Viewpoints: How Will The Candidates Fix Our Health Care System?; Is Clinton Dropping ‘Rare’ From Abortion Stance
A selection of opinions on health care from around the state.
The San Francisco Business Times:
Business Need To Know, Candidates: What's Your Rx For Health Care?
America’s health care system consumes nearly 20 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, or approximately $10,000 per capita. But its product is inferior to that of most developed nations’ health systems. The consumer is bearing an increasing share of the financial burden for such care, although corporations continue to shoulder significant responsibility. That makes fixing the core dysfunction of our system one of the top priorities for businesses. (Leifer, 2/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Hillary Clinton Tweaks Her 'Safe, Legal And Rare' Abortion Mantra
Is Hillary Clinton recalibrating her position on abortion as she seeks the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination? It sure looks that way. In her last presidential run in 2008, Clinton said that she thought abortion should be “safe, legal and rare, and by rare, I mean rare.” She added that abortion “should not in any way be diminished as a moral issue,” and portrayed the choice to have an abortion as a wrenching one for “a young woman, her family, her physician and [her] pastor.” But questioned on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” about a claim by Sen. Marco Rubio that “she believes that all abortions should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child,” Clinton replied: “You know, I’ve been on record for many years about where I stand on abortion, how it should be safe and legal and I have the same position that I’ve had for a very long time.” (Michael McGough, 2/9)
The Sacramento Bee:
Legislature Bows Down To Big Soda
Big Soda is killing us. Sugary beverages such as Coke, Pepsi and Gatorade are significantly responsible for a health crisis in this country: the growing number of Americans with obesity and diabetes. ... In January, the state Senate had the chance to help stem this crisis by passing Senate Bill 203 to require warning labels on sugary beverages. This legislation wouldn’t stop Californians from buying soda, but it would better inform them about what they are buying. What’s more, it would send a message to Big Soda that Californians are getting wise to the role of sugary drinks in making us sick. But despite falling just one vote short of passage in the Senate Health Committee last year, the same committee opted to keep SB 203 in limbo this year. (Greg Glassman, 2/9)
California Health Care Foundation:
Lifting Death’s Veil: A Conversation With Atul Gawande
Harvard surgeon and New Yorker writer Atul Gawande’s powerful book Being Mortal explored death and dying in America and rose to the top of the bestseller lists, but it was a nationally broadcast FRONTLINE documentary of the same name that catapulted him to the forefront of the national conversation about end-of-life care. In an era when more and more medical treatment often doesn’t allow people’s lives to end the way they want, Gawande’s message has never been more important. (Steven Birenbaum, 2/9)
The Ventura County Star:
Officials Get Gift Of Time On Medical Pot
Never mind. That was the message this week from the California Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown to all cities and counties in the state on the issue of medical marijuana licensing controls. (2/11)
The Sacramento Bee:
A Doctor Digs Deep In Quest For Ways To Save Lives
Dr. Garen Wintemute digs deep into his wallet to keep the lights on at a squat, nondescript building near the UC Davis Medical Center, understanding lives of people he will never know could depend on it. The building is unmarked, intentionally so. Wintemute figures it’s best not to advertise where he and his staff conduct their research into the causes of gun violence and how to prevent it. Police have urged caution. Though he is not wealthy, Wintemute earns a good salary as an emergency room physician and UC Davis medical school faculty member, and doesn’t have many expenses, unless you count his research. He has spent $1.3 million in the past seven or eight years to help pay for overhead and staff salaries. (Dan Morain, 2/10)
IVN:
Flint And East Porterville -- Equivalent Public Health Risks; Vastly Different Responses
Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton used her entire closing statement at the January 17 Democratic presidential debate to highlight the lead-poisoning crisis in Flint, Michigan’s water supply, a racially-tinged health and public policy disaster that the Democratic front-runner casts as an urgent catastrophe requiring immediate attention. Clinton’s debate prose sought to shame Michigan’s Republican governor into action to help Flint’s 100,000 residents that have been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water for more than a year. She reportedly said that she had dispatched a top campaign aide to Flint “to see what I could do to help.” (Dev Sundheim, 2/9)
The Los Angeles Times:
Zika Outbreak Bears An Eerie Resemblance To The Spread Of Ebola
The Zika virus headlines may seem disturbingly familiar — with good reason. Although Zika and Ebola are very different contagions that cause distinctive diseases, there are startling similarities in how the two epidemics unfolded. (Yanbai Andrea Wang and Michele Barry, 2/9)
Los Angeles Daily News:
Warning About The Zika Virus Must Be Heeded
As if there isn’t enough to worry about, the World Health Organization now places the rapid spread of the Zika virus dead in the center of the world’s anxiety radar. Worse yet, research indicates the disease is not only spread through mosquitoes but also can be sexually transmitted between humans. That most recent twist, of course, is bad — not to mention scary — news. Last week, WHO declared that the spread of the Zika virus is so rapid it must be classified as a global health emergency. (2/9)
The Los Angeles Times:
Should All Women Not On Birth Control Give Up Drinking?
The American medical establishment instructs pregnant women to not drink alcohol, and those who ignore this advice — like those who do not breast-feed their children — are subject to social shaming. Is the circle of shame about to get a lot bigger? (Rebecca Kukla, 2/10)
The Bakersfield Californian:
Kern Medical Center Is Fighting To Decrease Cases Of SUID
Kern County is experiencing a serious problem with above-national-average numbers in one tragic category — Sudden Unexpected Infant Death, or SUID. A recent county study shined needed light on the facts of the matter. Last year, 17 infants under the age of 1 died under circumstances experts believe were preventable. When the 2015 figures are totaled, the number is expected to be even higher. (Russell Judd, 2/9)
KQED:
Palo Alto Student Was Asked To Leave School Because Of His DNA
To find a society where a student is forced to leave school because of his genes, you might think you’d need to watch “Gattaca” or pick up a dystopian novel. As it turns out, you wouldn’t need to immerse yourself in fiction. This exact scenario occurred at a middle school in Palo Alto, California. (Barry Starr, 2/8)
The San Jose Mercury News:
Santa Clara County Ambulance Deal Shouldn't Preclude Fire Departments
A surprise agenda item for Tuesday's Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors meeting appears to shut the door on fire departments that would like to collaborate and provide ambulance service county wide. (2/8)