Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Did Trump's Response To The Opioid Crisis Fall Short? Would A Better Policy Save Lives?
The Washington Post: Trump’s Opioid Plan Is Not Enough
Given the scale of the opioid epidemic, the nation should be mobilizing. More people are dying than at the peak of the HIV/AIDS scourge. In some places, overdose deaths are exceeding homicides, suicides and traffic deaths combined. President Trump offered useful actions and ideas at a White House ceremony Thursday, such as measures to prevent addiction with “really great advertising,” create nonaddictive painkillers and bolster law enforcement against illegal imports of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. But Mr. Trump’s announcements, including the designation of a public-health emergency, are not enough. (10/28)
Los Angeles Times: Thousands Are Dying. The President Needs To Do More Than Bluster On The Opioid Crisis
President Trump’s long-anticipated announcement addressing the epidemic of opioid addiction was — ah, how to put this diplomatically — more talk than walk. It was good to hear Trump frame the problem as a public health emergency, not a criminal justice one — a departure from the bad old “war on drugs” days. But there just wasn’t much to his announcement other than vague commitments, troubling insinuations and missed opportunities. (10/28)
Chicago Tribune: Trump's Weak Response To The Opioid Overdose Epidemic
You’d think it would be impossible to kill 100 people a day, every day, without inducing widespread shock and deafening demands for action. But that’s what opioids have been doing for the past decade, and Americans have given it only passing attention. This year, the toll is expected to rise to 175 a day — 64,000 in all. (Steve Chapman, 10/27)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Trump's Response To Opioid Epidemic Is More Pep Talk Than Plan
President Donald Trump promised to come out swinging with Thursday’s emergency declaration on opioid abuse. Swing, he did, but he failed to make contact. By labeling the crisis a public health emergency, Trump skirted a legal definition that would have prompted emergency federal funding and placed the drug epidemic on a scale similar to major disaster response. He should have pledged a dollar amount equal to the challenge of combating an addiction epidemic that, by his own assessment, contributed to at least 64,000 U.S. overdose deaths last year. (10/28)
The Des Moines Register: Opioids Are A Tragedy But Not An Emergency
President Donald Trump on Thursday declared the opioid crisis a nationwide public health emergency. Like many Trump proposals, the details are unclear. Administration officials have noted that the declaration, which lasts for 90 days and can be renewed, comes with no dedicated dollars. But they said it will allow them to use existing money to better fight the crisis. Officials also said they would urge Congress, during end-of-the year budget negotiations, to add new cash to a public health emergency fund that Congress hasn’t replenished for years. (Joel Kurtinitis, 10/27)
WBUR: I Don't See How Better Opioid Policy Could Have Saved My Brother's Life
Last October, fentanyl killed my brother Mike at age 47. As the CDC reported this summer, Mike was one of 20,100 Americans to die from the drug last year. We now recognize addiction as a disease — and a major national health crisis. (Joseph Walsh, 10/27)
