Viewpoints: Is Prop. 4 Actually Good For Kids’ Health Or Just A Windfall For The Children’s Hospitals?
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Sacramento Bee:
CA Election: Prop. 4 Will Ensure The Best Health Care For California Kids
During my time as a state legislator and now as Sacramento’s mayor, I have always advocated for the health, well-being and future of California’s kids. I want our children to have opportunities to succeed in school and beyond – all of that begins with health. Fortunately, California’s children’s hospitals are some of the best in the country. On Nov. 6, Californians have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 4 to expand and upgrade our state’s children’s hospitals. (Darrell Steinberg, 10/3)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Election: Prop. 4 Is An Unnecessary Windfall For Hospitals
I know from personal experience the importance of children’s hospitals. Six decades ago, I had heart surgery at the best one in Illinois. It saved me from an early death. Yet I’m voting “no” on Proposition 4, the Nov. 6 measure to authorize $1.5 billion in bonds to support construction at the 11 officially designated children’s hospitals ion California – eight non-profit private hospitals and five University of California medical centers. (Elizabeth Wall Ralston, 10/3)
Los Angeles Times:
Pragmatic And Focused On Consumers, Steve Poizner Is The Right Choice For Insurance Commissioner
Lots of state elected officials run for higher office, and most of them lose. Steve Poizner is one example; he served one term as the state insurance commissioner before running for governor in 2010, getting trounced by Meg Whitman in the Republican primary. But now Poizner is back, looking for another shot — not at the governor’s office, but at his old job, insurance commissioner. And in a twist, Poizner has severed his ties with the GOP and is running as an independent. Poizner says his motive isn’t to create a new party in the gaps between the Republican and Democratic machines; it’s to show would-be public servants who are turned off by the political climate in this state that there is a nonpartisan path to office. (10/3)
Sacramento Bee:
We Already Know What America Would Look Like If Roe Is Overturned
The nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and threat to Roe v. Wade is cause for considerable concern for the future of legal abortion in the United States. But we don’t have to imagine what could happen in a post-Roe America. There are many current policies that already push abortion out of reach. (Sarah CM Roberts, 10/2)
San Jose Mercury News:
Why I'm Training To Be A Doctor Who Performs Abortions
In my small class of just 100 students at Stanford School of Medicine, many of my peers dream of becoming neurosurgeons. The ability to save lives from the most devastating of diseases drives them to enter the most competitive and demanding of fields. I, too, want to save lives from the devastating circumstances that unfairly befall all of us. But it is not neurosurgery that interests me. Instead, I dream of becoming something else entirely: a gynecologist providing the full spectrum of reproductive services – including abortion. (Isabel Beshar, 10/3)
Los Angeles Times:
Mentally Ill Homeless People Won't Get Well On The Sidewalks. They Need Housing. Yes On Prop 2
Of the roughly 134,000 homeless people on the streets of California, about a third are seriously mentally ill. Their illnesses cannot be successfully treated on sidewalks. They must get housing first. That’s why the state of California wisely enacted Assembly Bill 1816 two years ago to raise $2 billion to build or preserve permanent supportive housing for homeless people suffering from mental illness. ... But the housing program — titled No Place Like Home — has been stymied by a lawsuit that contends the Mental Health Services Act was never intended to be spent on housing. ... Voters will have the chance to resolve this issue in November by passing a ballot measure, Proposition 2, that would explicitly allow Mental Health Services Act dollars to be spent on the No Place Like Home program. We strongly endorse it. (10/2)
The Mercury News:
Keep O'Connor, Saint Louise Hospital Beds Open
It’s imperative that San Jose’s O’Connor Hospital and Gilroy’s Saint Louise Regional Hospital remain open to serve Santa Clara County’s growing population. The county already has a shortage of hospital beds. Losing O’Connor’s 358 beds and Saint Louise’s 93 beds would exacerbate the problem for a county anticipating its population to grow from 1.75 million today to 2.3 million by the year 2030. The hospitals’ owner, Verity Health System of California, said Tuesday that it has asked a bankruptcy court to approve an auction in December. The county’s $235 million bid for the two hospitals will be considered along with any others that might come forward. (10/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Breast Cancer Is Political. Tie That Up In Your Pink Ribbon
After my double mastectomy two years ago, I had to read two terrifying things: my pathology report and my hospital bill. The pathology report made me sink to the floor with despair; it noted multiple large tumors that had invaded my skin, and 15 underarm lymph nodes bursting with rapidly dividing cancer cells. I would require months of aggressive treatment. The bill for my hospital stay and surgery was $173,000. But there was some good news: My insurance plan paid for all of it. For this, I thanked the Affordable Care Act. (Sascha Cohen, 10/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Orange County Prospers When Its Youngest Children Are Prioritized
Orange County will only be as strong as its children are. And they need our help now. The recently released 2018 Orange County Community Indicators Report shines a light on the current lack of priority placed on early childhood and its affect on our children. (Kim Goll, 10/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Sending Migrant Kids To Trump's Tent City Is Atrocious. So Is The Congressional Cowardice That Got Us Here
Stoking fears of changing demographics and hinting at the decline of white America, the Trump administration has adopted a severe, xenophobic immigration policy. After trying to bar Muslims from the country, after insulting Mexicans, after cutting back the number of refugees admitted, after separating children from their parents, the latest outrage is that the government has moved nearly 2,000 of the estimated 13,000 “unaccompanied minors” it has in custody to a barren tent city in the remote border town of Turnillo, about 30 miles southeast of El Paso. (10/2)