Viewpoints: Don’t Believe GOP Spin On Preexisting Conditions Protections; Stop Charging Patients For Hospital Out-Of-Network Costs

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: No, Republicans Are Not The Party Of Pre-Existing Condition Protection. Never Have Been.
With Election Day looming, Republicans around the country, at every ballot level, are engaged in a party-wide effort to pull the proverbial wool over voters’ eyes on health care. It’s best summed up in a recent tweet from President Donald Trump, which is, even by his mendacious standards, astonishing: “Republicans will totally protect people with Pre-Existing Conditions, Democrats will not!” This isn’t just an attempt by Republicans to jump on a popular train; it’s an attempt to jump on a train they have been trying to derail for years, and will finally dynamite if they maintain control of Congress. They would destroy it despite the fact that, whatever they claim, they have no realistic plan with which to replace it. Americans everywhere need to understand that as they enter the voting booths. (10/28)

Stat: Surprise Out-Of-Network Bills Are The Fault Of Insurance Regulators
A woman with cancer experiences complications related to her treatment and is hospitalized at a facility that accepts her insurance. During a four-day stay there, she is cared for by a team of physicians and nurses and undergoes a battery of tests and procedures. Once she is stable, she’s sent home. She continues seeing her oncologist for cancer treatments covered by her insurance, but a few weeks later, out-of-network bills from providers at the hospital begin to trickle in. Those bills aren’t mistakes. They are actually an all-too-common occurrence, one that health plans often fail to mention — or do anything about. As a result, patients pay higher out-of-network costs that are partially covered, if at all, by their health insurance. (R. Bruce Williams and Geraldine B. McGinty, 10/29)

The Hill: The False Promise And Limitations Of Pre-Tax Health Accounts
Allowing employers to provide tax-free reimbursement for health-care expenditures, as a new proposed rule from the Department of Labor promises to do, could go a long way to improving access to affordable health insurance for people employed in small businesses.However, it will not save the U.S. individual health insurance market or revolutionize consumer-driven health care. Just as money in your pocket won’t help you prepare for a hurricane if the store shelves are empty, this savings scheme will be dependent on supplier actions. (Deborah Gordon and Anna Ford, 10/28)

Los Angeles Times: How To Survive A News Cycle In 2018
Rarely have current events — and the fiery opinions they generate — seemed so exhausting as they have in the last few months. It’s not uncommon nowadays to think, “Last Friday was the longest year of my life.”Are there any helpful coping skills for those of us who are looking to weather outrage fatigue without abusing the consolations of talk therapy or heavy drinking? (Henry Alford, 10/28)

The Washington Post: We’re Not Prepared For The Coming Dementia Crisis
Retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently disclosed that she has now been diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s disease. At 65, she had a 1 in 10 chance of developing dementia. At 85, her odds increased to 1 in 3. Now we acknowledge with great sadness that the 88-year-old’s keen mind will fade away and that she, too, will succumb to the disease, just as her husband did. How does this affect those of us who are reaching that magical Medicare age of 65? Should we pretend that dementia can’t happen to us and hope we beat the odds? Knowing our risk for developing a disease gives us the opportunity to plan for our future and to advocate for programs that will enhance services for those affected by this devastating disease. (Ann Norwich, 10/26)

Boston Globe: Correcting The Record, Finally
It’s bad enough that, as the old saying goes, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on. It’s even worse when the truth then drags its feet. A journal has finally retracted a long-debunked article about the spurious link between vaccines and autism, a full eight years after the bogus research on which the paper was based was pulled from the scientific literature. (Adam Marcus, 10/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Brother, Can You Spare Three Billion Dimes?
Homelessness is not one problem and requires subtle approaches. Some suffer from mental-health issues, while others are from families that have fallen behind on rent or lost a job. Many are lost to drugs and some are children who somehow still manage to attend school. Homelessness is also closely associated with other local problems—especially housing and zoning policy and the lack of high-speed regional transit systems. San Francisco has limited the supply of homes and apartments. This raises rents, which drives people onto the streets. Every soul who has encountered the cruel hardship of homelessness requires a different and specialized form of assistance. (Michael Moritz, 10/28)

