Viewpoints: GOP Isn’t Kidding Around About Taking Away Protections For Preexisting Conditions; Hospitals Exploit Emergencies, Drive Cost Increases

The Washington Post: Republicans Keep Trying To Strip Protections For Preexisting Conditions
In a federal courtroom in Texas on Wednesday, oral arguments begin in an extraordinary lawsuit that seeks to remove the Affordable Care Act’s protections for the tens of millions of Americans with preexisting conditions, allowing insurance companies to once again deny them coverage or jack up their premiums to unaffordable rates. Who’s behind this lawsuit? Some fringe group of libertarian extremists? A bunch of socialists hoping to get the ACA struck down so that a single-payer system will rise from the ashes of the ensuing conflagration? Nope. With an exception here and there, it’s pretty much the entire Republican Party. The suit was brought by 20 Republican-run states and is being supported by the Trump administration. (Paul Waldman, 9/5)

The New York Times: Blame Emergency Rooms For The Out-Of-Control Cost Of Health Care
There are many reasons Americans pay more for health care than citizens of any other country. But one of the most powerful forces driving cost increases is buried in a little-known set of regulations concerning emergency room care.These regulations have granted hospitals what is essentially a monopoly over emergency room patients, allowing them to charge basically whatever they want. (Glenn Melnick, 9/5)

The Hill: HHS Should Look Into Azar's Close Ties To The Drug Industry
Over the next several weeks, it is anticipated that the White House will roll out its recommendations for reducing drug prices. For the millions of Americans struggling with medical costs, this proposal could determine whether or not they will be able to afford life saving drugs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for developing the administration’s drug price policy. Given the significance of this issue, it is critical that the American people have confidence that the proposed changes are based on sound policy. This is why my organization, Campaign for Accountability a nonprofit, nonpartisan watchdog group focused on public accountability, called on ethics officials at HHS to open an investigation into HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his relationship with his former employer, the pharmaceutical manufacturing giant Eli Lilly. (Daniel Stevens, 9/5)

San Antonio Press-Express: Protect Children By Vaccinating Them
The ever-increasing number of children not receiving the recommended immunizations presents a clear risk to public health. Parents, pediatricians, and all who care for children must continue to advocate for sound leadership and public policy that promotes the importance of routine immunization. (Ryan Van Ramshorst, 9/5)

New England Journal of Medicine: Protecting Mothers And Babies — A Delicate Balancing Act
More than 50 years ago, an epidemic of serious birth defects caused by prenatal exposure to thalidomide shattered the prevailing notion that the placenta served as a barrier against damaging influences and led to recognition that exposures during pregnancy can result in harm to a developing fetus. Since that time, ensuring that a pregnant woman has access to potentially lifesaving treatments while safeguarding her fetus has become a delicate balancing act, one that requires a careful evaluation of risks and benefits to both the mother and her fetus. Recent findings from Zash et al. now published in the Journal have again highlighted the need to carefully weigh both risks and benefits in developing recommendations for the treatment of pregnant women. In May of this year, the World Health Organization, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and other organizations released statements about a safety signal that suggested a possible link between periconceptional use of the antiretroviral medication dolutegravir and neural tube defects. (Sonja A. Rasmussen, Wanda Barfield and Margaret A. Honein, 9/6)

New England Journal of Medicine: A New Threat To Immigrants’ Health — The Public-Charge Rule
The United States is making major changes to its immigration policies that are spilling over into health policy. In one such change, the Trump administration is drafting a rule on “public charges” that could have important consequences for access to medical care and the health of millions of immigrants and their families. ...Research on federal welfare reform, local immigration-enforcement efforts, and state-level policies excluding immigrants from access to public services and benefits suggests that the new rule could have negative health consequences. It would probably result in lower rates of health insurance coverage not only for immigrants but also for their U.S.-born children and other dependents. An estimated 19% of noncitizen adults and 38% of noncitizen children were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP in 2016.5 In addition, 5.8 million citizen children with a noncitizen parent received Medicaid or CHIP that year. (Krista M. Perreira, Hirokazu Yoshikawavand Jonathan Oberlander, 9/6)

New England Journal of Medicine: The Violence Of Uncertainty — Undermining Immigrant And Refugee Health 
Immigrants and refugees in the United States have long faced structural violence due to unequal health care access. Now they’re being subjected to “the violence of uncertainty,” enacted through systematic instability that exacerbates inequality and generates fear. (Breanne L. Grace, Rajeev Bais and Benjamin J. Roth, 9/6)

New England Journal of Medicine: Voluntary Euthanasia — Implications For Organ Donation
Canada now permits physicians to hasten the death of a patient by means of physician-assisted suicide or voluntary euthanasia. This development creates a new pathway for organ donation — and with it, some challenges. (Ian M. Ball, Robert Sibbald and Robert D. Truog, 9/6)

Kansas City Star: Are Missouri Prison Inmates Subjected To Inhumane Conditions? 
Missouri statute allows members of the General Assembly to visit state-run prisons at any time. The law overrides a directive issued by Missouri Department of Corrections Director Anne Precythe to Ronda Pash, warden at Crossroads Correctional Center, to deny entry to the prison. But the recent refusal to allow state Rep. Brandon Ellington, a Kansas City Democrat, to check on prisoners housed at the correctional facility in Cameron could be the least of the state’s concerns if a class-action lawsuit determines prison officials are subjecting inmates to inhumane conditions. (9/4)

Detroit News: Michigan Can't Let Kids Buy E-Cigs
The FDA enacted a regulation on e-cigarettes in 2016 that banned the sale of e-cigarettes with nicotine to those younger than 18. Yet, because Michigan has no state law affirming that regulation, law enforcement can’t keep kids from purchasing the nicotine-delivery devices. Though e-cigarettes for adult use should not be regulated the same as tobacco products, they should be regulated and policed like other substances that pose health risks to children. The sole purpose of an e-cigarette is to deliver nicotine to the bloodstream. Nicotine is highly addictive and can harm brain development. In addition, some of the liquids contain flavor agent like diacetyl, a compound known to cause extensive lung scarring (called popcorn lung) and cancer, according to the surgeon general. (9/5)