Viewpoints: Single-Payer Is Humane Alternative To Our ‘Heartless’ Health System
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
San Jose Mercury News:
Single-Payer Best Cure For California Health Care
Only 39 percent of Americans can cover a $1,000 unexpected medical bill without incurring significant debt. Medical costs were the largest single contributor to increasing the number of people falling into poverty. With the Trump administration’s and Congress’ assaults on the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid, it’s about to get worse. (Malinda Markowitz, 2/6)
San Francisco Chronicle:
SB562 Puts Newly Expanded Health Care In California At Risk
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, California has cut its uninsured rate by more than half. We have helped real patients receive quality, consistent health care and literally saved thousands of lives in the process. Lawmakers in California now have a tremendous responsibility before them: to figure out how to provide care for low-income people, and to keep medical care affordable for millions of middle-class families.The gains of the last several years are under attack, threatened by efforts in Washington, D.C., to repeal the Affordable Care Act and by those in Sacramento who are pushing SB562, a version of single-payer health care that is simply not practical and puts the health of millions of Californians at risk. (Theresa Ullrich, 2/5)
Los Angeles Times:
With The Opioid Epidemic Raging, San Francisco Takes A Smart Gamble On Preventing Overdoses
With the opioid epidemic raging and thousands of people dying from overdoses annually, four Democrats in the California Legislature proposed a controversial but potentially effective response: letting a handful of counties experiment with safe injection sites. At these government-sanctioned centers, drug users could bring illicit controlled substances to inject in a clean space with clinical supervision to guard against lethal overdoses. (2/8)
Sacramento Bee:
Mentally Ill Californians Shouldn’t Die On The Street, Untreated. The Law Must Change
Nick Petris had the best of intentions a half century ago when he lent his talent and clout to the law that bears his name, and that to this day governs how California cares for – and too often fails – its mentally ill. A legislator who represented Oakland and Berkeley for 40 years ending in 1996, Petris set out to end the “tyrannical and oppressive system of incarcerating people so easily” in the state hospital system, which at its height warehoused 36,853 people. But as he recounted in a 1989 oral history, the law “went overboard.” (2/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Banning Tackle Football For Kids? There's Nothing 'Nanny State' About It If The Science Is Sound
[L]egislatures in New York and Illinois are zeroing in on a different aspect of the nation's most popular sport: brain injuries among young [football] players. Lawmakers in both states have introduced measures that would ban tackle football for children under age 12. Making kids wait longer to don pads and helmets is not a bad idea, nor would it be a bad choice to extend such limits to other sports, such as hockey, lacrosse and boxing, where children as young as 8 strap on gloves and protective gear and punch each other in the head. (2/2)
San Jose Mercury News:
Heart Screening Scan Should Be Available To All
We recently learned some of the details of President Trump’s 2018 physical examination. His exam included a Coronary Artery Calcium CT scan, the same type of scan that Air Force pilots, astronauts and senior military officers have long been given as a tool in determining fitness for duty. ...This early detection allows for the implementation of effective preventive medications and strategies. ... As leaders involved in the California Right Care Initiative public-private partnership that works to speed lifesaving medical advances to benefit the general public, we wonder, why can’t this easy and relatively inexpensive ($150) test that is used by certain members of our society — presidents, pilots and astronauts to name a few — be made available to the general public to better guide their treatment? (David Maron, William Bommer and Stephen Shortell, 2/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Why Do Poor Americans Eat So Unhealthfully? Because Junk Food Is The Only Indulgence They Can Afford
The verdict is in: Food deserts don't drive nutritional disparities in the United States the way we thought. Over the past decade, study after study has shown that differences in access to healthy food can't fully explain why wealthy Americans consume a healthier diet than poor Americans. If food deserts aren't to blame, then what is? (Priya Fielding-Singh, 2/7)
Sacramento Bee:
Blaming Home School For Perris Child Torture Is Like Blaming Trenchcoats For Columbine
Last month, a malnourished 17-year-old girl escaped a house in the inland Southern California town of Perris and called the Riverside County sheriff using a purloined cellphone. She reported her brothers and sisters were being held captive by their parents in squalid conditions. The girl was so diminutive, authorities didn’t believe at first the teen was as old as she said. Then the cops walked into a horror show that shocked the nation and the world. The girl’s 12 siblings, ranging in age from 2 to 29, were roped or shackled with chains and padlocks to their excrement-encrusted beds. They were sick, hungry and afraid. Police said the family dogs looked fine, though. (Ben Boychuck, 2/8)