Viewpoints: Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers’ Free Speech Should Be Protected
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Sacramento Bee:
Supreme Court Should Uphold Free Speech Of California's Crisis Pregnancy Centers
AB 775 is very different from reasonable regulations requiring disclaimers for commercial enterprises as food and drugs. Such regulations are constitutional and not at issue here. The core of this case is that the government is forcing non-profit pro-life pregnancy centers – which provide their services for free – to engage in speech contrary to their very reason for existence. (Elissa Graves, 3/13)
Sacramento Bee:
Republicans Are Asking For Single Payer Health Care
Republicans in Congress have worked hard to sabotage the Affordable Care Act. In so doing, they are creating an opening for the kind of health care system they will detest. (Tom Epstein, 3/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Villaraigosa Is Right, Single-Payer Healthcare In California Is A Political Pipe Dream
In all, a state-operated, single-payer healthcare plan would cost around $400 billion a year, according to objective analysis. Let's put that in perspective: Gov. Jerry Brown's total state spending proposal for the next fiscal year is less than half that amount — $190 billion. (George Skelton, 3/12)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Health Insurance Premiums Will Soar In California, Nation, Thanks To Congress
Without action in Washington, premiums will continue to rise year after year. Covered California’s analysis predicts premium hikes of 35 percent by 2021 in 15 states, including California. Seventeen states will see 90 percent premium spikes by 2021. (3/10)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Effective Drug Education Should Be ‘Just Say Know’
Last month, when 10 otherwise healthy middle-schoolers had been hospitalized “after they ingested an unknown substance,” my suspicions were aroused. Sure enough, that substance was edible marijuana. Those 10 students will be OK, and unlikely to repeat that dysphoric experience. Over the past 50-plus years, thousands of others have made the same mistake, usually involving a brownie or other edible, and learned from it — either to abstain completely or moderate their use. The decision to use marijuana is not to be taken lightly, and requires sound information. That’s why I was grateful to hear that San Francisco Unified School District is, according to School Board President Hydra Mendoza, prioritizing “drug education and, specifically, the risks of cannabis.” (Marsha Rosenbaum, 3/6)
The Washington Post:
Why It’s Not ‘Enabling’ To Make Drug Use Safer
In the face of an unabating overdose crisis that has already killed more than a half-million people, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Seattle have announced plans to do what was once unthinkable: open centers where people can inject illegal drugs under medical supervision. Many other cities are also debating so-called safe infection facilities (SIFs) — but unfortunately, a common misconception about addiction stands in the way. (Maia Szalavitz, 3/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Jail Time For Martin Shkreli Won't Fix Drug Prices. Globalization Will
Before sentencing notorious pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli to seven years in prison, the federal judge presiding over his criminal trial ordered him to turn over "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin," the Wu-Tang Clan album of which only a single copy exists. Shkreli paid $2 million for the album, an extravagance he could afford after making a fortune by jacking up the prices of prescription medications. Seizing the album and other assets worth a total of $7.4 million may seem like karma, but it will do nothing to tame drug costs. Indeed, it is entirely legal to raise generic drug prices (which explains why Shkreli was convicted of securities fraud, not healthcare fraud). The problem is that government has made it far too easy for pharma companies to gain a national monopoly on the supply of drugs that no longer are patent-protected. Rather than make an example of Shkreli, the solution to outrageous drug prices is to embrace globalization. (Charles Silver and David A. Hyman, 3/15)
Los Angeles Times:
A New Way To Reduce Gun Suicides, And Maybe Mass Shootings Too
Mass shootings dominate the headlines and seem to drive the movement to change gun policy, but reducing gun suicides could save many more lives. More than 20,000 people each year kill themselves with a gun; that's twice the number of gun homicides. The Parkland, Fla., massacre claimed 17 lives; roughly 59 people die by gun suicide each day. An innovative new law could bring down this tragic death toll. Washington will soon become the first state in the country to enact a "firearm choice" law. It passed by wide margins in the state Senate and House, with support from Democrats as well as Republicans, and is now awaiting Gov. Jay Inslee's signature. (Ian Ayres and Fredrik Vars, 3/12)
Sacramento Bee:
Don’t Play Politics With Dying Californians Who Are Using New Medical Aid-In-Dying Law
Among the needless mandates are two provisions that are not even in Oregon’s 20-year old Death with Dignity Act, the model for California’s new law. SB 1336 would require patients to justify why they want to use the law verbally and in writing, and would also mandate doctors identify their specialty. SB 1336 is a thinly veiled attempt by opponents of medical aid in dying to make it impossible for patients to use the law and to gather data that they believe will help them to overturn the law entirely. (Kim Callinan, 3/14)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Laura’s Law Is Helping Many — But Still Only Making A Dent In SF
Remember Laura’s Law, the program to compel treatment of mentally ill people that the Board of Supervisors bickered about for four years? It finally passed in 2014 and took effect in November 2015. ... Those who received care through Laura’s Law were less likely to wind up in the psychiatric emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital than they were before treatment, less likely to be hospitalized and less likely to be jailed. (Heather Knight, 3/9)