Viewpoints: Insurers’ Shady Ultimatums And Drama Hurting Americans
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
The Sacramento Bee:
Insurers, The Latest Threat To Obamacare
For three years now, Americans living with pre-existing, potentially deadly medical conditions have been able to get insurance without fear.Young people, jobless and sinking in student loan debt, have been able to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans a little while longer. And poor people who would otherwise go to emergency rooms have actually been able to make appointments with physicians and get preventive care. This is the new normal brought to you by the Affordable Care Act. (Thanks, Obama.) But without a concerted effort to stem the bleeding of insurers abandoning President Barack Obama’s signature domestic program, it won’t be for long. (8/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Aetna’s Withdrawal From Obamacare Exchanges Isn’t The Start Of A Death Spiral
But the biggest factors in the current shakeout appear to have been insurers’ setting premiums too low to pay for the care demanded by the newly insured, and many states’ inability to bring enough of the younger, healthier uninsured into the individual market. Those problems should fade over time as this market matures. Lawmakers could help matters with more aggressive efforts to improve efficiency in the healthcare industry, while also providing better safeguards for insurers stuck with unusually expensive customers. In the meantime, it’s unfortunate that the number of insurance choices are shrinking in many states’ Obamacare exchanges. But that’s a predictable result of the major and overdue changes the law brought about, not a sign of its failure. (8/17)
The Sacramento Bee:
Rising Drug Prices Inflict Pain; Aetna Bolts ObamaCare
Our health care system’s ailments are painfully evident. Aetna is leaving “Obamacare,” and we will remain in the dark on reasons why drug prices rise. On other topics, Ronald Brownstein offers an insightful piece about proposals to slash tuition. It might backfire. And we welcome Dean Cortopassi to talk about his Proposition 53. (Dan Morain, 8/18)
Los Angeles Times:
My Aunt's Struggle With Assisted Suicide: There Was Death, But Not Enough Dignity
On June 9, California’s assisted-suicide Death with Dignity Act went into effect, and my aunt declared her intentions in writing the same day. I embarked on a Google search to figure out how the law worked. It was nearly impossible to get clear information, even from doctors. We would come to learn the law establishes a strict protocol to obtain the life-ending drugs. It takes a minimum of 15 days, and the countdown would start once a primary care doctor attested to my aunt’s mental fitness, her terminal condition, her desire and ability — on her own — to take the medication that would allow her to die. (Linda Van Zandt, 8/14)
The Sacramento Bee:
When A Flawed Remedy To Drug Prices Looks Better Than None At All
Flush from its triumphant gutting of a bill to impose even a modicum of transparency on drugmakers in California, the pharmaceutical industry last week cranked up the volume against a ballot initiative aimed at lowering the price of prescription drugs. “Proposition 61 is opposed by a broad coalition of more than 130 organizations,” read the dispatch, citing “bureaucratic hurdles” and other problems with the measure that would prohibit the state from paying more for drugs than the federal Department of Veterans Affairs does. For good measure, they added that one of the initiative’s backers is “controversial.” (8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Can Obamacare Be Saved? Medicare's History Shows How
Big private insurance companies bailing out of a government-sponsored healthcare program, complaining about financial losses. Hundreds of thousands of customers lose their health plans. Terminations are especially severe in rural counties, leaving virtually no competition. Total enrollment drops. Obamacare, 2016? No, Medicare, 1998-2002. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/16)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Out-Of-Network Coverage Legislation Misdiagnoses Problem
A “surprise medical bill” is any bill where the insurer paid less than the patient expected, according to a 2015 Consumers Union report. To address “surprise” bills, Bonta’s AB72 has set a pay cap on doctors. That will only create more problems. ... AB72 would require insurers to reimburse out-of-network providers at 125 percent of the rate Medicare pays or of the insurer’s average contracted rate, whichever is greater. It does not address that insurers have narrowed their provider networks so significantly over the past five years that it is nearly impossible for patients to find a full complement of providers who work within their discounted network. (Eileen Natuzzi, 8/17)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Concerted Effort Making A Big Dent In Teen Birth Rate
Just as soon as the recent annual adolescent birth rate report in California announced that Kern County once again ranked as the highest in the state, others, like Danny Morrison last week in The Californian, offered an opinion about what is wrong with our county. We agree that it remains a huge concern for our county with too many teens having babies and we agree there is still a lot of work to be done. But it is also important to look at where we have been, the direction we are going and what we are collectively doing about this serious social issue. In the last 24 years we have seen a dramatic reduction in our teen birth rate. (Barbara Gladden, William T. Phelps and Stephen W. Schilling, 8/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Anabolic Steroids Taint Olympic Competition, But It's What They Do The Human Brain That Is Terrifying
During the Olympic Games, the world gazes admiringly upon athletes with preternatural musculature and athletic ability — and then laments every tainted urine test, every revelation of doping. In the mind of the public, this is the problem with anabolic steroids: They undermine fairness in competition between elite athletes. Damaging the spirit of sport, however, is a minor concern compared with how anabolic steroids impair the health of those who use them — not only Olympians and professional athletes, but also high school football players and rank-and-file weightlifters. (Ruth Wood, 8/17)
The Desert Sun:
Educate Patients To Cut Coachella Valley ER Congestion
Have you been to a Coachella Valley hospital emergency room lately? If so, you likely noticed you were far from alone. As reported in a recent series by The Desert Sun’s Barrett Newkirk, the ERs at JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage and Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs treated nearly 189,000 people last year. That’s a jump of close to 19 percent from the figure from just four years ago, officials say. (8/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Legalizing Marijuana In California: Proposition 64 Is Complicated, But Highly Likely To Pass
This year, 17 measures qualified for the statewide ballot. There is something for everyone to get worked up about: prescription drug prices, the minimum wage, background checks for ammunition purchases, plastic bags, the death penalty — and something I really wish I didn’t have to think about, mandatory condoms for porn shoots. One of the most far-reaching measures is Proposition 64, which would legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. (Robin Abcarian, 8/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Medical Marijuana Ruling Is A Temporary Win
A federal appeals court gave medical marijuana advocates what seemed like a big win this week with a unanimous ruling that the federal government may not prosecute people who grow and distribute medicinal cannabis if they comply with state laws. ... But this week’s ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals came with a big warning: This is a temporary victory. Until the federal government legalizes marijuana or until lawmakers adopt a permanent policy shielding states from federal enforcement, medical marijuana shops still face the possibility of prosecution in the future. (8/18)
The Sacramento Bee:
Put Environmental Justice Into Planning
When my husband and I were ready to buy our first home, we bought in Oak Park. Not only was it the only neighborhood we could afford that was within biking distance to our jobs downtown, it is an incredibly resilient community working to build on its history and incredible diversity to redefine what equitable development looks like. Oak Park also has had lower life expectancies than neighborhoods just on the other side of the freeways, the legacy of unfair development and land-use decisions. Sacramento County’s Community Health Status Report shows that where we live is a major contributor to our overall health. The environmental justice movement was founded on this inequity. (Katie Valenzuela Garcia, 8/17)