Viewpoints: FDA Conflicts Of Interest; Sugar Lobby Sweetens Or Sours Its Case; Women’s Heart Disease

The New York Times: Conflicts Of Interest At The F.D.A.
The Food and Drug Administration’s lethargic regulation of dietary supplements containing a dangerous stimulant described in recent reports in The Times is a classic example of what happens when industry representatives infiltrate the agency that is supposed to regulate them. The worrisome ingredient is BMPEA, a chemical nearly identical to amphetamine that is added to weight-loss and workout products in an effort to enhance their effect. Whether it does so is unclear, since there have never been tests of its effectiveness and safety in humans. (4/13)

The Washington Post: The Sugar Lobby’s Sour Tactics
[T]he Sugar Association industry lobby has stepped up its campaign to convince Americans and their government that sugar is good for us. Or, at least, not bad for us. Consider the 2015 Agriculture Department dietary guidelines now being prepared by the Obama administration. A scientific advisory committee is recommending Americans hold calories from added sugars to 10 percent of their diets .... The head of the Sugar Association wrote to the advisory committee to say there was no “proof of cause and effect” linking “ ‘added sugars’ intake with serious disease,” nor any “significant scientific agreement” to justify telling the American public sugar is “a causal factor in a serious disease outcome.” (Dana Milbank, 4/10)

The Washington Post: The Battle For Women’s Hearts — And Lives
Many people have no idea that heart disease kills a woman almost every minute or that the incidence of heart attacks in younger women has been increasing. Many don’t know that women’s heart disease symptoms are frequently different from or more subtle than men’s, that their first signs of a heart attack may be nausea, backache, extreme fatigue or shortness of breath, instead of crushing pain in the chest. ... So, while we’ve made important progress against heart disease in women, we need to finish the fight. (Barbra Streisand, 4/10)

The New York Times: How Not To Protect Pregnant Women
In the wake of a savage attack on a pregnant woman and the removal of her fetus, Colorado lawmakers are planning to introduce a bill that would criminalize fetal homicide. If the bill passes, the state would join nearly 40 others that make fetuses a distinct class of victims. (The federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 similarly makes it a crime to kill or injure a fetus in certain circumstances.) ... This type of legislation, however, is not about protecting the rights and well-being of the pregnant woman. Rather the reverse: The risk is that, without statutory reform, the pregnant woman as a category of victim will remain overlooked, while the fetus gets special protection. (Deborah Tuerkheimer, 4/13)

The Washington Post: The Best Case For Obamacare On Health Spending
The Obama administration gives the Affordable Care Act a lot of credit — too much. Among the things administration officials constantly point out is that health-care spending has grown much slower than projected since the law began phasing in, which takes a lot of pressure off the federal budget. Updated projections show trillions of dollars less in health-care spending. But experts have argued over why that’s happened, and most of the explanations don’t involve Obamacare. (Stephen Stromberg, 4/10)

The New York Times: Where Government Excels
One classic example of government doing it better is health insurance. Yes, conservatives constantly agitate for more privatization — in particular, they want to convert Medicare into nothing more than vouchers for the purchase of private insurance — but all the evidence says this would move us in precisely the wrong direction. Medicare and Medicaid are substantially cheaper and more efficient than private insurance; they even involve less bureaucracy. (Paul Krugman, 4/10)

Forbes: Hospital Industry Raids The Medicare Trust Fund
In 2009, Congress launched a program to provide vital oversight to Medicare, the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) program, which leverages the expertise of independent contractors to review post payment Medicare claims and determine if they have been billed according to Medicare policy. Since the RAC program began, these contractors have returned more than $9 billion back to the Medicare Trust Fund while reviewing less than 2% of all Medicare claims. This work to recoup dollars that have been inappropriately billed helps prolong the life of this vital healthcare program. So, what’s the problem? Congress has benched the RACs, the only program looking out for taxpayer dollars, while Medicare hemorrhages billions due to provider complaints that they are “burdened” by Medicare oversight programs. (Kristin Walter, 4/10)

