Viewpoints: Passing Right To Try Law Might Answer Wishes Of Many Desperate Patients; Take Action To Slow Rising Medicare Costs
Editorial pages highlight these health issues and others.
Boston Globe:
A Path Forward For Experimental Drug Treatments
Matthew Bellina, a retired Navy pilot, knows time is running out. Now 34, Bellina was diagnosed in 2014 with Lou Gehrig’s disease, a fatal disorder that attacks the central nervous system and gradually steals life and livelihood: the ability to speak, eat, and breathe. Bellina wants to try NurOwn, an experimental adult stem cell therapy, because he wants to stick around awhile longer to see his three young sons thrive. He is pinning his hopes on a bill in Congress that would give terminally ill patients access to investigational drugs that have passed a Phase I clinical trial but have not yet gone through the full multiyear approval process required by the federal Food and Drug Administration. (3/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Reagan’s Cure For America's Debt Disease
Shrinking future deficits without an economy-damaging tax increase means slowing the growth of government spending. Policy makers looking for savings must focus on two programs. Excluding interest on the debt, Social Security and Medicare account for two-thirds of the projected increase in outlays during the next decade. (Martin Feldstein, 3/5)
The Hill:
Federal Vacancies And Faulty Beliefs Exacerbate HIV Prevention Efforts
Is HIV even still a problem? The answer is yes and that is part of the problem because we don’t talk about it. Abstinence-only education ignores the realities of how both teens and adults express themselves sexually and is partly the blame, starving out funding for comprehensive sex education grounded in reality. In the revolving door that is the Trump White House, the fact the president fired remaining members of his Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS is another reason. (Liesl Nydegger, 3/5)
The San Antonio Express News:
Cut Health Care Access, Jeopardize Lives
While lawmakers debate Americans’ health care on the state and local level, my family — and thousands like us — face fear and uncertainty for our loved ones’ lives.
(Tony Guerra, 3/5)
The New York Times:
The Teachers Revolt In West Virginia
The obvious impetus for the strike lies in the state’s terrible treatment of its teachers, whose pay ranked 48th in the nation in 2016. In the past, solid health care benefits helped make up for low wages, but because West Virginia hasn’t been putting enough money into the state agency that insures public employees, premiums and co-payments have been increasing significantly. (Jenny) Craig, who is in her 10th year of teaching, said that because of the cost of insurance, she takes home less money now than she did six or seven years ago. Her husband, who is on her insurance plan, is a diabetic, and she said the monthly charge for his insulin has gone from $25 four years ago to over $180 today. (Michelle Goldberg, 3/5)
Des Moines Register:
Preventive Care Is Critical To America's Health Security
When it comes to our health, preventive care is often overlooked in favor of the alternative: treatment. In today’s busy world, it is easy to eat fast food or put your daily walk off until tomorrow. However, just like a budget, if you overspend in the short term, you will fall short in the long run. Likewise, saving today will yield dividends in the end. In fact, for every dollar we invest in evidence-based prevention services, we see $5.60 in savings, according to the Trust for America’s Health. Support for health care strategies that lead to better outcomes at lower costs to taxpayers should be a no-brainer for elected officials on both sides of the aisle. (Tom Harkin, 3/5)
The Hill:
GOP’s Proposed Medicare Voucher Program Would Lead To Demise Of The System
A request for public comment from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has caught the eye of a group of Democratic Senators, alarmed about its implications for the future of Medicare. In February, 15 Senators sent a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma expressing concern over a Fall, 2017 Request for Information (RFI) regarding a “new direction” for Medicare’s Innovation Center — and the agency’s subsequent failure to make public the more than 1,000 comments it received. At the heart of the Senator’s concerns is ambiguous language in the RFI that suggests a shift toward converting Medicare into a voucher program, which would, “fundamentally restructure the guaranteed benefit traditional Medicare provides to older adults and people with disabilities.” (Max Richtman, 3/5)
The Hill:
The End Of Abortion? In Your Dreams, Mike Pence
Vice President Pence has predicted that legal abortion would end in the U.S. “in our time,“ echoing his promise during the 2016 campaign to consign Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that upheld legal abortion in the U.S., to the “ash heap of history.” Unfortunately, we’re already seeing glimpses of the future evoked by Pence’s cruel promise. In many places in the U.S., especially in rural areas, a woman has few or no nearby options for abortion care, due in large part to politically-motivated restrictions that force clinics to shut down. (Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, 3/5)
Wichita Eagle:
KU Med Impacts Wichita Workforce
One of the reason our students receive a well-rounded education at the Wichita campus is because of the knowledge and experience our faculty are sharing with them through time-tested courses and programs, but also because the faculty isn’t afraid of change and embraces innovation. ...In 2005, the board members of the Guadalupe Clinic were presented with an opportunity to increase the number of uninsured and medically underserved members of our community that they could help by partnering with our medical students and later our pharmacy students. According to David Gear, the clinic’s executive director, he and the board answered with a “resounding approval.” That was the beginning of the JayDoc Community Clinic. Today, students provide care under faculty supervision at two locations for four different types of programs: diabetes, women’s health, homeless outreach and general healthcare. During 2017, the students oversaw nearly 500 patient visits — about one in every 16 patient visits. (Garold Minns, 3/5)
