Viewpoints: Skyrocketing Drug Costs Are Unsustainable, Transparency Bill Must Pass
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
The Mercury News:
Californians Deserve Transparency In Prescription Drug Pricing
Californians now pay more for their prescription drugs than they do for their doctors. The state spent a whopping $4 billion on drugs in 2015, and pharmaceutical companies are pushing another 12 percent increase in 2017. The Legislature has to pass state Sen. Ed Hernandez’ SB 17 and force drug makers to provide information about how they price their products. (9/7)
Sacramento Bee:
A Worthy Target For Unions: Drug Companies
As the California Legislature winds to a close for the year, there are still a handful of opportunities to make a real difference in the lives of working families. Chief among them is Senate Bill 17 – the second attempt in as many years to bring some measure of sanity to the insanely high cost of prescription drugs. In 2016 alone, Americans shelled out upward of $450 billion on medications to treat conditions ranging from high cholesterol to diabetes to depression. Assuming no major shift in public policy, we’ll be spending as much as $610 billion by 2021. (9/7)
Sacramento Bee:
Is Bipartisan Health Reform Possible?
As a doctor, I know many Americans are concerned about the future of health care. Nobody should have to worry that an unexpected medical bill could threaten their family’s financial security. Unfortunately, Republicans have tried for several months to gut the Affordable Care Act without offering a replacement. Playing politics with people’s lives is wrong. As Congress returns from summer recess, we have a clear decision to make: Can we work together to fix health care? (Ami Bera, 9/8)
San Jose Mercury News:
Trump Sabotage Of Obamacare Is Cruel To Poor
The president announced Thursday that he would slash spending on advertising and promotion for enrollment under the Affordable Care Act by nearly $100 million, virtually assuring that fewer people will sign up for health care plans in 2018. ... The end result will be higher premiums and medical costs for all Americans. (9/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Slashing Advertising And Outreach Funds, Trump Takes His Sabotage Of Obamacare To A New Level
President Trump talks incessantly about how the Affordable Care Act has failed. He has threatened to make it “implode.” Now he has taken a major step toward making his own predictions and threats come true. The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it is cutting the advertising budget for the upcoming open enrollment period for individual insurance policies by a stunning 90%, to $10 million from last year’s $100 million. The HHS also is cutting funds for nonprofit groups that employ “navigators,” those who help people in the individual market understand their options and sign up, by roughly 40%, to $36.8 million from $62.5 million. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/1)
Los Angeles Times:
If Teenagers Get More Sleep, California Could Gain Billions
Sleep deprivation among teenagers should be regarded as a public health epidemic. Only about 60% of teenagers get the eight to 10 hours of sleep a night recommended by sleep scientists and pediatricians. A major reason teens aren’t getting enough sleep isn’t hormones, their busy social lives, too much homework or too much screen time. It’s actually a matter of public policy. (Wendy M. Troxel and Marco Hafner, 9/7)
Sacramento Bee:
Legislature Should Kill These Bills
In a Capitol controlled by Democrats, many of whom owe their election to union support, the pressure is intense to side with their labor allies. But they should ask themselves whether it’s the proper place for the Legislature to, say, determine that the United Food and Commercial Workers should dictate health policy. That’s essentially what would happen if they approve Assembly Bill 1461 by Assemblyman Tony Thurmond, D-Richmond. The bill is aimed at Blue Apron, which packages meal kits for people who like to cook but don’t have time to shop. The California Department of Public Health regulates the company as a food processor rather than a food handler. Thurmond’s bill would impose additional regulations. (9/5)
Sacramento Bee:
Make Sure Meal Kits Don't Deliver Illness
Without swift action, a growing part of California’s food supply will be left unsafe. That’s because meal-kit delivery startups are rapidly increasing in number and popularity and currently are exempt from the same safety standards that reduce the risk of illness from food purchased from restaurants or grocery stores. (Justin Malan, 9/7)
Orange County Register:
Prop. 66 Could Turn Out To Slow Death Penalty Cases
The California Supreme Court has upheld most of Proposition 66, the initiative to speed up the death penalty, but in doing so may have made an even more tangled mess of it. ... There are currently more than 740 inmates on death row in San Quentin and nearly 400 appeals pending, with many more inmates still waiting for lawyers. (9/5)
Sacramento Bee:
CA Bill Would Defend Title IX Rules As Betsy DeVos Considers Roll-Back
No matter their party, legislators talk solemnly about how they want to help folks back home, even as they cast votes to help their favored interests in these final few days of the legislative session. Here are a few bills that actually could help individuals. Few measures would have greater impact on families than Senate Bill 328 by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge. It would require that schools start classes after 8:30 a.m. (9/7)
Los Angeles Times:
Why The Federal Government Urgently Needs To Fund More Cancer Research
Two weeks ago I lay in a hospital bed at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine and watched a clear, garlicky-smelling bag of my re-engineered white blood cells drip into my veins. The bag contained not only my collected T cells but also magic sauce from Novartis, the drug company financing a trial of a gene therapy for my specific mutation of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. (Lalli, 9/5)
Los Angeles Times:
By Tossing A Richard Simmons Libel Case, A Judge Strikes A Blow Against Transgender Discrimination
[Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gregory] Keosian places sexual identity on the same plane where imputations about race and homosexuality have been for years — as not inherently defamatory. The ruling is potentially important for several reasons. As Keosian observes, it’s the first such ruling in California, which makes it seem like a harbinger of legal rulings to come nationwide. It also chips away at what may be the last legally acceptable standard of prejudice under the law, which is that directed at transgender persons and those exploring their gender identity. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/1)
Sacramento Bee:
Smoking Should Only Be In R-Rated Movies
Most adults who smoke started as teens, and it’s very difficult to quit due to nicotine addiction. The best solution is to prevent children and teens from starting to smoke in the first place, but federal health officials say that exposure to on-screen smoking will lead more than 6 million children to start smoking. Two million will die prematurely from tobacco-induced cancer, heart disease, lung disease or stroke. (Gordon Garcia and David Modisette, 9/7)