Viewpoints: Veterans Are Dying As Plans To Open Clinic Keep Getting Pushed
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Sacramento Bee:
Veterans Are Waiting, And Waiting, For A Central Valley VA Clinic. What’s Taking So Long?
On Veterans Day 2017, many veterans in the Central Valley have a very good question: Why is it taking so darn long to open a badly needed outpatient health clinic? The planned 158,000-square-foot, four-floor VA facility just outside Stockton is supposed to offer top-notch, patient-focused services, including primary care, mental health, physical therapy, prosthetics and dental. But under the current schedule, construction won’t start until late 2018 or early 2019. The first patient won’t be treated until summer 2022. (Foon Rhee, 11/9)
Los Angeles Times:
Anti-Vaxxers Have Found A Way Around California's Strict New Immunization Law. They Need To Be Stopped
Two years ago the state Legislature passed a law banning so-called personal belief exemptions that many parents were using to keep their children from being vaccinated because they believed — wrongly — that vaccines were linked to autism and other serious health problems. But even as the number of personal belief exemptions fell to zero, the number of medical exemptions has skyrocketed. That's fishy. (11/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Medicaid Chief Attacks Her Own Program, On The Very Day It Scored A Huge Win At The Polls
Republicans who think the American public is clamoring to repeal or roll back the Affordable Care Act have another think coming. Voters in Maine overwhelmingly enacted Medicaid expansion for their state Tuesday, overturning a string of five successive vetoes by their right-wing governor, Paul LePage. The vote was roughly 60%-40%. Maine thus becomes the 33rd state (including the District of Columbia) to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, the first to do so during the Trump administration, and the first to do so by ballot initiative. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Notre Dame, Reentering 21st Century, Restores Employees' Access To Birth Control
The University of Notre Dame, in an abrupt reversal, says it will continue to allow its employees access to contraception under their insurance policies. Only a week ago, the university said it would cancel all birth control coverage for students and employees next year. That includes contraception provided to those recipients for free, under government auspices and at government expense. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Killing The Medical Expense Deduction Will Hit The Middle Class — And Hard
Republicans drafting their tax cut proposal have been awfully cavalier in particular about one deduction they’re proposing to repeal: the deduction for medical expenses. A fact sheet issued by House Ways and Means Committee Republicans when they unveiled their tax plan denigrated this deduction as one of "a myriad of provisions that many will never use and others may use only once in their lifetime." ... Tell that to Bill Storey. “This would be a massive hit,” Storey, 61, told me Tuesday. He and his wife, Joan, 64, had to retire from their jobs a few years ago as a technology professional and schoolteacher, respectively, at a St. Louis-area school district—he to take care of a sick parent, and she because a heart condition made it impossible to continue working. Now their medical expenses reach about $37,000 a year. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/7)
Sacramento Bee:
The Children Of The Opioid Crisis And Immigration Crackdown
While there’s more awareness about the plight of foster children, we need to focus on two of the most vulnerable and fastest growing populations -- children of the opioid crisis and those whose undocumented parents who have been detained or deported. Both groups experience unique trauma and require more targeted care. (Andrea Zetlin, 11/3)
Los Angeles Times:
Working Past 65? Beware Of This Medicare Trap That Could Cost You Thousands In Taxes
We can say two things for sure about the American workforce and its health insurance. First, more Americans are working past the traditional retirement age of 65. Second, more are taking advantage of employer insurance plans that include tax-exempt Health Savings Accounts. Add these two facts together, and you end up with a pitfall that could cost unwary American workers as much as $2,700 a year in tax exemptions if they exercise their right to enroll in Medicare at 65. That pitfall exists because of the confusing way HSAs interact with Medicare, and because many big employers fail to help their older employees deal with the potential complexities—or even to know about them. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Antiabortion Pregnancy Counseling Centers Shouldn't Get To Hide Information From Women
A pregnant girl or woman who shows up at a pregnancy counseling center, often in crisis, needs to know the full range of her options. But before the Reproductive FACT Act became law in 2015, most were getting an antiabortion polemic, and nothing else. The FACT Act required state-licensed pregnancy counseling centers to do one more, relative minor thing: post or provide a specifically worded notice to patients informing them about public programs that provide free or low-cost access to family planning services, including prenatal care and abortion. (11/2)
San Jose Mercury News:
Build A 36-Bed Psychiatric Care Center For Youth
If you’ve experienced the anguish of having a child with a serious mental illness, or helped friends or family cope with the challenge, you know there’s nothing like the heartbreak and sense of helplessness it can wreak. And you’ll understand why Santa Clara County should build a psychiatric facility for kids so they can be treated close to home — a huge advantage already available to families in counties such as San Mateo, Contra Costa and Alameda where, today, Santa Clara has to send many of its children for psychiatric care. (11/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Orange County Hairstylists Can Help Cut Domestic Violence
or many clients, the close relationship with their hairstylist is like no other. ...Recognizing this unique relationship, Assemblyman Rudy Salas, who represents the 32nd California Assembly District, introduced legislation earlier this year to promote awareness among salon professionals on the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and elder abuse. (Maricela Rios-Faust, 11/6)