Viewpoints: The Costs Of Single-Payer Go Beyond Tax Increases

Orange County Register: Don’t Kill Choice In Health Care 
Let’s talk about the facts and reality of a single-payer health care system. The cost of such a system would literally double the state budget. It may offer no out-of-pocket expenses, but there would be plenty of costs. (Dorothy Cociu, 6/10)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Single-Payer Health Plan Full Of False Promises 
“Single-payer” sounds like an innocuous term that implies that it is simply cutting out the health insurance industry between physicians and patients. But SB 562 would do more — it would give Sacramento total control over California’s health care system. The state alone would decide how much physicians, nurses and other health professionals will be paid — making them de facto government employees. (Patricia Bates, 6/14)

The Wall Street Journal: A Single-Payer Test Drive
California’s state Senate recently passed a single-payer health-care bill, and we’re warming to the idea as an instructive experiment in progressive government. If Democrats believe the lesson of ObamaCare is that the government should have even more control over health care, then why not show how it would work in the liberal paradise? (6/11)

Los Angeles Times: Government Actuaries Say You'll Pay A Whole Lot More For Health Insurance If The GOP Repeals Obamacare
ere are some findings about Obamacare repeal that congressional Republicans and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price will have trouble explaining away: Under the GOP’s Affordable Care Act repeal bill, individuals will be paying an average 27% more for their insurance by 2026 than under current law... Stunningly, cost-sharing — that is, co-pays and deductibles — would rise by an average 61% compared to current law. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/13)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Uses Bogus Numbers On Obamacare — Again 
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price was quick off the mark Monday after his agency released fresh data on “effectuated enrollments” — that is, Americans who not only chose an Affordable Care Act individual health plan for 2017, but secured coverage by paying their first monthly installment... Getting accurate data about ACA enrollments from the Department of Health and Human Services is more important than ever now, as the Senate works on its ACA repeal bill behind closed doors—via secret meetings of a small group of Republican Senators, with no public hearings likely to be scheduled before a vote. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/13)

Los Angeles Times: How Trump Has Made The Department Of Health And Human Services A Center Of False Science On Contraception
Contraception policy may not be the biggest target of the anti-science right wing — climate change and evolution probably rank higher — but it’s the field in which scientific disinformation has the most immediate consequences for public health. So it’s especially disturbing that President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price have stocked the corridors of health policy with purveyors of conclusively debunked claptrap about contraception, abortion, pregnancy and women’s reproductive health generally. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/15)

Sacramento Bee: The Difference Between Life And Death For Diabetics
Each year, more than 200,000 Californians walk out of their doctor’s office with a diagnosis of diabetes. Up and down the Central Valley, in many of the poorest communities in the state, more than half the residents are considered obese and two-thirds suffer from either diabetes or pre-diabetes. But it’s not just the number of cases that is rising. The cost of the medicine to combat the disease is exploding at the same time. (Ed Hernandez, 6/9)

Los Angeles Times: The Senate Is About To Ram Through Trumpcare. This Is Not A Drill; It's An Emergency
Like a thief in the night, Senate Republicans are trying to take healthcare from tens of millions of people to pay for a massive tax cut. What we don’t know is exactly how many people will lose coverage or how much rich people will save in taxes — because Republicans are refusing to make their version of the American Health Care Act public. If you had any doubts that the bill would be a substantive and political disaster, this secretiveness should remove them. (Scott Lemieux, 6/13)

Orange County Register: Coming Together To Get Rehab Industry Back On Track
Enormous amounts of money and resources have poured into a proliferation of treatment centers and sober homes all over the country, with a huge representation in Southern California... While many of these activities may not be illegal, they are detrimental to patients and can cause insurance companies to deny or limit access, and authorize lower, less expensive levels of care, across the board. (Rebecca Flood, 6/16)

Ventura County Star: Congress Should Preserve Treatment For Opioid Addiction
Opioid addiction is a national health care crisis. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 2 million Americans either abuse or are dependent on prescription opioids. On an average day in the U.S, this powerful chemical dependency accounts for 91 deaths. Throughout California, in communities both urban and rural, health care workers are battling opioids. Our local communities throughout Ventura County are also affected. (Alex Dodd, 6/10)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Universal Health Care Turns Out To Be Good For Business 
In a nutshell, this is what he found: California currently spends $368 billion on health care. A single-payer health care system would cost California $404 billion. While it would seem that California would have to come up with another $36 billion to fund SB 562, that price tag does not take into account the substantial cost savings inherent in a single-payer system or the monies we currently receive from federal and public sources to fund our current system. (Julie A. Trager, 6/14)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Wants To Deny Nursing-Home Residents And Their Families The Right To Sue
Let’s say your elderly parent was neglected or abused in a nursing home. In the past, your only recourse might have been arbitration, rather than going to court. But thanks to a rule put in place last fall by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nursing homes that receive federal funding — which is most of them — could no longer include so-called mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts. In other words, residents and their family members were given back the right to sue. (David Lazarus, 6/13)

Los Angeles Times: 'Alexa, What's My Blood Sugar Level And How Much Insulin Should I Take?'
It’s become a punchline in the tech industry that every start-up is out to change the world. When it comes to medical technology, however, some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley are poised to do just that. Apple, Google and Amazon have announced or are reported to be developing cutting-edge technologies for managing diabetes, one of the fastest-growing chronic illnesses, affecting more than 420 million people worldwide. (David Lazarus, 6/9)