Viewpoints: Shelved Single-Payer Bill Is A Recipe For The Collapse Of Health Care In California
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Orange County Register:
California’s Single-Payer Health Care Proposal Is A Disaster
Senate Bill 562, the single-payer health care proposal passed by the California state Senate in the summer of 2017, and never heard by the California Assembly, is a recipe for the collapse of health care in California. The scheme would produce deficits that could make the unfunded governmental pension liabilities look like child’s play. (Hank Adler, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Bowing To Koch Brothers, House Passes Egregious 'Right To Try' Bill
Few Washington practices are creepier than the exploitation of the desperately ill for ideological ends. That hasn't stopped the sponsors of the egregious federal 'right to try' bill from scheduling the measure for a crucial House vote Tuesday. ... Fernandez Lynch and Steven Joffe, her colleague at Penn, warned in a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine that granting patients with life-threatening illnesses a "right to try" experimental drugs without FDA oversight is a steep, slippery slope. "This logic could ultimately extend to patients with serious chronic illnesses and… to all patients who find their approved treatment options unsatisfactory." (Michael Hiltzik, 3/22)
Sacramento Bee:
Health Care Union’s Hardball Tactics Put California Dialysis Patients In The Crossfire
he union wants to use the threat of a ballot initiative to scare dialysis providers into complying with their demands. It is irresponsible and dangerous for UHW to use patients as pawns. The proposed measure would impose unprecedented limits on what health insurance companies are required to pay community dialysis clinics. (Bryan Wong, 3/22)
San Francisco Chronicle:
At-Home Breast Cancer Test Nothing To Celebrate
I am not celebrating that the Food and Drug Administration just approved, for the first time, an at-home genetic testing kit to predict the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. It might seem as if direct-to-consumer genetic testing, which doesn’t require a doctor’s prescription, would give more people access to potentially life-saving information about their cancer risk. But the FDA’s approval of 23andMe’s new genetic test is anything but an historic step forward for women at risk of and living with breast cancer. (Karuna Jaggar, 3/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Wants A New War On Drugs
President Trump's opioid response plan might have multiple prongs, but when he unveiled it Monday, he clearly was most interested in the prong that gets "very tough" on drug dealers. We know this because he said so approximately 5,000 times during a speech announcing the new plan in New Hampshire, a state chosen as the backdrop because it is one of those hardest hit by opioid addiction and overdose deaths. (3/20)
Los Angeles Times:
If It Wasn't Related To Abortion, California's FACT Act Would Easily Be Upheld By The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Tuesday in the case National Institute of Family and Life Advocates vs. Becerra, which challenges a California law requiring reproductive healthcare facilities to inform women of state programs that might assist them. It should be an easy issue to decide — in favor of the California law — but it is not because it arises in the context of abortion. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 3/20)
Sacramento Bee:
Veterans Affairs Caregivers Need Funding And Support, Not Mere ‘Thank-Yous’
While the department has tried to prevent and manage disruptive behavior, these programs go only so far, and their effectiveness is undermined by the lack of funding, staffing and support from the president and VA and congressional leaders. The tragic events at Yountville present the nation and its leaders with an opportunity to finally thank VHA caregivers for their service. (Suzanne Gordon, 3/22)
Orange County Register:
California’s Growing Mental Health And Homelessness Crisis
California is facing a growing mental health and homelessness crisis throughout the state. Let’s start by looking at some troubling statistics from the California Health Care Foundation, which estimates that “nearly 1 in 6 California adults has a mental health need, and 1 in 20 suffers from a serious mental illness that makes it difficult to carry out major life activities.” (Phillip Chen, 3/17)
Los Angeles Times:
Medical Tourists, Undocumented Immigrants And Ballooning Costs: California's Path To Single Payer Is Rocky
After state Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) pulled the plug last year on a fast-moving but half-baked Senate bill to guarantee premium-free health insurance to all Californians, the nurses union that sponsored the legislation called it a "cowardly act" and threatened to push for a recall election. The wisdom of Rendon's action became even more apparent last week, however, when UC San Francisco released an Assembly-commissioned report on the path to universal health coverage in California. Based on a series of hearings by a select committee appointed by Rendon, the report shows how many obstacles stand in the way — and how many issues the Senate had left unresolved. (3/17)