Viewpoints: Say Yes To Vaccines

The Sacramento Bee: Crazy Campaign Talk On Vaccines
There’s only one responsible stance for a U.S. president when it comes to vaccinating schoolchildren. Just say yes. Vaccines are among history’s great public health advances; immunization has saved generations from lethal and crippling childhood diseases. The vast majority of physicians share this view, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the World Health Organization, and most Americans consider immunization to be a societal obligation. That’s why California last year passed one of the nation’s toughest vaccine mandates. (8/2)

Orange County Register: Yes, I Have Diabetes And Yes, It's My Fault
So, let me just say it: Yes, I was stupid. Yes, I let myself get fat. Yes, I caused my Type 2 diabetes by poor eating and sitting around writing this column instead of running marathons. (Marla Jo Fisher, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Covers Free Annual Physicals, Right? Wrong
“There’s nothing in the ACA that guarantees a free checkup,” said Bradley Herring, an associate professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s surprising how many people think it’s part of the law.” For consumers, this is perhaps one of the more confusing aspects of Obamacare, which does indeed cover certain free preventive services and so-called wellness visits but stops short of free annual physicals. (David Lazarus, 8/2)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Helping Make Opioid Epidemic A Thing Of The Past
The opioid epidemic facing our state is one of the worst health care crises California has ever seen. The numbers are staggering. California hospitals treat roughly one opioid overdose every 45 minutes. In 2014, addiction stole 4,521 of our sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters from us. That’s 4,521 families shattered, forever. That’s more than any other state. (Sherrie Rubin and Gary Mendel, 8/3)

Mercury News: We Can Eradicate AIDS, TB And Malaria By 2030
The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is the largest contributing program that finances much of the on-the-ground humanitarian work in impacted communities to provide health care to victims. ...The next replenishment period is 2017-19, and commitments of monetary donations to the fund will be made by countries this fall. The United States has been one of the major contributors to the global fund, committing over $10.6 billion in the past year. As we approach the commitment deadline, our country needs to continue to do its part. (Apoorva Handigol and Tiffany Huang . 8/1)

The Sacramento Bee: Bill To Expand Market In Women’s Egg Donations Would Undermine Safeguards
Assembly Bill 2531 is working its way through the Legislature and would expand the market in women’s egg donations and would allow researchers to provide financial incentive payments to women providing eggs for research. The bill would overturn California safeguards for women who undergo a serious medical procedure for egg extraction by repealing a law I wrote in 2006. As a former state senator, I chaired the Senate Health Committee and authored laws that promoted biomedical, stem cell and cancer research while ensuring that women’s health was not compromised in the process. (Deborah Ortiz, 8/4)

Oakland Tribune: How To Stay Informed As Medicare Changes
In a proposed rule more than 900 pages long and set for publication in the Federal Register in early August, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services lays out a framework for paying health care providers to better coordinate certain medical procedures, such as joint replacements and cardiac care, with the aim of improving patient outcomes. They'll get a set fee, or a bundled payment, to care for patients. If they meet quality and performance measures, they'll earn higher federal reimbursement. (Kidd Stewart, 8/4)

Orange County Register: Slip And Falls? Personal Injury Attorney Says The System Works And Has The Mock Court To Prove It
Most of us shake our heads about what we sometimes call blood-sucking lawyers and remember simpler times when a “slip and fall” meant you dusted yourself off, sucked it up – and hobbled around for years. But with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 17,000 annual slip and fall accidents alone, is the grumbling based on fact or fiction? West Seegmiller sits in his mock courtroom in Newport Beach – that’s right, a courtroom complete with judge’s bench, jury chairs, attorneys’ table – where he tests cases before mock juries. (David Whiting, 7/29)

Los Angeles Times: It's Unacceptable To Delay The Exide Cleanup When Public Health Is At Stake
Earlier this month, state officials revealed that they had found nearly 250 spots on 203 properties near the former Exide battery recycling plant where levels of brain-damaging lead were more than 10 times higher than California’s health standard and at concentrations that were high enough to be considered “hazardous waste” under the law. Another 2,200 spots had concentrations that would make it unsafe for children to play in the yard. That’s scary news. Yet the residents living in these dangerous conditions amid high levels of a potent neurotoxin will have to wait a year or more to have their property cleaned up. (7/30)

The Fresno Bee: Killing Off, Adding Hospital Beds – Why?
In California, billions are being spent on retrofitting or new construction to ensure that hospitals meet earthquake standards that take effect in 2030...Whether the end result will provide sufficient beds to handle California’s growth and aging baby boomers depends on where in the state you live. In a 2015 report, the California Health Care Foundation said the San Joaquin Valley and the Inland Empire may be hard-pressed to meet demand by 2040. (John G. Taylor, 7/29)

Orange County Register: Today’s Potent Pot Is Not Your Mom’s Maryjane
Today’s pot is typically four times stronger than it was just a couple decades ago. That’s timely to note in the current push to legalize the drug because much of the research showing marijuana has only modest health effects on adults is based on weaker strains that have been largely bred out of the marketplace. That means, as Californians prepare to vote this November on a recreational marijuana initiative, they’ll do so without conclusive answers from the medical community on how today’s pot may affect mental health and the debate over the gateway drug theory. (Brooke Edwards Staggs, 8/3)