provide abortions.

Teva Pharmaceuticals sues Colorado over epinephrine injector access program

Teva Pharmaceuticals using Colorado court about a new program aimed at making epinephrine auto-injectors to treat severe allergic reactions more affordable, Ed Silverman report to Statistical.

Take a closer look: Below programme, whenever an eligible uninsured resident receives an auto-injector from a Colorado pharmacy, manufacturers must send them a replacement syringe at no cost or reimburse them in full. equipment costs. The law, scheduled to take effect January 1, also requires health insurers that cover the products to limit out-of-pocket costs to $60 for a pack of two auto-injectors.

In its legal challenge, Teva argued that the Colorado program that confiscates private property for public use without just compensation violates the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. That is same argument Ed notes that some drug manufacturers have brought lawsuits aimed at blocking Medicare’s new authority to negotiate the prices of certain prescription drugs.

• The company asked the court to issue an injunction that would keep the law from taking effect while its lawsuit progresses through the courts.

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services accepted Montana’s request to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage to a full year after birth for low-income mothers in the state, according to a approval document released by this agency yesterday.
• Reduced serotonin levels could be the key factor behind why some coronavirus patients continue to experience a complex array of symptoms months, even years, after the initial infection, research published yesterday in magazine Cell suggest.
• Aid trucks were stalled on Egypt’s border with Gaza yesterday as hospitals filled with injured people begging for water, food and fuel for generator. Many medical staff have refused to evacuate the tiny Palestinian territory because they say doing so would harm critically ill patients on ventilators. Najib Jobain, Samya Kullab And Joseph Krauss report to Related press.

The war on lab leaks sends chills to virology research (By Benjamin Mueller and Sheryl Gay Stolberg | The New York Times)

Healthcare game changer? Feds boost care for homeless Americans (By Angela Hart | KFF Health News)

Atrium Health pauses lawsuits against patients for unpaid medical bills (By Michelle Crouch | The Charlotte Ledger and North Carolina Health News)

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