Viewpoints: We Need Some Light Shed On California’s Aid-In-Dying Law
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
Sacramento Bee:
California Needs More Answers On Life-Or-Death Questions
Despite nearly two years of doctor-assisted suicide in California, we know little to nothing about crucial questions: Why are patients selecting it? What quality and duration of health care have they received? Learning these answers could help us improve end-of-life care in California. ... SB 1336 is a necessary step for improving our understanding of end-of-life issues in California. Only those afraid of what the data might show – who don’t care whether the system works as promised or not – could oppose it. (Nicole Shirilla and David Major, 4/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Paul Ryan Came In As A 'Young Gun' With Big Ideas. He'll Leave As A Pushover
But when it came to translating ideas into law, many of Ryan's ambitious proposals never made it past the roadmap stage. That's particularly true of his signature issue, entitlement reform. Members of Congress who were ready and willing to vote for nonbinding, conceptual 10-year plans to wind down the federal deficit by slashing tens of billions of dollars from Medicare and safety-net programs weren't quite so eager to take up the legislation necessary to put such changes into law. ... Instead, Ryan's main accomplishments as speaker — slashing tax rates and busting open the budget caps he helped negotiate in 2011 — are the legislative equivalent of skipping dinner and going straight to dessert. Such costly acts of largesse are a piece of cake in comparison to the tough work of overhauling immigration laws or reining in healthcare costs. (4/11)
Los Angeles Times:
If Democrats Sweep The House This Fall, Blame Paul Ryan's Rich-On-Poor Class Warfare
Even more than the tax reform that Congress passed this year, the definitive Paul Ryan achievement was the American Health Care Act, the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act that the House voted for and the Senate nixed. The AHCA was a reflection of Ryan's worldview so pure it almost reached the level of self-parody. It cut healthcare savagely; the CBO estimated 23 million people would lose their health insurance. The money saved was transferred to, you guessed it, the well-to-do. The AHCA bill reflected Ryan's leadership in other ways too. It was rushed through an undemocratic process, with only three hours of debate and voted on before a public version of the bill was even made available. This is Ryan's legacy: a single-minded campaign of rich-on-poor class warfare. Worse, he aggressively covered up Trump's unprecedented corruption and unfitness for office just to further that agenda. (Scott Lemieux, 4/12)
The Mercury News:
Public Health Affected When Pharmacists Work Solo
It’s time for California to get serious about pharmacy safety. SB 1442 is new legislation that would protect the public by ensuring pharmacists aren’t working alone. At the same time, it delivers safety to pharmacists who have become targets because they work alone. (Jim Araby, 4/12)
Los Angeles Times:
Walmart And CVS Have 15,000 Combined Stores. Why Are Both Trying To Buy Health Insurance Companies?
The economics of healthcare in America is making for some strange bedfellows. CVS, the behemoth pharmacy chain, plans to buy Aetna, a 22-million member health insurer, for $69 billion. Less than two weeks ago, it became public that Walmart, where one in four Americans shop each week, is considering an acquisition of another insurer, Humana. Why would these two massive retailers want to buy health insurers? Think millions of customers under one roof buying insurance, visiting health clinics and — importantly — filling prescriptions. These merged insurer-retailers could have lots of price-setting leverage in dealing with pharmaceutical companies and hospitals. But consolidation like this also can threaten competition — and in healthcare markets, that is a demonstrated danger. (Dana P. Goldman and Erin E. Trish, 4/10)
The Mercury News:
Why San Jose Should Prioritize Suicide Prevention
Every year, between 54 and 75 San Jose residents die by suicide. That is higher than the number of auto-related deaths in the city. That is higher than the murder rate in the city. Every year, nearly 45,000 Americans take their own lives—significantly higher than the 35,000 who die by gun violence annually in America. And when you consider the fact that 62 percent (over 21,000) of those who die by gun are suicides, the urgency and tragic pervasiveness of suicide come into sharp focus. (Paul Escobar, Kathy Tran and Victor Ojakian, 4/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Kaiser Permanente Will Start Filling The Vacuum In Gun Research With A $2-Million Study Program
The vacuum in gun violence research in America is slowly being filled by independent organizations. The latest to accept the responsibility for studying one of our most pressing public health crises is Kaiser Permanente, the giant healthcare system, which this week announced a $2-million program to study how to prevent gun injuries and deaths. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/11)
Orange County Register:
Coffee Is Not A Carcinogen, Even In California
Medical arguments, informed and otherwise, about whether coffee is somehow bad for its drinkers have been going on for as long as there have been tabloid newspapers in the supermarket checkout line. ... But in a classically California move, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle said late last month that state coffee sellers should have to post cancer warnings about their product under the onerous restrictions of the highly abused Proposition 65, the famously nightmarish, mostly wrong law that essentially says since everything is carcinogenic, signs to that effect should be posted everywhere — or else. (4/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Nursing Shortage Is A Sign That Humanity's Vital Signs Are Weak
America has 3 million nurses. That is not enough. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there will be more than 1 million vacancies for registered nurses by 2024. This is twice as bad as the worst previous nursing shortage. If there is no national and international strategy to build a workforce of nurses, we will witness — very soon — crippled healthcare systems across the world. (Christie Watson, 4/9)