Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoint: Lessons From Other Countries On Safe Injection Sites' Benefits; Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance Keeps Falling Behind
The Washington Post: Why It’s Not ‘Enabling’ To Make Drug Use Safer
In the face of an unabating overdose crisis that has already killed more than a half-million people, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Seattle have announced plans to do what was once unthinkable: open centers where people can inject illegal drugs under medical supervision. Many other cities are also debating so-called safe infection facilities (SIFs) — but unfortunately, a common misconception about addiction stands in the way. (Maia Szalavitz, 3/13)
The Hill: The Crisis Of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Is Worsening And We Are All At Risk
Antibiotic resistance may be the greatest medical challenge of our time. It threatens major advances of modern medicine including organ transplants, cancer chemotherapy, and routine surgical procedures that would not be possible without these life-saving drugs. We are all at risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 2 million illnesses per year in the United States are caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (David S. Weiss, James M. Hughes and William M. Shaffer, 3/13)
The New York Times: Why Is U.S. Health Care So Expensive? Some Of The Reasons You’ve Heard Turn Out To Be Myths
Maybe the United States health care system isn’t that bizarre after all. Compared with peer nations, the United States sends people to the hospital less often, it has a smaller share of specialist physicians, and it gives people about the same number of hospitalizations and doctors’ visits, according to a new study. The quality of health care looks pretty good, it finds, while its spending on social services outside of health care, like housing and education, looked fairly typical. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 3/13)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Short-Term Health Plans Will Undermine The ACA
Furthermore, lawmakers in Washington should ensure that any market stabilization package does just that: stabilize insurance markets. Including increased usage of short-term plans in the package is unacceptable and would undermine their efforts. (Anoinette Kraus, 3/14)
The New York Times: America Has Failed Its Kids On Guns. It’s Time To Let Them Lead.
As Stoneman Douglas junior Florence Yared said in front of the Florida State Capitol late last month, “You adults have failed us by not creating a safer place for your children to go to school. So we, the next generation, will not fail our own kids. We will make this change happen. If not today, then tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, next year. Take it from us. You created a mess for us, but we will make this world safer for our children. ”With Wednesday’s demonstration, and their March for Our Lives movement on March 24 in Washington, young voices are being heard. How will the nation’s adults respond? Hopefully, by amplifying their demand: Never again. (3/13)
USA Today: GOP's False Talking Points Against Gun Control Are Dangerous
We’ve heard passionate pleas in recent weeks from students who survived a massacre and lost their friends and teachers. Through their pain, with Wednesday’s National School Walkout and in many other ways, this generation of students growing up with active-shooter drills is demanding that lawmakers take action to reform gun laws. (Dianne Feinstein, 3/14)
Bloomberg: Why The NRA Stumbled In Gun-Crazed Florida
President Donald Trump made his predictable retreat from conflict with the National Rifle Association this week. He had promised to take on the gun lobby amid loose talk of better background checks and an increase in the age limit for purchasing firearms. But, to no one's surprise, he quickly backed down, after a White House visit from the NRA. Yes, once again, the familiar cycle of gun violence and promises of action yielded to capitulation. Yet this time something was different. Not in Washington, but in Florida, where last week gun-safety activists proved that they could out-muscle the NRA not just in blue states, or on the most extreme proposals in red states, but on central issues on the NRA’s home court. (3/13)
The Washington Post: Trump’s Surrender
Once again, President Trump has made a cowardly, cynical and monumentally stupid retreat on the issue of guns. No one should have expected otherwise. ...The president — I can’t believe I’m writing this, but it’s true — wants to arm “highly trained expert teachers” with concealed weapons. Anyone who thinks this is not one of the worst ideas in history should conduct a brief thought experiment. Imagine any one of your elementary school, middle school or high school classrooms. Imagine a loaded gun in there somewhere. Now imagine what could go tragically wrong. (Eugene Robinson, 3/12)
St. Louis Post Dispatch: A Confusing Weekend Winds Up With President Safely Back In NRA's Pocket.
Even for a man who changes his policy views as often as most people change their socks, President Donald Trump’s weekend roundabout on the guns and schools was head-spinning. (3/13)
Chicago Tribune: After Gov. Rauner's Veto Of Gun Sellers Bill, What Comes Next?
With gun violence dominating headlines in Chicago and around the country, Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have placed new restrictions on firearms sellers in Illinois. The reaction from gun control advocates came fast and furious. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Rauner’s veto was “cruel, it was cold and it was calculated to benefit his own politics at the expense of public safety.” Senate sponsor Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, who worked on the bill for more than a year, called Rauner’s veto “cowardly.” State Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, who is running for governor, said Rauner’s action lacked “moral conviction.” (3/13)
The Courier-Journal: Don't Blame Florida School Deaths On Shooter's Autism, Teen Says
Like everyone else, I was devastated when I learned about yet another high school shooting. Probably unlike most everyone else, I also became really upset when I learned that the shooter was believed to be autistic and to have ADHD. Why? Because I am autistic, and I have ADHD. (Jack Bradley, 3/14)
Sacramento Bee: Supreme Court Should Uphold Free Speech Of California's Crisis Pregnancy Centers
AB 775 is very different from reasonable regulations requiring disclaimers for commercial enterprises as food and drugs. Such regulations are constitutional and not at issue here. The core of this case is that the government is forcing non-profit pro-life pregnancy centers – which provide their services for free – to engage in speech contrary to their very reason for existence. (Elissa Graves, 3/13)
San Antonio Press-Express: An Effective Alternative To Opioids For Many
As the opioid epidemic spreads, Texas is taking important steps, from improved monitoring of prescription painkillers to expanded programs to treat addiction. But as a doctor who regularly sees patients suffering from chronic pain, I don’t believe this crisis can be solved until we educate more physicians and the public about real alternatives to these addictive pills. (Carl Noe, 3/13)
Columbus Dispatch: Employers Can Help Fight Drug Problem
Ohio employers must stop burying their heads in the sand. Employers must expand efforts to protect themselves, and the single antidote for harmful use of substances affecting workplaces is a comprehensive drug-free-workplace program. To be comprehensive, the program must focus on preventing the harmful use in the first place and protecting the workplace with legally sound intervention measures, including a second-chance policy for the first time an employee tests positive for substance use. (Dee Mason, 3/13)
Kansas City Star: How Missouri Can Shake Its Reputation As A Haven For 15-Year-Old Brides
That Missouri has become nationally known as a destination wedding spot for child brides is a source of concern and outright embarrassment. As Star reporter Eric Adler pointed out in his eye-opening series this week, Missouri is the easiest place in the nation for 15-year-olds to wed. That means that some young girls not even old enough to drive are faced with the most wrenching of decisions: Marry the oftentimes older men who impregnated them or see those men wind up behind bars for statutory rape no matter how “in love” the young girls believe they are. (3/13)
Lexington Herald Leader: Kentucky Legisalture Should Defeat Protectionist Bill For Optometrists That Would Deny Consumers Access To Cheaper Online Prescriptions For Glasses, Contacts
House Bill 191, the Optometrist Protection Act of 2018, packs a double-barreled punch: It’s bad health policy and bad economic policy. If this protectionist bill becomes law, Kentuckians will be deprived of renewing prescriptions for eyeglasses and contact lenses online for one reason and one reason only: Optometrists give lawmakers a lot of money for their campaigns. (3/13)
