Viewpoints: Medicaid Work Requirements Are Disastrous But That Hasn’t Stopped Administration
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Despite A Judge's Disapproval, Trump Administration Is Doubling Down On Medicaid Restrictions
In the real world, it has become clear that placing restrictions such as work and reporting requirements on Medicaid is disastrous. They’re legally dubious, for one thing — as a federal judge stated in late June when he tossed out work requirements imposed in Kentucky. More important, they lead to needy beneficiaries being thrown off the program and locked out of healthcare for lengthy periods, often because of confused regulations and the natural uncertainties of life in a low-income environment. The best evidence for that comes from Arkansas, where thousands of residents may lose their eligibility for Medicaid for no good reason — and may not even know they’ve been barred until they go to a doctor and get turned away. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Single-Payer Health Care Shows That Democrats Can Be Extreme, Too
This insanity of the Trump Republican Party is obvious. But the irresponsibility of the Democratic left is quite troublesome: Free college, free health care, no fossil fuels, no statewide water system – on and on it goes. (David Townsend, 8/23)
San Jose Mercury News:
Reject Prop. 8, Capping Dialysis Firms' Profits
Proposition 8 provides a classic example of a ballot measure that has no business being decided by California voters. The complex initiative designed to regulate the dialysis industry is better suited for the Legislature, where the wording of new laws can be thoroughly vetted and easily altered if problems arise. (8/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Besty DeVos Might Let Schools Use Federal Grants To Buy Guns? That's Dangerously Foolish
So far this calendar year, the nation has seen 15 school shootings in which at least one person was killed. Overall, 32 people have died, including 10 people in May at Santa Fe High School near Houston, and 17 people in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., according to a running tally kept by Education Week. Every such act of violence is tragic, and the scope of the mass shootings has shocked the nation. Against the greater backdrop of American gun violence, however — 5,627 non-suicide firearm deaths last year and 9,395 so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive — the risk of gun-wielders attacking schools is low. Yet some states, driven by the National Rifle Assn. mentality that a fully armed America is a safer America (it’s not), have passed laws allowing teachers and staffs at schools to carry or have access to firearms. (8/23)
The Mercury News:
California's War On Affordable Health Insurance
“A crisis of affordability.” That’s what is plaguing the individual health insurance market, according to Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The culprit? Obamacare. The health law’s regulations have steadily driven up the cost of insurance. Between 2013 — the year before most of Obamacare’s provisions took effect — and 2017, premiums for individual plans doubled. They’re expected to jump another 15 percent next year. (Sally C. Pipes, 8/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Lack Of Political Power Can Actually Make You Sick
It’s no coincidence that the people who have the least influence over California’s decision-makers also have the worst health outcomes. It’s also no surprise that the elite Californians whose interests are amplified by campaign contributions, high-paid lobbyists and electoral power are shielded from the random and deliberate causes of poor health. (Daniel Zingale, 8/23)
Los Angeles Times:
No, Medicaid Expansion Did Not Worsen The Opioid Crisis — But It's Crucial For Fixing The Problem
One of the most popular partisan attacks on Medicaid is the claim that the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act exacerbated the opioid crisis in America. You’ll find this claim retailed on right-wing websites all across the internet. It’s been energetically marketed by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who paints a picture of an army of Medicaid patients using their government-provided ID cards to obtain prescription opioids for free, then turning around and selling the drugs at a terrific markup. Johnson’s claim has been widely debunked, as we’ve reported before. But a new paper from a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins emphasizes another aspect of the matter generally overlooked or minimized by Johnson and his acolytes: Medicaid, including Medicaid expansion, is crucial for treating the opioid epidemic. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/20)
Sacramento Bee:
California Cannot Wait On Clean Drinking Water Crisis
The disgracefully high number of Californians who don’t have clean drinking water is a full-on crisis that deserves an urgent response. So Gov. Jerry Brown and a bipartisan group of legislators are right to try again with a revised plan to get more money flowing to ease this public health emergency. They faced intense opposition to what critics labeled a “water tax” – a small levy on customer bills – in their original plan, which also included new fees on farms and dairies. (8/23)
San Francisco Chronicle:
On Fentanyl: Congress Must Avoid Another Drug War
Just like the crack cocaine epidemic that resulted in overly harsh penalties targeted at African Americans in the 1980s, fentanyl and other synthetic drugs are poised to be the next drugs that politicians use to justify long prison sentences for drug users. (Diana Goldstein, 8/17)
San Jose Mercury News:
Why Gig Economy Workers Deserve Basic Protections
The California Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex v. Lee holds that businesses can no longer misclassify their workers as “independent contractors” in order to avoid meeting basic labor standards. Dynamex is a trucking company, but many tech companies rely heavily on this misclassification strategy as well, and they have unleashed their lobbyists to try to reverse the decision. (Maria Noel Fernandez and Ben Field, 8/17)