Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Broader Therapies Would Aid Opioid Dependent Patients; Unethical Doctors, Medical Exemptions Foster Measles Outbreak
The Hill: Chronic Opioid Therapy Needs To Be Individualized, But Most People Aren't Getting That
We agree that pain management and chronic opioid therapy needs to be individualized. But right now most people are not having their needs adequately assessed or met. Many people are not receiving adequate evidence-based treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy or effective reactivation focused on functional improvement. (Virginia Weir, Gary Franklin and Andy Saxon, 5/6)
Los Angeles Times: Misguided Doctors And Bad Information Are Fueling The Return Of Measles
Some of the blame rests with unethical doctors, who are willing to take patients’ money and grant inappropriate medical exemptions to misinformed families, thereby putting other children at risk. A Voice of San Diego investigation of medical exemptions at San Diego Unified School District showed that almost a third were issued by one doctor who advertised medical exemptions. Two other physicians who issued large numbers of medical exemptions are on probation with the Medical Board of California. (Richard Pan, 5/7)
Boston Globe: What’s So Special About Science?
Earlier this year, the governor of the state of Washington declared a state of emergency, due to an outbreak of measles in Clark County, where anti-vaxx ideology has led to nearly a quarter of children showing up to school without their MMR shots. In November, 600 true believers showed up at the Flat Earth International Conference in Denver. Science denial seems to be getting worse. In some ways this isn’t surprising. Fifty years of science denial over issues like the link between cigarette smoking and cancer, and the reality of climate change, have arguably made a large contribution to the creation of our current “post-truth” era. Does this mean that we should turn to scientists to learn how to fight back? Not necessarily. (Lee McIntyre, 5/6)
USA Today: 'Medicare For All': Sen. Bernie Sanders Proposes Political Pipe Dream
Sanders’ plan, dubbed “Medicare for All,” would eliminate private insurers and have all Americans covered through Medicare. It would be far more generous than most current plans — covering dental, vision and mental health, among other things — and would be financed largely by taxes on the wealthy. Would it be an improvement? Hypothetically yes, particularly if the nation were starting from scratch. The current system is hugely expensive for individuals and companies, generates mountains of paperwork, and keeps people tied to their jobs for fear of losing employer-subsidized coverage. But Sanders’ plan has intrinsic drawbacks, most notably its soak-the-rich approach and its lack of cost controls such as copays. What stands out is the utter impracticality of getting from where things stand today to what he proposes. (5/6)
USA Today: Bernie Sanders: Medicare For All Will Save Us From Health Care Crisis
Today in America, we have more than 27 million people without any health insurance. Millions more who have employer-based insurance are being fleeced by skyrocketing premiums and prescription drug prices, and they are often thrown off those private plans when they change or lose jobs. This is great for the 64 health care CEOs who were paid $1.7 billion in 2017. But this is an economic and medical emergency for millions of Americans. The good news is that we have a very straightforward solution that draws from our own country’s past success: We can guarantee health care as a right to all by expanding Medicare, the most popular and successful program in American history. (U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, 5/6)
The Washington Post: A U.N. Report Finds That A Million Species Are At Risk Of Extinction. I Hope We Still Have Time.
If there are intelligent observers 66 million years from now, their scientists may conclude that the sixth mass extinction was caused by us — and that we saw what we were doing but lacked the wisdom and courage to stop ourselves.The next species to go extinct may be some scruffy weedlike plant or weird little insect you’ve never heard of. But that weed may synthesize a chemical that acts as a magic bullet against certain deadly cancers, or that insect may control the population of some other insect that harbors a plaguelike virus. We’ll never know. They’ll be gone. (Eugene Robinson, 5/6)
USA Today: 'Heartbeat' Bills Are Just An Excuse To Attack Roe V. Wade Protections
A bizarre competition to enact the most extreme abortion restrictions is taking place in states across the country from Ohio to Iowa to Kentucky. With new conservative justices on the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, this groundswell of activity has one ultimate goal: to restore the direct and dangerous controls placed on women's bodies before Roe v. Wade. The fact is, so-called heartbeat legislation, which bans abortion at the moment a fetal heartbeat can be detected, sometimes as early as six weeks, places undue hardships on women who might not even know they are pregnant yet. (Toni Van Pelt, 5/6)
The CT Mirror: Pregnant Women Deserve Honest, Complete Information
The goal of this national strategy is to block patients from accessing abortion once they walk through the doors of the CPC. Sometimes CPCs try to run out the clock on patients by telling them they have plenty of time to make a decision about having an abortion. (Sophie Wheelock, 5/7)
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio’s Nuclear Bailout Bill Will Hurt Children’s Health
As pediatricians, we have a responsibility to alert parents, our community, and policymakers about threats to the health of our children, so we can take steps to protect our state’s most vulnerable citizens. State lawmakers are currently considering a bill that would endanger the health of all Ohioans, especially the health and well-being of our children. Babies and children cannot advocate for themselves, so it is important that we speak for them. House Bill 6 is misleadingly called a “clean air resource” bill. However, it would effectively repeal Ohio’s Renewable Portfolio Standard and Energy Efficiency Resource Standard, which provide Ohioans essential protections from toxic air pollution. (Aparna Bole and Kristie Ross, 5/5)
Miami Herald: Teachers With Guns Will Make Schools Even Less Safe. Veto This Dangerous Legislation, Gov. DeSantis
With any luck — and training, and an aim that’s true — an armed teacher might, might, take down an active shooter in the classroom or corridor.But luck should play no role when it comes allowing teachers bring guns to school. Too many Republicans in the Florida Legislature are convinced that this is the best way to prevent mass shootings like the horror last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, in which 17 people died — 14 students and three adults.We vehemently disagree. So do law-enforcement organizations, teachers groups, advocates for sensible gun laws and students who survived the mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas. (5/4)
