Health Highlights: Oct. 11, 2017

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Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:

Medical Coalition Slams Trump Administration’s Move to Repeal Clean Power Plan

The Trump administration’s move to allow higher carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants “puts American lives at greater risk,” a coalition of medical groups warns.

On Monday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said he would override the Clean Power Plan introduced by President Barack Obama to help fight climate change.

A decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan is a choice that puts American lives at greater risk from unhealthy air and the health harms from climate change,” warned Dr. Mona Sarfaty, director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, CBS News/Associated Press reported.

The consortium is a group of medical associations with a total of 450,000 members.

A 2015 EPA analysis of the Clean Power Plan estimated it would help prevent 3,600 premature deaths, 1,700 heart attacks and 90,000 asthma attacks per year, Sarfaty noted.

“While many regard the Clean Power Plan primarily as an effort to reduce climate change, doctors know it’s also about the health of our patients,” Sarfaty said, CBS News/AP reported.

The health threats posed by climate change have been cited by many medical groups in recent years.

“Scientific surveys have shown clear evidence that our patients are facing adverse health effects associated with climate change,” Dr. Willarda Edwards of the American Medical Association said in 2016, CBS News/AP reported.

“From heat-related injuries and forest fire air pollution, to worsening seasonal allergies and storm-related illness and injuries, it is important that we make every effort to put environmentally friendly practices in place to lessen the harmful impact that climate change is having on patient health across the globe,” Edwards said.

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Health Care Coverage Raised During First Lady’s Visit to Addiction Recovery Center

The issue of health care coverage was brought up when First Lady Melania Trump spoke Tuesday at a roundtable event at the United States’ first infant recovery center that provides services to parents and families dealing with addiction.

The event at Lily’s Place in West Virginia included staff members and recovering mothers who had previously received treatment, CBS News reported.

“I want to be here to support you and give a voice to Lily’s Place and also for the opioid epidemic. It’s very — a passion of mine to help children and educate them and also to educate the families and open conversations about opioid abuse,” Trump said.

She asked how best she could best she could help the facility. Lily’s Place executive director Rebecca Crowder said challenges include how exactly the treatment center is recognized as a medical facility and what funds they may receive, CBS News reported.

“We still battle with funding obviously because we can’t bill in the traditional way that everyone else does because we haven’t gotten to that point where they recognize us in Medicaid. So, you know, that is a situation. But also we want it to be easier for other people to do what we’re doing because we recognize we’re a model for the nation for programs and parents,” Crowder said.

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