Viewpoints: Congress Failing In Zika Fight; Lack Of Buzz About Clinton’s Mental Health Plan
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The Washington Post:
CDC And NIH Officials: Congress Is Showing How Not To Fight The Zika Virus
The potential cost of a funding shortfall will be measured in human misery and even death. Every child born with microcephaly as a result of the Zika infection of the mother during pregnancy could require care that costs the family and our health-care system anywhere between $1 million and $10 million over the lifetime of the child. Every child born with microcephaly faces a difficult future, filled with intensive therapy and support. It is a price that no child — no mother, no father, no family — should have to pay, especially given that it can be avoided. ... Congress returns next week. In the past, it has shown that it understands the importance of safeguarding Americans’ health and has supported biomedical research and vital public health priorities. It has proved that it can act in moments of crisis and in our nation’s hours of need. We’re asking Congress to do so again. (Tom Frieden and Anthony S. Fauci, 8/31)
The Washington Post:
Clinton Just Made A Very Important Announcement — And Hardly Anyone Is Talking About It
Hillary Clinton made one of the most consequential announcements of her campaign on Monday — and hardly anyone is talking about it. The Democratic presidential nominee released a wide-ranging mental-health strategy — and, unlike much of what she has proposed this election season, it has a real chance of becoming law. Congress has over the past several years put serious effort into reforming the federal government’s mental-health efforts, producing — but not yet passing — a slew of bills with bipartisan backing. This is one of the few issues on which lawmakers may be able to agree, even in a severely divided Washington, over the coming months. (8/31)
JAMA Forum:
Time To Hit The Pause Button On Medicare’s Payment Demonstration Projects?
After a slow start in 2011, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) at the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) seems to have gone into overdrive. As part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ pledge to move the majority of Medicare payments away from undifferentiated fee-for-service payments to some type of value-based care, CMMI has been sponsoring a wide variety of models. These include models that feature fee-for-service payments with incentives added, bundled or episode-based payments, and population-based payments. (Gail Wilensky, 8/31)
The Atlantic:
The Pill, The Condom, And The American Dream
Condoms alone will not restore the American Dream for today’s low-income families. The lesson here is not that IUDs obviate income transfers to the poor or inclusive housing policy in rich metros. The lesson, instead, is that improvements in early childhood achievement (and, with luck, those children’s adult outcomes) can come from surprising places. Perhaps birth control doesn’t just give women power over their own future; it empowers their future children, as well. (Derek Thompson, 8/31)
Lexington Herald-Leader:
Bevin Ignored Concerns About Medicaid Plan
In spite of massive public outcry which included testimony from medical professionals, warnings from vision and dental experts, fact-driven data from advocates and pleas from Kentuckians who will be devastated by the loss of health care, Gov. Matt Bevin has submitted a harsh, draconian expanded Medicaid waiver proposal to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for consideration. In doing so, the governor has made good on his campaign promise to strip health care away from 440,000 Kentuckians. (State Rep. Darryl T. Owens, D-Louisville, 8/31)
Denver Post:
Make Vaccinations Part Of Back-To-School Prep
Child care facilities, preschool programs and schools are particularly prone to outbreaks of infectious diseases. Kids in these settings can easily spread illnesses to one another and staff due to typical child behavior — poor hand washing, not covering their coughs, and other factors. Infants and toddlers in child care and preschool settings are also more vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases and their complications. In fact, children under the age of 5 are five times more likely than older children to be hospitalized with a serious vaccine-preventable disease. (Stephanie Wasserman, 8/31)
The Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Toledo Offers Lead-Poisoning-Prevention Guidepost For Cleveland
Cleveland, which has struggled to reduce the number of lead-poisoned children, ought to become the state's second city to do so. It's that important. The problem is horrendous. John Sobolewski, who supervises Cuyahoga County's lead poisoning program, told The Plain Dealer that 40,000 children living in the county over the last 15 years have tested positive for lead. About 80 percent of them live in Cleveland. (8/30)
The Boston Globe:
Hospital CEO Salaries Are More Than Optics
The economics of health care aren’t working for the poor and disabled. But somehow, they work just fine for hospital CEOs. As the Globe’s Robert Weisman recently reported, pay increases for top Massachusetts hospital CEOs outpaced the growth of state health spending, according to the most recent filings of compensation data by nonprofits with the IRS. (Joan Vennochi, 9/1)