Policy Currents | The newsletter for policy people
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** April 23, 2024
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Supporting Veterans Exposed to Military Environmental Hazards
U.S. service members can be exposed to environmental hazards from many different sources, including burn pits, chemical warfare agents, and even contaminated drinking water. What's more, research suggests that these exposures may be widespread.
Signed into law in 2022, the PACT Act was designed to address this problem by significantly expanding access to VA benefits and health care. A new RAND paper looks at how this legislation has changed veterans' access to such benefits, as well as key challenges that remain. It also considers how other programs--specifically the World Trade Center Health Program, which helps 9/11 responders and survivors--could be used as a template to improve support for veterans exposed to environmental hazards.
"Without a robust, sustainable strategy for determining eligibility for VA benefits," the authors write, "there is a risk that service members and veterans who are at risk of health consequences from currently unknown or understudied exposures could be left behind."
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How AI Threatens Information Integrity--and What Could Be Done About It
How might generative AI--such as large language models and deepfakes--accelerate existing harms on the internet and beyond? A new RAND paper explores this question and outlines potential policy responses to mitigate the threats AI might pose to a trustworthy information ecosystem. The authors emphasize that there is a wide range of options to consider--from social media reforms, to media literacy initiatives, to sweeping federal standards for AI-generated content. However, no single tool is likely to be sufficient. That's why policymakers may want to build a cohesive approach that draws from many of the varied solutions at their disposal.
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Why Won't Health Insurance Companies Pay for New Drugs?
Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval for a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease. However, the largest insurer in the country, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, won't cover this breakthrough drug for Medicare patients. It's not wrong for CMS and other insurers to be cautious and selective about making drugs accessible to patients, says RAND's Zachary Predmore, but there may be an alternative to refusing coverage altogether. Insurers could condition the price they pay for a certain drug on the treatment's ability to achieve specific outcomes, including outcomes that are important to patients.
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** RAND Recommends
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- The world is entering yet another era in "the drone revolution," says RAND's Caitlin Lee. Last week on WBUR's Here & Now, she discussed how state actors are using drones at much greater ranges--and in combination with missiles.
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- On Earth Day, we highlighted some recent RAND research and commentary that can help decisionmakers prepare for a changing climate.
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- How might a liquid biopsy be used to detect and diagnose cancer more quickly?
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** Events
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Policy Lab: How Can New Technologies Help Mitigate the Effects of Climate Change?
Wednesday, April 24, 2024 (Online)
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Long War in Europe: Options for the United States, Poland, and Allies for 2024 and Beyond
Thursday, April 25, 2024 (Washington, D.C., and Online)
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