Viewpoints: The Drug Industry Really Doesn’t Want You To Know It’s Ripping You Off
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
Drug Industry Lawsuit Shows It Wants To Keep Patients In Dark On Pricing
The drug industry really, really doesn't want you to know that it's ripping you off with frequent and questionable price increases for prescription meds. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry's main lobbying group, filed a lawsuit the other day seeking to derail a California law that will require 60 days' notice before drugmakers raise prices beyond a certain threshold. The law, SB 17, is set to take effect Jan. 1. (David Lazarus, 12/15)
Sacramento Bee:
California Is Right To Sue Over Birth Control Rollback
Laws such as Senate Bill 1053 not only codified the protections of the ACA into law, but also expanded the methods of birth control available without copay. There is just one large exception – companies that offer self-insured plans can still opt out of providing birth control benefits, leaving 6.8 million Californians vulnerable. (Crystal Strait, 12/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Will Tax Reform Be The GOP's Obamacare?
For years, Republicans mocked Rep. Nancy Pelosi — and other Democrats — for dismissing the need to read the text of the Affordable Care Act before passing it. This time around, Republicans have insisted that we must pass tax reform to know what’s in it, and Democrats have denounced the sausage-making. The more important similarity lies in the fact that both parties pursued long-term ideological goals in the face of public opposition. President Obama gave dozens of speeches in favor of the Affordable Care Act and yet it was never popular with voters before passage or after — at least not until Donald Trump was elected, which just shows you how policy preferences take a backseat to partisanship. (Jonah Goldberg, 12/12)
Orange County Register:
Political Theater On Guns Not The Answer
One of the worst tendencies of politicians in the aftermath of a tragedy is the hijacking of public sentiment to promote sweeping proposals to expand government power. A recent case in point is a proposed ban on “assault weapons” after the tragic shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas. California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced the legislation along with 22 other Democratic senators “for one reason: so that after every mass shooting with a military-style assault weapon, the American people will know that a tool to reduce these massacres is sitting in the Senate, ready for debate and a vote.” (12/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Five Years On, We're Still Waiting For Sandy Hook To Change The Gun Debate
Five years ago today, Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother in Newtown, Conn., then took two semiautomatic handguns and a semiautomatic rifle from her cache of firearms to massacre 20 children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Of course, people declared at the time, such a tragic, senseless event would be a turning point. Surely a slaughter of innocent children would be too much even for the National Rifle Assn. and its adherents, and finally Congress would act to ban civilian possession of the guns of war. Nope. (12/14)
Los Angeles Times:
CVS And Aetna Say Their Massive Merger Is Needed To Keep Prices Down. That Remains To Be Seen
American consumers aren’t the only ones struggling with higher healthcare costs. CVS Health’s proposed $69-billion purchase of health insurer Aetna is driven in part by the companies’ efforts to get control over more of the costs they face, and to make their operations more efficient. The question for regulators, though, is whether the combination results in a company that uses its clout to help consumers or squeeze more dollars out of them. (12/11)
LA Daily News:
Medical Aid In Dying Is A Christian Option To Stop End-Of-Life Suffering
As a minister, I am called upon to counsel and pray with terminally ill people as they prepare for the end of their lives. ...As a faith leader, I am deeply concerned about terminally ill people as well as a dying patient’s right to a peaceful death at the end of life. (Sergio Camacho, 12/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Fixing America's Food Deserts Alone Won't Fix Our Terrible Diets
You are what you eat. It's an expression with roots in the early 1800s that has come to mean if you consume what's good for you, you will be healthy, and if you don't, well, watch out. But our latest research on what influences consumers to make unhealthy food choices has compelled us to turn that axiom on its head: You eat what you are. (Christine A. Vaughan and Tamara Dubowitz, 12/11)
Orange County Register:
Long-Term Solution Needed On State Marijuana Laws
On Dec. 7 Congress extended critical protections for states that allow lawful access to medical marijuana. Since 2014, the Rohrabacher-Blumenauer amendment, originally known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, has prevented the Justice Department from spending money to interfere with state medical marijuana laws. Today, 29 states and the District of Columbia have laws on the books allowing some degree of access to medical marijuana, serving roughly 2 million patients, according to the Marijuana Policy Project and New Frontier Data. (12/12)
Mercury News:
Tiny Houses, Take 2 In San Jose — And Yes, We Need These For The Homeless
When the idea of “tiny homes” burst onto the scene years back as a trendy, almost utopian answer to burgeoning homelessness, I was a skeptic. If you have land to put up a bunch of 8-by-10-foot cabins with no plumbing, why not build real housing on it? So on one level, I wasn’t surprised at the neighborhood backlash when San Jose set out to find sites for tiny home villages — what it calls bridge housing — in each of its 10 city council districts earlier this year. (Marshman, 12/10)
Orange County Register:
Fear, Loathing And Hope For Homeless On The Santa Ana River Trail
After months of bureaucratic wrangling and hand-wringing over how to handle the homeless situation, the Santa Ana River Trail is more filthy, more hazardous and — OMG — more crowded than ever. ...Along the 30-mile stretch of asphalt, there are more than 700 make-shift shelters and more than 1,000 homeless people. (David Whiting, 12/8)