Viewpoints: Abortion is ‘Crude Response’ To Microcephaly; Seniors Paying Price For Health Law Fraud
A selection of opinions on health care from around the state.
The LA Times:
Is The Call For Zika Virus Abortions The New Eugenics?
When the World Health Organization declared the Zika virus a global emergency, it also claimed that the disease was tied to increased cases of microcephaly in babies. A day later, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, which actively promotes the view that “access to abortion is a matter of human rights,” was putting pressure on countries in Central and South America to change laws that protect prenatal children from violence. (Charles Camosy, 2/18)
The Orange County Register:
Seniors Paying Price For Obamacare Fraud
Fewer seniors are re-entering the hospital after an initial stay, according to recent data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The Obama administration says that we have Obamacare to thank for this “positive transformative change.” But the only thing that’s “changed” is how hospitals fill out the government’s forms. Many are choosing to record hospital stays under Medicare, the federal government’s health care program for seniors, as outpatient “medical observation” rather than formal readmission. That classification can present patients with huge bills and limited options for follow-up care. (Sally Pipes, 2/18)
The Orange County Register:
A Terrible Idea For Cutting Medicare Drug Costs
Congress recently sent the 6.2 million Californians on Medicare a welcome message: The doctor will see you now. After years of patchwork fixes, Congress finally got rid of a Medicare reimbursement formula that paid doctors so poorly for their services, including administering cancer drugs, that many of them would’ve likely abandoned their Medicare patients all together. (Gary Feldman, 2/18)
The Los Angeles Times:
More Signs That 'Gaming' By The Sick Is Not A Problem In Obamacare
The one common element in assertions that thousands of Americans are "gaming" Obamacare by not signing up for health insurance until they get sick, thereby sticking beleaguered insurance companies with a big bill, is that none of these assertions come attached to any hard numbers. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/17)
The Los Angeles Times:
Dirty Little Secret: Insurers Actually Are Making A Mint From Obamacare
For months now, headlines about the Affordable Care Act have focused on complaints from big insurers that they haven't been making money from individual insurance plans mandated by the act. (Michael Hiltzik, 2/16)
The Sacramento Bee:
On Health Care, Sanders And Trump Sound A Lot Alike
In the days before last month’s Iowa caucuses, the Washington Times quoted a stay-at-home mom from Dubuque who wasn’t yet sure how she was going to vote. But she had narrowed her choice to a final two: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders. How could she be torn between the only billionaire in the race and the man who says over and over that billionaires are the root of all of our country’s problems? (Daniel Weintraub, 2/15)
The Los Angeles Times:
Obama's Budget Plan Would Allow Greater Scrutiny Of High Drug Prices
Buried deep within President Obama's $4-trillion budget plan are a couple of healthcare proposals that could change everything for U.S. consumers. (David Lazarus, 2/16)
Ventura County Star:
Congress Must Act To Stop Female Veteran Suicide
Congress worked to address the veteran suicide rate by passing legislation last year that improved access to mental health and suicide prevention programs. I had the opportunity to be at the White House while President Obama signed the Clay Hunt SAV Act that Congress passed in 2015. It mandates for the first time that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) conduct annual evaluations on the effectiveness of its mental health and suicide prevention programs. Last June, VA researchers discovered that women who have served in the military are nearly six times as likely as non-veteran women to commit suicide. And, for women veterans ages 18-29, that number is even higher — they are nearly 12 times as likely to commit suicide. (Rep. Julia Brownley, 2/13)
Los Angeles Daily News:
Why Flushing Medicine Should Be Banned In L.A. County
Preventing prescription drug abuse and protecting water quality are two issues on the minds of Los Angeles County residents, but there may be only one policy approach that can address both at the same time: ensuring safe medicine collection opportunities are available, free and convenient throughout the county. When people cannot find a convenient place to bring unwanted medications for disposal, they often flush them. (Heidi Sanborn, 2/18)
The Sacramento Bee:
Drug Disposal Bins Welcome Tool In Opioid Fight
It’s one of the least talked about contributors to the nation’s opioid epidemic. The millions of bottles of highly addictive painkillers that are sitting in people’s medicine cabinets, collecting dust. It’s hard to get rid of the pills safely, even though the glut leads to tens of thousands of deaths each year. Meanwhile, doctors are writing three times as many prescriptions for opioids as they did in the 1990s. It’s a lopsided equation of supply and demand. We applaud Walgreens for being among the first corporations to step up and, at least, try to solve the problem. (2/11)
The Fresno Bee:
Pro-Life Or Pro-Choice? Most Are In The Mushy Middle
“Are you anti-abortion?” That question, from a colleague, caught me by surprise. “I know you’re pro-choice,” she added, reading my mind. “But I was wondering if you’re anti-abortion.” Still, her question intrigued me because it suggested a seldom-heard perspective, a third way, if you will, in the eternal battle between pro-choice and pro-life. We are taught that there are those two ways only. But it seems ever clearer to me that it’s a false dichotomy, a narrative of hard, diametrical opposition that, while it makes for great headlines, fails to acknowledge the mushy middle ground where many, if not most of us, reside. “Are you anti-abortion?” (Leonard Pitts Jr., 2/17)
The Press Democrat:
Close To Home: Shedding Lights, Camera And Action On Mental Health
Recently, a friend told me that 30 years ago his cousin’s 18-year-old son committed suicide. He was a popular kid from a middle-class family. No one including his family had a clue. Nine years ago, a 21-year-old youth working in a local theater in Sonoma County committed suicide. Some of us knew and tried to help. He sent a very upbeat email three days before. Incredibly heart breaking and chilling to read. (Paolo Breschi, 2/18)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Crowded E.R. Is A Happy Nightmare
How to title a recent visit to an emergency room in Riverside County? A Long Day’s Journey into Night of the Living Dead. And yet, to be fair, we drove away from the Eisenhower Medical Center grateful for gold-plated service. More than six hours languishing in a pestilent circle of hell and we’re … happy? Call it the E.R. paradox. The five-star godsend from Hades. (Jenkins, 2/16)
Los Angeles Times:
With No Reproductive Rights, Many Latin American Women Could Be At The Mercy Of The Zika Virus
Now that researchers have identified a tangible link between the Zika virus and fetal brain deformation, pregnant women and those of childbearing age in the Latin American countries hardest hit by the mosquito-borne virus will have to make tough decisions about their reproductive future. Use birth control? Abstain? Abort if there's evidence of potentially lethal birth defects? Or at least that's how it ought to go. (2/17)