Viewpoints: Honey, Somebody Cut My Retiree Health Benefits …
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
The Los Angeles Times:
Your Vanishing Health Coverage: Employers Are Cutting Retiree Health Benefits At A Rapid Rate
The shrinkage of employee retirement resources in the U.S. has been well documented, as employers shift more risk onto their workers. Less so is the rate at which employers have been eliminating healthcare benefits for retirees. As the Kaiser Family Foundation recently reported, retiree health coverage is becoming an endangered species. (Michael Hiltzik, 5/11)
The Los Angeles Times:
The GOP'S Scorched-Earth Approach To Obamacare Finally Pays Off – Except For The Poor Of Course
Six years after losing the battle in Congress over the Affordable Care Act, Republicans haven't stopped fighting to reverse the results. They've had little or no luck on Capitol Hill, even though they now control both the House and the Senate. On Thursday, however, they won a skirmish in court when a federal judge canceled funding for the subsidies that help millions of poor people pay the out-of-pocket costs of doctor visits, outpatient care and hospitalizations. The GOP win, if upheld, is a loss for many of their constituents. (5/13)
The Sacramento Bee:
California Consumers Get New Warnings On Food, Drink Containers
Beginning Wednesday, Californians started seeing new warnings about a chemical, Bisphenol A, when they buy food at the grocery store. Known as BPA, it has long been used in a wide variety of products, including the linings of food and beverage cans and bottle and jar lids to extend shelf life and prevent bacterial contamination. In recent years, however, questions have come up about BPA’s potential toxicity. The Legislature passed a law in 2011 banning BPA in bottles or cups designed for use by children 3 years or younger. (Matthew Rodriquez and Lauren Zeise, 5/11)
The Los Angeles Times:
Privacy Unprotected After Security Breaches
The most common response when a corporate database gets hacked is for the business to offer a year of free credit monitoring -- a better-than-nothing measure that will alert people to suspicious activity involving their credit files but will do nothing to prevent fraud, identity theft or other mischief. West Los Angeles resident Jairo Angulo and his wife were among nearly 80 million current and former Anthem health insurance policyholders whose personal information was reported hacked last February. (David Lazarus, 5/10)
The Sacramento Bee:
Time For California School Kids To Get Breakfast After The Bell
It may come as a shock, given California’s place as a world food supplier, but millions of children in this state come to school hungry every day. Though the federal government subsidizes school breakfasts for students from low-income families, only about a third of the state’s 3.3 million eligible kids actually use the program. Some cannot get to school early enough to make the cafeteria deadline. Others are embarrassed to accept a subsidized breakfast. Still others skip the most important meal of the day assuming they’ll snack on junk food later. (5/8)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Want Unqualified Eye Surgeons? SB 622 Is For You
We rely on our eyes almost every moment of our waking hours. Unfortunately, a dangerous piece of legislation in Sacramento, Senate Bill 622, would allow optometrists across California to perform surgical procedures on the eye and surrounding tissues with a trivial amount of training and a handful of practice procedures — procedures that should be reserved for those with proper education and experience. (Ronald Morton, 5/8)
The Los Angeles Times:
There's No Place For Rampant Capitalism In Treating The Sick
A good friend of mine recently found herself between jobs, with a gap in her health insurance and a recurrence of her kidney stones. What she needed were fluids and pain relief, fast. I'm a gastroenterologist, and hoping to minimize the financial impact, I went with her to our local ER and had a conversation with the attending physician. Maybe we could pass on the CT scan and extraneous lab work? (Michael Jones, 5/8)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Can Public Health Agencies Do Nuance On E-Cigarettes?
I've wanted to blog about the reasons for the differing public health policies that Britain and the United States have adopted over electronic cigarettes. But Sarah Zhang of Wired has already done so, and nicely too. I do have a few more points to round out the picture, hence this post. (Bradley Fikes, 5/7)
The Press Democrat:
Lowering Health Costs By Raising The Smoking Age
Governors commonly include a message when signing or vetoing significant legislation. But Gov. Jerry Brown gave no explanation on Wednesday when he approved a bill raising the legal age to buy tobacco for smoking and vaping in California from 18 to 21. (5/6)
The Orange County Register:
Lawmakers Blowing Smoke On Vaping
California state and local governments continue to try to crack down on e-cigarettes, or vaporizers, and regulate them like cigarettes, yet mounting data show that the devices are far safer to users – and those around them – and have been proven effective at providing smokers an alternative to help them quit or significantly reduce their tobacco smoking. (5/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Why Many Hospice Doctors Like Me Won't Participate In Legal Physician Assisted Suicide
On June 9 California will join four other states — Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana — in allowing physician-assisted suicide. Meanwhile, my state, Arizona, and a dozen or so others are considering their own “right to die” laws. As a hospice physician, about twice a year I am asked by a patient to prescribe a lethal dose of a medication. Oncologists throughout the country report that up to half of their patients at least ask about it. But even if it were legal in Arizona, and I knew a patient met all the criteria established by law, I would still not hasten his or her death. That would be my right as a doctor, and it will be the right of doctors in California as well. (Ann Marie Chiasson, 5/12)