Editorials on state and local issues —

Arizona Republic: Pre-Existing Lies About Pre-Existing Conditions Protection
Trump wants to distract voters from the biggest lie being told by him and other Republicans, including Martha McSally. He phrased it this way during a rally in Nevada: “Republicans will always protect people with pre-existing conditions.” (EJ Montini, 10/27)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: To Fight Addiction And Infectious Disease, Stop Criminalizing Syringes
The new syringe exchange law passed in 2017 only grants legal immunity to health care workers and staff distributing syringes as part of these programs, not to participants themselves. While many states have similar paraphernalia laws, some have added exceptions for syringe exchange participants to ensure the legal focus is on the illicit sale of equipment, not public health interventions. (Sanjay Kishore and Beth Macy, 10/27)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Heal We Must 
Just as it is foolish to think that gun control will end all mass killings or that armed guards would prevent them all, it is foolish to pretend that there is not a national spiritual crisis. To end the killings we must admit that. Yes, there is a mental health and mental health institutionalization crisis as well. But Pittsburgh’s alleged domestic terrorist was consumed by a disease called hate. We need a reassertion of religious and humanist values. We need to learn benevolence and implant care and mercy in our hearts. We all need to get and give more mercy. (10/28)

Kansas City Star: Vote Yes On Missouri Amendment 2 For Medical Marijuana 
In the Nov. 6 election, Missouri could become the 32nd state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. But first, voters must unravel a confusing tangle of three different medical marijuana questions on the ballot.The triad of proposals likely will leave voters wondering: Should I vote to approve each of the three? Reject them all? Or come up with a combination of yes and no?Here’s the short answer: Voters should approve Amendment 2 and reject Amendment 3 and Proposition C. (10/26)

The Detroit News: Health Care Drives Midterm Interest
Thousands of Michiganians are benefiting from Medicaid expansion due to the ACA. The political reckoning taking place in Michigan as it relates to health care is happening all over the nation. Politicians who were vehemently opposed to coverage of pre-existing conditions are now forced to explain themselves to their constituents. Some of the candidates are engaging in outright lies about their earlier stances to deceive voters, and others are simply been called out by angry voters at town halls. (Bankole Thompson, 10/28)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Virginia’s Patients Need More Cannabis Options
For years, patient advocates, led by a courageous group of Virginia parents, made the case for legal access to cannabidiol (CBD) and THC-A oils for those suffering from intractable epilepsy. These are heavily regulated cannabis compounds that have significant positive medical benefits, but don’t make people feel “stoned.” (Glenn Davis, 10/28)

Miami Herald: Our Son Died At Pulse Nightclub. Please Vote For Gun Safety In Florida
With Election Day rapidly approaching, we’ve found ourselves asking: Which candidates will fight for gun safety in Florida? We are lifelong Republicans. But, as this past year in the state legislature shows, gun violence prevention doesn’t have to be a right or left issue or red or blue issue. It’s a life or death issue. We’re fortunate to see a number of Florida candidates embracing gun safety this year. Sean Shaw, who’s running to be Florida attorney general, released an ad compiling clips of him discussing taking on the NRA in court, fighting to prohibit assault weapons and strengthening background checks. And just this past weekend, during the Florida gubernatorial debate, Andrew Gillum stressed his commitment to taking on the gun lobby, and conversely, Ron DeSantis wants to strengthen his ties to the NRA. (Fred and Maria Wright, 10/27)

WBUR: 9 Savvy Points About The Nurses Ballot Measure From An Expert Dismayed By Both Sides
I believe our system needs more staffing, especially for the more vulnerable patients, but I would prefer to see that staffing include community-based nursing, social services, community health workers, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, home services for frail elders, and recovery and treatment support for people with addiction. The future of care for those populations is in the community, not the hospital. (Karen Donelan, 10/26)

San Jose Mercury News: Prop. 4 Will Boost State's 13 Children's Hospitals
Protecting the most vulnerable children in our community begins with ensuring that every child receives the care they need, including those with the most complex conditions. To ensure that happens, we, the voters, must make a stand this November by voting “yes” on Proposition 4, the children’s hospital bond. (Alexandria Felton, 10/26)