Viewpoints: Health Law And Federalism; Medicaid’s Dental Benefits; Autism And Vaccines
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The New York Times:
What Ending Health Subsidies Means
If the Supreme Court rules that no federal tax credit subsidies can be provided to Americans buying insurance on federal health exchanges in 34 states, the economic effects could be devastating. ... State economies would suffer, insurance markets would be disrupted, millions of people would lose coverage, hospitals and insurance plans that have counted on revenues from newly insured people would be left high and dry, and people who continue to hold policies would pay a lot more for them. The health care markets in which individuals and families buy their own policies — on the exchanges and outside them — would fall into chaos. (3/7)
The Wall Street Journal:
ObamaCare Hail Mary
Liberals must be nervous about the Supreme Court’s big ObamaCare subsidy case because last week they decided to throw one last Hail Mary pass to Justice Anthony Kennedy . We hope he or Chief Justice John Roberts don’t fall for it. During a week they hear oral arguments, the Justices typically hold a private conference on Friday morning in which they declare where they are leaning on the cases. Just in time for last week’s Friday conference, liberal scholar Abbe Gluck tried one more state’s rights gambit to pull Justice Kennedy to the side of the four liberals who clearly want to uphold the subsidies delivered through federal exchanges. (3/8)
Politico:
How States’ Rights Shapes King v. Burwell
At t long last, the federalism implications of the Obamacare challenge, King v. Burwell, appear widely understood. This is in no small part thanks to the justices themselves, who at oral argument in the case on Wednesday emphasized the drastic consequences that the challengers’ interpretation of the Affordable Care Act would impose on the states. (Abbe Gluck, 3/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Proposed GOP Alternatives To Obamacare Subsidies Are Bad Medicine
The latest GOP plans are ... like the roadside Potemkin villages supposedly erected by Catherine the Great's courtier Grigory Potemkin to give her a false impression of prosperity in the Russian countryside. These contingency plans seem designed chiefly to persuade the Supreme Court that it can safely gut Obamacare via the King case, because there will be an alternative ready to go. Last week's oral arguments suggested that Justice Antonin Scalia, at least, found this argument appealing. (Michael Hiltzik, 3/6)
Bloomberg:
Supreme Court Can't Save Obamacare
After Wednesday's oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court, the odds that Obamacare will survive its latest legal challenge appear slightly better than even. But instead of relief, the law's supporters should take a moment to reflect on the deeper problem for the Affordable Care Act: its persistent and widespread unpopularity. Reversing that will do more to protect the law than any court decision. (Christopher Flavelle, 3/6)
The Washington Post's The Volokh Conspiracy:
Federalism Arguments In King V. Burwell
Defenders of the administration’s position in King v. Burwell have recently emphasized two federalism-based arguments in support of their claim that the Affordable Care Act must be interpreted to allow federal subsidies for health insurance purchased in federal government exchanges, as well as in those established by states. (Ilya Somin, 3/7)
Lawrence Journal-World:
Worth A Look
A small window of opportunity appears to be opening that may allow consideration of expanding Medicaid in Kansas. The House Vision 2020 Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Sloan, R-Lawrence, got the ball rolling by holding hearings and drafting legislation outlining a Medicaid expansion plan designed to be politically acceptable to state legislators who oppose the Affordable Care Act. Several other states that initially had opposed Medicaid expansion have taken similar steps; Kansas is one of 14 states that hasn’t found a way to tap into federal Medicaid expansion funds. (3/9)
Los Angeles Times:
Overdue For Checkups: Denti-Cal Program For Low-Income Kids
Fewer than half the low-income kids enrolled in California's dental insurance program see a dentist in any given year. That seems like a problem. Whether it is, though, is impossible to tell because of the state's inadequate oversight of the program, known as Denti-Cal. According to a recent audit, the state doesn't collect the data necessary to determine whether the kids who need care can get it. The state should start measuring the performance of Denti-Cal as if it really cares how well it's working. (3/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Letting Dentists Feel The Bite Of Competition
A little-noticed dental cartel in the U.S. received a long-deserved legal root canal on Feb. 25. In North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission, the Supreme Court affirmed the FTC’s position that state licensing boards controlled by “active market participants”—those who practice the profession—are exempt from antitrust lawsuits only if they are also supervised by the state government. (Rebecca Haw Allensworth and Aaron Edlin, 3/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Disability Claim Denied? Find The Right Judge
To all parties involved in a trial, the slam of a gavel should indicate that justice has been served. Unfortunately, this is often not the case with Social Security disability appeals. A system designed to serve society’s vulnerable has morphed into a benefit bonanza that costs taxpayers billions of dollars more than it should. The disability trust fund will become insolvent in 2016, and Congress would be wise to begin much needed reform. (Mark J. Warshawsky and Ross A. Marchand, 3/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Anthem Is Warning Consumers About Its Huge Data Breach. Here's A Translation.
There's a special folder in my email inbox where I keep communications from companies where data breaches have allowed my personal information to be stolen--or maybe it's a special circle of hell. Its volume grows almost month by month. It holds warnings from Target, Home Depot, JP Morgan Chase (two)--and now, Anthem, the health insurance company that somehow allowed hackers to gain access to information it held on as many as 80 million Americans. The victims are current and former members of Anthem health plans, and even some nonmembers, ... Anthem's communication is a pretty standard version of the genre. It's a "don't-blame-us" message masquerading as a mea culpa .... So here's a brief annotation to explain what Anthem is really saying. (Michael Hiltzik, 3/6)
The Washington Post:
Why Parents Want To Believe In A Vaccine Conspiracy
In hindsight, it’s easy to understand why some parents of children with autism want to see conspiracy and evil where none exists. Living with a person with autism can be devastatingly difficult, and learning that truth about vaccines didn’t really help me. Autism seemed to have stolen my son, and he was getting worse. ... I didn’t get a perfect kid or a perfect life. No one does. But when you’re a young, scared parent, you will grasp at anything to make sense of a hardship such as autism. I know that firsthand. But the MMR vaccine does not cause autism. And more important, autism is not the only tough thing that can happen in this life. A return of deadly diseases kept at bay by vaccines would be far worse. (Susan Senator, 3/6)
The Washington Post:
McDonald’s Makes A Healthy Choice
When it comes to familiar icons, McDonald’s ranks high in symbolism around the nation and the world. McDonald’s is also the world’s largest restaurant chain. The company deserves praise for a decision just announced that cannot have been easy to take but is important: to curtail the use of antibiotics in chicken products sold in the United States. (3/6)
The New York Times:
Getting Ebola To Zero
There is certainly reason to celebrate with Beatrice Yardolo, the last known Ebola patient in Liberia. She survived the terrible disease and was released from a hospital on Thursday. Only five months ago, the virus was raging through Monrovia, the Liberian capital, killing thousands, overwhelming the national health system and sparking riots as authorities tried to quarantine entire neighborhoods. (3/8)
