121 million live in states restricting contraceptive access
Why it matters: Contraception access has become a political flashpoint since the Supreme Court ended Roe v. Wade, with Democrats unsuccessfully pressing to codify nationwide contraceptive access and some patients concerned that conservative state legislatures could enact new curbs.
What they found: States on both coasts generally had policies aimed at ensuring access, such as requiring insurers to offer no-cost coverage and allowing nurse practitioners or pharmacists to prescribe birth control.
Nearly 35% of Americans, or 121 million people, currently live in a state that actively restricts access.
Of the 16 states the group identified in that cohort, the most restrictive including Kansas, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Wyoming.
The most protective included California, Washington, Connecticut, New York, New Mexico, Maryland and Oregon.
Another 18 states were considered a mix between the two.
"Reproductive health care access depends on where you live," said Cathryn Streifel, senior program director at PRB and co-author of the scorecard.
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CNN
13 minutes ago
- CNN
China fights mosquito-borne chikungunya virus with drones, fines and nets as thousands fall ill
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Newsweek
2 hours ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Threatens 250% Tariff on Pharmaceuticals
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Should Trump follow through on ramping up these duties, the highest he has threatened on the industry to date, experts believe this could result in significant increases to drug prices in the U.S. However, some health policy experts told Newsweek this could also help rebalance the global drug supply chain to better favor American customers. What To Know Trump said that the tariffs are intended to encourage pharmaceutical companies to move their operations to the U.S.—"because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country"—and to minimize reliance on Europe. He had previously threatened to place 200 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals in July, but said he would give the industry time before this change came into effect. Trump's threats of pharmaceutical tariffs have raised concerns among experts that these could lead to increased costs and medication shortages in the U.S. In April, the UNC Center for the Business of Health published a report warning that these effects would be especially significant for generic drugs, which are more likely to be imported and operate on lower profit margins than brand-name medications. "A 250 percent tariff on pharmaceuticals would have a significant impact on drug prices," said health economist Jeromie Ballreich. Ballreich told Newsweek that, for branded pharmaceuticals, higher costs from the tariffs will be "passed on to consumers and most likely will be indirect through higher prescription drug insurance premiums." Major pharmaceutical companies across the world saw their shares fall on Wednesday following Trump's announcement. 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President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen meets with President Donald Trump in Turnberry, Scotland, on July 27, May, Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to "ensure foreign countries are not engaged in practices that purposefully and unfairly undercut market prices and drive price hikes in the United States." It also proposed that the U.S. be given Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) status, which would require drug companies to offer Americans the same lowest price that drugs are sold for in other countries. Trump followed this up by sending letters to 17 of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies on July 31, outlining steps they must take within 60 days to lower prescription prices for U.S. customers. These include extending MFN pricing to Medicaid, guaranteeing MFN pricing for new medications and negotiating "harder with foreign freeloading nations." 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NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
HEPA air purifiers can help lower blood pressure, study finds
People whose homes are near busy highways may be able to reduce their blood pressure by running an air purifier with a HEPA filter, a study found. Just a month of air filter use cut systolic blood pressure by nearly 3 points in healthy adults who had slightly elevated blood pressure, according to the report published Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Doug Brugge, the study's lead author and professor and chair of the department of public health sciences at UConn Health in Farmington, acknowledged that 3 points may sound like a small reduction. 'But the medical literature shows that even at that magnitude there can be a meaningful benefit in terms of reducing the risk of serious cardiovascular outcomes, such as heart attack and stroke,' he said. Nearly a quarter of Americans live near busy roadways, according to the new research. People may not realize they're being exposed to traffic-related air pollution because it's invisible, odorless and can be easily missed, Brugge said. Yet high levels of the tiniest particles found in traffic-related air pollution are known risk factors for developing high blood pressure and heart disease. Blood pressure is measured with two numbers: systolic pressure (the top number) and diastolic pressure (the bottom number). A reading of less than 120/80 mm Hg is considered normal. Almost half, or about 119.9 million, of adults in the U.S. have hypertension, or high blood pressure, according to 2023 estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To determine whether simply installing two portable, commercially available air purifiers with HEPA filters could improve heart health, Brugge and his colleagues sought healthy volunteers whose homes were near roadways that would expose them to elevated levels of the tiny particles from vehicle emissions, as well as particles associated with tires and brakes. The researchers randomly assigned 154 volunteers to two groups. One would have two HEPA filters in the most commonly used rooms in their homes — one in the living room and the other in the bedroom. The other would be given sham filters. Then the groups would be switched. After a month of living with HEPA filters, volunteers who had slightly elevated blood pressure at the beginning of the study saw a 2.8-point drop in systolic blood pressure, the top number that the American Heart Association considers the strongest predictor of future heart problems. In contrast, those living with the sham filters saw a 0.2-point drop. People with normal blood pressure did not see an effect from HEPA use. The type of air filters used in the study were comparable to ones consumers can easily purchase in a store or online, Brugge said. The new study is 'intriguing,' said Dr. Matthew Alexander, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiovascular medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Not everyone's blood pressure changed, just those with systolic pressures over 120 at the outset, Alexander said. 'It was a modest effect, but a clinically significant one,' he added. 'And it would correspond to about a 6% reduction in the risk of adverse cardiac events, such as heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular death.' Alexander would like to see more studies, ones with more participants and a wider range of blood pressures. As would Steven Chillrud, a pollution expert and a research professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York. It's likely that filtering would help even people who don't live near roadways since traffic isn't the only source of air pollution, Chillrud said.
