Viewpoints: Lessons On Potential Costs Of Medicare-For-All Health Care System; Important Messages From Voters About Preexisting Conditions
Opinion writers about these and other health care issues.
The Washington Post:
The New Medicare For All Report Shouldn't Have The Left Celebrating
One hardly expects, in the course of normal politics, to see Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) thanking the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch. And yet here we are. "Thank you, Koch brothers," his Monday night tweet began, "for accidentally making the case for Medicare for All!" You see, the market-oriented Mercatus Center, which takes funding from the Kochs, has a new report out on the costs of the senator's pet project. Under certain assumptions, the report found, Medicare for All would reduce total U.S. health expenditures by about $2 trillion over a 10-year period. (Megan McArdle, 7/31)
USA Today:
A Single-Payer System Will Cause The Health Care Sector To Implode
A single-payer system will cause the health care sector to implode, with profound implications for the United States and the world's economy. Health care is the largest component of the American economy, 17.9 percentof gross domestic product. Forcing the health care system in the U.S., the best in the history of the world, to be socialized will have profound implications. The government will immediately be put in a position of having higher expenses and less revenues. With health insurance companies gone, so will the tens of billions in tax dollars paid to local, state and federal government from these entities. (Jonathan Yates, 7/31)
The New York Times:
After Years Of Quiet, Democratic Candidates Can’t Stop Talking About Health Care
In June, Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri asked voters at a big political dinner to stand up if they had a pre-existing health condition. She’d been hearing from voters at town hall meetings that they were worried about health care. “I just thought of it frankly at the podium,” she said. “I was just betting this is not that different from my town halls. ”The room was suddenly filled with standing voters. “Even I was stunned just how few people kept their seats,” she said. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 8/1)
Stat:
Gender Inequality Still Plagues The Health Care Industry. Women Are Fed Up
Women are essential stakeholders in health care, serving as workers, caregivers, and consumers — yet we do not have an equal voice in its leadership. The facts are overwhelmingly dismal. The percentage of women on Fortune 500 health care executive teams and boards has been nearly flat since 2015, hovering around 22 percent. Another number that hasn’t budged: Only one-third of hospital executives are women. There’s also been little change in the startup world, with women accounting for less than 12 percent of digital health CEOs and venture capital partners. Things just aren’t moving fast enough. (Halle Tecco, 8/1)
USA Today:
Maternal Health: American Hospital Association And Members Will Continue To Improve Care
There is no question that we can, and should, do more to improve care for new and expectant mothers. Hospitals, physicians and nurses will continue to play a key role in that effort. While our members across the country offer cutting-edge care delivered by highly trained individuals and teams, heartbreaking incidents still occur. These tragedies are being reduced with education offered by professional associations and the government. One preventable complication is one too many. That is why hospitals across the country have led national improvement projects — to test new ideas and disseminate practices that improve care for all. (Jay Bhatt, 7/31)
USA Today:
High Maternal Death Rate Shames America Among Developed Nations
You read that correctly. About 700 mothers in America die each year in childbirth, many of them needlessly — a maternal death rate far higher than that of other developed nations, including Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. And 50,000 mothers are severely injured each year in childbirth, USA TODAY found in an investigation published last week.About half of these deaths could be prevented, and half the injuries reduced or eliminated, through simple changes in care that doctors, hospitals and medical experts have known about for years. Yet too many “hospitals and medical workers skip safety practices known to head off disaster,” USA TODAY’s Alison Young wrote. (7/31)
Boston Globe:
Undetectable Plastic Guns Have Arrived. Congress Needs To Act
Talk about weaponizing the First Amendment. On Wednesday, a Texas company called Defense Distributed planned to publish blueprints for plastic guns, until last-minute lawsuits aimed at stopping them succeeded late Tuesday. With those plans, which were already posted online and downloaded by thousands, anyone could theoretically make their own undetectable, untraceable firearm with a 3-D printer. The company argued that it had a free-speech right to publish the designs. It may be right: It’s legal to publish guides on how to build homemade bombs. Make-your-own designs for conventional guns have also been published for hobbyists. And Defense Distributed’s weapons are apparently not sophisticated enough to be covered by restrictions on sharing military technology; the State Department told CNN that the designs do not “offer a critical military or intelligence advantage to the United States.” (7/31)
The Star Tribune:
The Handling Of Sexual Assault Cases: New Law On Rape Kits Will Make A Difference
A recent Star Tribune special report on sexual assault (“When rape is reported and nothing happens,” July 22) demonstrates that there is a significant amount of work yet to do to protect victims of sexual assault and violence. It will take all of us — lawmakers, law enforcement and advocates — to ensure that victims are listened to and that our justice system works for them. (Marion O'Neill, 7/31)
Boston Globe:
Shore Up Cybersecurity Before It’s Too Late
Cyberattacks have become a top threat to the United States. Nation-states are frequently targeting and launching attacks against our top corporations, stealing sensitive data, and — politics aside — impacting our national elections. It is only a matter of time until citizens are personally affected by much more than identity theft. (Michael Brown and Edward F. Davis III, 7/31)
Des Moines Register:
Things You Learn About Health Care When Your Mother's Fate Is At Stake
The devastating story of Virginia Olthoff's death in a nursing home came to light as my sister and I were looking for a residential rehab care center for our mother. A fall-induced hip fracture had Rasil Basu hospitalized and, as we learned is customary in such cases, she was to be released to a facility for physical and occupational therapy before going home. This was an area we'd had little first-hand knowledge of, since among our extended family in India, older people in need of care tend to get it at home while living with their children. But Olthoff was a resident of the Timely Mission Nursing Home in Buffalo Center. At the time of her death there, she was severely dehydrated and state officials reported that she may not have been given adequate, if any, water for up to two weeks. Even after the staff couldn’t find her pulse or blood pressure, it took them nearly three hours to call an ambulance. Also, staff later told inspectors Olthoff was often in pain and screaming, but a nurse just "blew it off." (Rekha Basu, 7/31)
