Viewpoints: Medicaid As The GOP’s Divider; A Status Check On Republicans’ Commitment To Repeal
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The Wall Street Journal:
The Senate’s Medicaid Moment
Senate Republicans are struggling to agree on health reform, and the biggest divide concerns Medicaid. The problem is that too many seem to accept the liberal line that reform inevitably means kicking Americans off government coverage. (6/6)
RealClear Health:
Put Medicaid On Welfare
The American Health Care Act (AHCA), which was recently passed by the House of Representatives, proposes a radical change in Medicaid funding. Bill Clinton-era welfare reform served as a guide for the latest health care reform push—but to be successful, we must draw the correct lessons from those efforts in the 1990s. (Daniel Sutter, 6/7)
The Washington Post:
Are Republicans Ready To Give Up On Repeal? Here’s What Might Happen Next.
Senate Republicans are moving into high gear on their effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, making it likely that within the next few weeks they’ll either pass something and keep the process hurtling forward, or abandon it altogether. Judging from what they’re saying, it looks like the latter is the most likely scenario: They fail to pass their version of repeal, then say, “Well, we tried,” shake that albatross off their shoulders, and move on to the rest of their agenda. It would leave many in the party infuriated, but it might be the best of the bad options available to them. (Paul Waldman, 6/6)
The Washington Post:
Time For Democrats To Unite Around Medicare For All
“It’s an unbelievably complex subject,” President Trump said in February, discussing the Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. “Nobody knew health care could be so complicated.” It was a typically absurd proclamation for the president, who more recently bragged about how quickly he mastered “everything there was to know about health care. ”As complicated as health care is, the case against Trump’s health-care bill is simple. Trump promised to provide “insurance for everybody”; the American Health Care Act passed by the House last month would cause 23 million Americans to lose their coverage. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, 6/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Sabotage Of Obamacare Has Just Claimed 10,000 New Victims
A major shoe dropped in the battle to preserve the Affordable Care Act on Tuesday, as Anthem, the nation’s second-largest health insurer, announced it is withdrawing entirely from the individual market in Ohio. The move will leave 18 counties without an insurer in the ACA exchanges, leaving an estimated 10,500 Anthem customers high and dry — most of them in Appalachia, among the poorest parts of the state. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/6)
Stat:
We Need More Data Sharing To Improve Cancer Treatment
“You don’t all play well in the sandbox,” former vice president Joe Biden admonished the cancer care community at the Brainstorm Health conference last month. He was referring to health care providers’ widespread unwillingness, and to some degree inability, to share data. Fortunately, that’s changing. A seismic shift is now underway as more and more health care providers are sharing de-identified data and discovering in them incredible new ways to treat cancer. Now the challenge is for more providers to rapidly embrace data sharing. Doing so will fundamentally transform cancer care. (Thomas Brown and Jonathan C. Trent, 6/6)
Stat:
Does Medicare's Free Annual Wellness Visit Do Any Good?
Prompted by the Affordable Care Act, Medicare followed the lead of private insurers in 2011 and began paying in full for a yearly checkup. This so-called annual wellness visit was designed specifically to address health risks and encourage evidence-based preventive care in aging adults. The visit is quite prescriptive, requiring a doctor or other clinician to run through a lengthy list of tasks like screening for dementia and depression, discussing care preferences at the end of life, and asking patients if they can cook and clean independently and are otherwise safe at home. Little is required in the way of a physical exam beyond checking vision, weight, and blood pressure. (Ganguli, 6/7)
Modern Healthcare:
It's Now Or Never To Fix Next Year's Insurance Exchange Rates
As the ad hoc committee of 13 Republican senators rethinks the increasingly unpopular American Health Care Act, Congress and the administration face a more pressing question. Will they stabilize the individual insurance market for 2018? Preliminary rate filings for next year suggest that some states are entering the first phases of the much-dreaded death spiral, where rising rates and declining enrollments feed on each other to climax in a collapsed market. Where last year it was mostly rural areas that suffered from a dearth of carriers offering exchange plans, major urban areas like Kansas City and Knoxville, Tenn., are now among the regions reporting no insurers interested in offering coverage. (Merrill Goozner, 6/3)
Stat:
The 'Kimmel Test' Could Be A Good Health Care Reform Yardstick For The GOP
“If your baby is going to die, and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make,” pleaded Kimmel in an impassioned take on health insurance that has been viewed by millions. Not long afterward, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician who represents Louisiana, said that any Republican health care legislation would need to pass the “Jimmy Kimmel test.” Morally and politically, Cassidy is right. ... Can we Republicans pass the Kimmel test, improving on the AHCA while still ensuring the sustainability of American health care? Senate Republicans have expressed skepticism, but I believe we can. The key is to stay true to our roots by adhering to four conservative principles. (Michael Lee, Jr., 6/6)
The New York Times:
I Lost My Voice, But Help Others Find Theirs
I can tell you the exact moment I realized my voice was broken. I was sitting in a cubicle inside Pulitzer Hall, the home of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. I was on the phone with a former top official at U.S.A. Hockey — a man whose name I knew well from having grown up a hockey fan. He was supposed to give me an interview for my master’s project, a large journalism assignment that most other graduate students would compare to a thesis. I was excited for the help and also excited to speak to someone so well known to me. Then he said it. “I’m sorry. I want to help you, but I can’t understand you.” (Alex Hubbard, 6/7)
