Viewpoints: Unheeded Warnings On CHIP; Californians Risk Losing Care Under Lawmaker Plans
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Los Angeles Times:
On Children's Health Coverage, Congressional Inaction Has Brought Us To The 'Nightmare Scenario'
Child healthcare advocates have been warning, and warning, and warning that Congress' delay on reauthorizing funds for the Children's Health Insurance Program places health coverage for as many as 9 million children and pregnant women at risk. But since the funding expired Sept. 30, there has been no action by Congress. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/27)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Children’s Health Care Could Blow Hole In California’s Budget
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) usually flies under the radar, but this year it’s about to blow a massive hole in California’s budget. ... This year, Congress blew its Oct. 1 deadline to renew CHIP funding, mostly because it was focused on a lamentable effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (11/28)
San Francisco Chronicle:
6.2 Million Californians Risk Losing Care Through Community Health Centers
In September, House Speaker Paul Ryan let the Community Health Center Fund lapse. Now, unless Congress acts to renew this funding, our health centers are bracing for a 70 percent budget cut. (Barbara Lee, 11/28)
Los Angeles Times:
Sen. Rubio Tells A Secret: After Giving A Tax Cut To The Rich, GOP Will Cut Social Security And Medicare
Advocates for seniors and the middle class have been warning for weeks that the Republican drive to cut taxes for the wealthy is the prelude to a larger attack on Social Security and Medicare. In a videotaped interview with two Politico reporters Wednesday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said the quiet parts out loud. Asked by interviewers Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman how to address the federal deficit, he replied: “We have to do two things. We have to generate economic growth which generates revenue, while reducing spending. That will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare for the future.” (Michael Hiltzik, 11/30)
Sacramento Bee:
It’s Dangerous To Deny Coverage To Chronically Ill
For thousands of Californians suffering from chronic and persistent illnesses, access to quality, affordable medical care is essential to their overall health. Yet, these patients have a one-in-four chance of being denied coverage by their insurance provider, according to a recent poll. (Seth Ginsberg, 11/28)
Los Angeles Times:
Want L.A's Hepatitis A Crisis To Get Even Worse? Follow Venice Beach's Lead
With Southern California confronting a deadly epidemic of hepatitis A, a highly contagious ailment that spreads through contact with the feces of an infected person, urban centers ought to be doing everything possible to improve sanitation. That's especially true in enclaves frequented by the homeless. (Conor Friedersdorf, 11/20)
Stat:
If Biden Runs For President, He'll Need To Reboot His Record On Drug Prices
Joe Biden wants to be president, the champion of working families. But there is another side to the former vice president: protector of big pharmaceutical companies, indifferent to the harsh consequences of high drug prices. If Biden wants to pursue a future in politics, he ought to consider a reboot on drug pricing issues. (James Love, 11/30)
The New York Times:
Kellyanne Conway Might As Well Be ‘Opioid Czar’
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, has no public health background, a reputation for bending the truth, and a knack for generating government ethics complaints. Yet Ms. Conway does have the ear of the president. She has also studied America’s opioid epidemic in recent months as part of her portfolio. She is not the “opioids czar,” as some news outlets reported this week, but her stepping out as point person on the government response to this public health crisis stirred hope of concrete action from a White House that so far has offered little more than talk. (11/30)
The Washington Post:
Trump Wants To Gut America’s Progress Against AIDS
Trump’s tweets are also distracting from other important matters of governance. And here is one that can’t get lost in the general madness: The Trump administration is proposing a reduction in funding and a shift in strategy in the fight against global AIDS that together would increase infections, cost lives and threaten the extraordinary progress of the past 15 years. (Michael Gerson, 11/30)