Viewpoints: Plan For Universal Health Care In California Is Fatally Flawed
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Single-Payer Healthcare In California? Time To Take A Cold Shower And Return To The Real World
state-run universal healthcare system? California only? It’s fantasy... But it’s a rallying cry for many liberal followers of Bernie Sanders. And some Democratic legislators are seriously pursuing the idea, urged on by the politically powerful California Nurses Assn. (George Skelton, 5/25)
The Mercury News:
Single Payer Detracts From Pressing California Health Care Issue
Sen. Ricardo Lara’s single-payer legislation was a non-starter in California from day one, even before it was given an eye-popping $400 billion price tag. He knows that, and so does anyone paying attention to Sacramento and Washington politics. Gov. Jerry Brown would almost certainly veto it if it passes the Legislature, and the GOP Congress has zero interest in the cooperation required to make it work even if the governor were to sign it into law. (5/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Universal Health Care For California? In Fantasyland, Maybe.
Sen. Ricardo Lara deserves credit for delving into the complex reality of health care. But for now, his prescription, a California-only universal health care system, looks less like a salve for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act than a political rallying cry – and a fiscal fantasy. (5/22)
Los Angeles Times:
For Democrats In California, A Generational Shift Pulls The Party Left, With Danger And Opportunity Ahead
The generational and ideological fight that split the party over the weekend centered on the party chairmanship and an extended tussle over whether the party and its leaders were sufficiently supportive of a state Medicare-for-all plan. That healthcare arose as the most prominent issue reflected the party’s changed circumstances. (Cathleen Decker, 5/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Trumpcare Will Make It Even Harder For Millions Of California'S Kids To Graduate And Get Jobs
The latest report from the Congressional Budget Office once again exposes the sharp and bitter truth about the House Republican efforts to “repeal and replace” President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. The American Health Care Act — now in the hands of the Senate — represents a glaring transfer of wealth, security and opportunity from low-income to high-income individuals. (Walter Zelman and Tom Epstein, 5/24)
Sacramento Bee:
House Republicans' Health Care Bill Is Sick
President Donald Trump and House Republicans gathered in the Rose Garden on May 4 to crow about their achievement, willfully ignorant of the pain they were prepared to inflict on poor and frail Americans. How proud they were that they played to their base by passing a bill, HR 1628, that would eviscerate Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement, the Affordable Care Act. (5/23)
Los Angeles Times:
If You Plan On Having A Baby Under Trumpcare, You Better Start Saving Now
Under a compromise struck by moderate Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) and conservative Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus, states would be permitted to waive the 10 “essential health benefits” that Obamacare required insurers to cover, and replace them with their own list... Maternity coverage would be squarely in the targets of states that did not previously require it, simply because it’s so expensive to provide — the average cost is about $17,000 a year, or more than $1,400 a month, for women with private insurance coverage, the CBO said. (Jon Healey, 5/25)
Los Angeles Times:
Die Hard: Republican Healthcare Bill Has No Problem Throwing You Off A Building
The horror show that is the GOP healthcare bill became even gorier this week as the Congressional Budget Office released its highly anticipated analysis of the legislation. As if those numbers alone weren’t sufficient to made this one of the most consumer-unfriendly bills ever, the Republican legislation also would make it possible for states to opt out of requirements under the Affordable Care Act and for insurers once again to turn the screws on sick people. (David Lazarus, 5/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Budget Plan Continues His Deceitful Attack On The Disabled — And Violates A Campaign Pledge
We pointed out back in March that Trump budget direct Mick Mulvaney displayed an alarming ignorance about Social Security disability benefits during an appearance on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” Now it turns out that there was method to his muttering. In effect, Mulvaney was telegraphing that the Trump White House was planning to cut disability benefits sharply. Axios reported Sunday that the Trump budget due out Tuesday will include $1.7 trillion in cuts to major social insurance and assistance programs, including food stamps, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Social Security disability. (Michael Hiltzik, 5/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Team Issues A Stunningly Dishonest Study Of Obamacare Rate Increases
The Department of Health and Human Services seemed mightily pleased with a statistic it issued Tuesday. The agency’s figures showed that premiums on the Affordable Care Act exchanges “doubled” from 2013 through this year. This might not sound like good news for the people buying their coverage on those exchanges, but to HHS it was vindication. “This report is a sobering reminder of why reforming our healthcare system remains a top priority of the Trump administration,” agency spokesperson Alleigh Marré said. (Michael Hiltzik, 5/24)
San Jose Mercury News:
Mentally Ill Kids Shouldn’t Languish In Juvenile Halls
California’s mentally ill children need clearer laws when going through the juvenile court system... While competency laws exist for juveniles suffering from mental illness, there are no clear, prescriptive guidelines for juveniles on the delivery and duration of services like those that exist in the adult system. Because of this gap in the law, these very vulnerable children languish in juvenile halls, unable to receive the mental health treatment they desperately need. (Mark Stone and Laura Garnette, 5/25)
Los Angeles Times:
Parents Are Getting The Message On Vaccinations, But What About School Start Times?
Recently released data show that California's vaccination rate of kindergartners, at nearly 96%, represents a three-point increase from the 2015-16 school year. The rate is now at its highest level since the current set of immunization requirements took effect in 2001. The rate has improved since a state law was passed after the measles outbreak at Disneyland in late 2014 and early 2015 -- an outbreak that was attributed largely to transmission by un-vaccinated individuals. (Patrice Apodaca, 5/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Holding Onto Life's Memories With Dementia
Writing this monthly column about my life with dementia has been somewhat therapeutic. And it also has been a learning experience. Every poignant reader response allows me to measure my location on the dementia highway. I am not as far along as many, but I am riding side by side with others. (Kent Pollock, 5/22)
Sacramento Bee:
California Must Resist Jeff Sessions, War On Drugs
This week, as Congress and the Trump administration were finding new ways to strip people of their health care, the American Psychiatric Association released a poll showing that a quarter of all Americans know someone who is addicted to heroin or prescription painkillers. That speaks to the devastation of an epidemic that has hooked everyone from suburban soccer moms popping Percocet for back pain to homeless men shooting up under highway bridges. More than 33,000 Americans overdosed in 2015, and new research suggests the real number is probably higher because autopsy reports aren’t always accurate. (Erika D. Smith, 5/23)