Viewpoints: When It Comes To CHIP, Republicans Seem Intent On Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
The Mercury News:
Congressional GOP Holding Kid's Health Care Hostage
We in Congress have a moral responsibility — as citizens and lawmakers — to ensure all among us have access to health care. When we achieve this, we will not only live longer and healthier lives, but it will cost us all less. Sadly, congressional Republicans are reducing access to care for those who need it most: the poor and children. (Rep. Eric Swalwell, 12/19)
The Mercury News:
Protect Poor Kids’ Health Care, GOP Lawmaker Tells Congress
Together, we have ensured more patients are able to see a doctor, have expanded dental care for low-income children and have improved the efficiency of our health care system. Unfortunately, that progress is in danger due to federal gridlock, and the consequences will hit California’s lower-income children and pregnant women especially hard. (Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, 12/20)
Los Angeles Times:
GOP Tax Bill Also Manages To Needlessly Screw Up The Healthcare System
It would be easy to devote an entire column to the vicious provisions of the bill, such as making corporate tax cuts permanent but relief for individuals only temporary, or running up well over a trillion dollars in debt to make the rich richer. But the part that strikes me as most galling, and which has become almost an afterthought amid all the other damage the bill will do, is its incongruous and completely unnecessary repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. (David Lazarus, 12/19)
Sacramento Bee:
GOP Tax Bill Will Kill The Affordable Care Act
Congress is quietly handing the American people a huge lump of coal in their holiday stockings: the repeal of the centerpiece of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. ... This will mean that millions of Americans will lose their health insurance coverage and many of us will face much more expensive, but less desirable health insurance options. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 12/18)
Sacramento Bee:
Single Payer Is Still Best Health Care Fix For California
With growing alarm in Sacramento over attacks on health care in Washington – threats to the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Medicare cuts sure to come under the GOP tax plan – there’s no shortage of irony in the frantic search by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon to find alternatives to a solution readily at hand, the guaranteed health care bill. (Malinda Markowitz, 12/19)
East Bay Times:
Universal Health Care In California Is Doable For Less Cost
When the Legislature reconvenes and the campaigns for governor heat up next year, Californians will be hearing a lot – and a lot of hot air – about universal health care. Making California the first state to guarantee health care for every resident has become a touchstone issue – and a divisive one – for the state’s dominant Democrats. The state Assembly will take up – or possibly ignore – a universal health care bill that the Senate passed this year. (Dan Walters, 12/17)
Sacramento Bee:
My Condition Was Untreatable. Then Came A Miracle Drug, And A Miraculous Community
At first glance, I may not appear to have much reason to be thankful for my health, but the truth is I have been extremely fortunate throughout my life. Not only has my family provided me with excellent care, but I have also benefited tremendously from the Sacramento medical community. This year in particular has embodied the very best of our region’s health care system, and as a lifelong Northern Californian, it feels like the right time to say thank you. (David Bekhour, 12/20)
Los Angeles Times:
With Apologies To George Carlin, Here Are Seven Words They Can't Say At The CDC
Comedian George Carlin famously crafted a routine around “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” a piece so far over the line for a newspaper that you’re just going to have to look it up yourselves. But the Trump administration has gone one better and has listed seven words and phrases the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now banned from using in budget documents. (Scott Martelle, 12/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Marijuana Businesses Are Awash With Cash. California Wants To Help Get That Money Into Banks
One of the biggest problems facing California cannabis businesses, regulators and law enforcement officials once recreational marijuana sales become legal on Jan. 1 is what to do about all the cash that is expected to change hands. With marijuana still illegal under federal law, most marijuana businesses can’t open bank accounts or accept credit card transactions — financial services companies refuse to serve them for fear being penalized by federal regulators for handling money from drug sales. That means marijuana transactions are typically done in cash. (12/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Can Pot Blunt The Opioid Epidemic? We Don't Know Because The Federal Government Blocks Research.
An epidemic of opioid abuse is ravaging the United States and, as we look for ways to respond to it, some see cannabis as part of the solution, while others see it as part of the problem. This is just one area in which unbiased scientific research is necessary, but outdated federal legislation, having concluded almost 50 years ago that there is no medical value to cannabis, is blocking all meaningful efforts to understand the real benefits and risks of the plant. (Daniele Piomelli and Bob Solomon, 12/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Hey, Congress — Don't Mess With California's Eggs
Nearly a decade ago, California became the first state in the nation to pass a law requiring that hens, veal calves and pregnant pigs be raised in cages that gave them space to move. ... the state Legislature passed a companion law (AB 1437) mandating that any farmer in the country who wanted to sell eggs in California had to comply with the welfare standards set for hens in the state. ... One of the law’s most vocal Congressional opponents is Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who represents the largest egg-producing district of the largest egg-producing state in the country. He’s pushing the Protect Interstate Commerce Act (H.R. 3599), which would prohibit any state from setting more restrictive standards for out-of-state agricultural products than the federal government imposes nationally or the producer’s own state mandates. (12/21)