Tampa Bay Times: Tell The Legislature's Immoral Minority To Expand Medicaid In Florida
Most Floridians want it. So do thousands of businesses and the medical community. So do Republicans and Democrats in the Florida Senate. Yet 80 Florida House Republicans are denying 800,000 Floridians access to health care by refusing to accept Medicaid expansion money from Washington. It is immoral, and it is financially irresponsible. Of those 80 House Republicans, 13 represent Tampa Bay districts. Call them. Email them. Ask them why they are blocking health insurance for your families, friends and co-workers. (4/10)

Modern Healthcare: Montana Renews Faith For Medicaid Expansion Supporters
The success of the Montana expansion effort, spearheaded by Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, comes as Medicaid expansion appears to have died this year in Tennessee and Wyoming and is struggling in Florida, Alaska, and Utah. Montana hospital leaders were thrilled, given the financial difficulties facing the state's smaller rural facilities. But supporters had to hold their noses and accept provisions that even the bill's Republican sponsor, Sen. Edward Buttrey, said would discourage thousands of low-income residents from signing up, according to a report by Modern Healthcare's Virgil Dickson. (Harris Meyer, 4/11)

Des Moines Register: Branstad's Medicaid Plan Needs Answers
Two months ago, the Branstad administration announced its intent to contract management of Medicaid to private companies. ... Everyone understands there is no free lunch in health care, and the $745 million (earnings plus savings) meal price for Medicaid managed care will come at someone's expense. Will access to care be limited? Will Medicaid provider payments, already well below actual costs, be cut even lower? The state's RFP does not answer these questions, but clearly the profit-based incentives of this kind of plan put limited access and payment cuts on the table, creating a scenario that completely undermines progress made by the Iowa Health and Wellness program. (Kirk Norris, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal: A Laffer Curve For Smokes
Rampant cigarette smuggling isn’t the problem in New York. It’s a symptom of the problem: sky high tobacco taxes. New York state and New York City in February announced a $180 million lawsuit against the shipping company UPS over what officials allege was unlawful delivery of nearly 700,000 cartons of cigarettes from 2010-14. This misguided lawsuit demonstrates once again that too many in government do not understand the root cause of cigarette smuggling. New York state levies the highest cigarette tax in the nation, $4.35 per pack, and New York City tacks on an additional $1.50 local tax. All told, the cost of one pack there can run to $12 or more. (Patrick M. Gleason, 4/12)

The New York Times: Best, Brightest — and Saddest?
Between May 2009 and January 2010, five Palo Alto teenagers ended their lives by stepping in front of trains. And since October of last year, another three Palo Alto teenagers have killed themselves that way, prompting longer hours by more sentries along the tracks. The Palo Alto Weekly refers to the deaths as a “suicide contagion.” And while mental health professionals are rightly careful not to oversimplify or trivialize the psychic distress behind them by focusing on any one possible factor, the contagion has prompted an emotional debate about the kinds of pressures felt by high school students in epicenters of overachievement. (Frank Bruni, 4/11)

NPR: A Lifesaving Medicine That My Patient Didn't Get In Time
Nationally, drugs account for more deaths than car crashes, shootings or alcohol, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC estimates that 120 Americans die from drug overdoses every day. ... What is most tragic about these deaths from opioid overdose is that there is an antidote that is safe, effective and literally lifesaving: naloxone (also called Narcan). It's easy for almost anyone to administer. (Leana Wen, 4/10)

The New York Times: When Women Are Too Thin
The French Assembly’s recent approval of three amendments aimed at battling anorexia could set the stage for a new fashion trend from Paris: models on the plus side of size 0. The amendments take aim at dangerously thin models, websites that promote unhealthy weight loss, and commercial photographs that digitally alter the appearance of models’ weight. These amendments are only a small part of a sweeping health care reform bill. But given France’s stature as a fashion-industry leader, it is the “skinny model” parts of the bill that have received international attention. (4/11)