Viewpoints: Health Policy Moves Back To Town Halls; GOP Wrestles With Medicaid Debate

Chicago Tribune: To The GOP On Obamacare: This Spud's For You
Health care policy as a political hot potato has become a popular metaphor. Writers at Vox, CNBC, the American Constitution Society and elsewhere have compared Obamacare to a fresh-from-the-oven tuber that's too painful to hold and must be tossed back across the aisle as quickly as possible. Noting growing concerns about inherent flaws in the complex structure of Obamacare — formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — libertarian Bloomberg View columnist Megan McArdle argued in a Feb. 15 essay that Congress is no longer "arguing about whether (and how) the exchanges can be saved, but playing hot potato as both parties vie to avoid being stuck with the blame for the ensuing disaster." Nice try. (Eric Zorn, 2/21)

Roll Call: Town Hall Winners And Losers So Far
We’re halfway through the Presidents Day recess, the first during President Donald Trump’s first term in office. ... it’s no surprise that town halls would become a focal point for the anger swirling on the left. Some members have plainly refused to meet with groups they think will be hostile to them. Others have flung open the sashes and let the emotions fly. Others have worked assiduously to restrain something that is inherently not theirs to control — the reaction of voters to their government’s actions in Washington. With half of the recess still left to play out, here are the winners and losers so far. (Patricia Murphy, 2/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Repeal And Replace Panic
In the 2009 ObamaCare debate, White House aide David Plouffe told nervous Democrats “no bed-wetting,” meaning keep calm and all will be well. House Democrats went on lose 63 seats in 2010, but the double irony is that Mr. Plouffe’s advice now applies to those reporters and liberals who seem to be invested in the failure of the GOP’s version of health-care reform. Every day brings a new story about Republicans in disarray, the “mirage” of the GOP’s reform and the impossibility of change. ... The reality is that Congress is on schedule, progress is underway, and the many potential problems are avoidable. (2/21)

Forbes: Cassidy-Collins Patient Freedom Act Looks Better As Other Reform Efforts Falter
In a different political climate, the "Patient Freedom Act" introduced last month by Republican Senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins would be getting close scrutiny and perhaps some significant support. It is -- and I apologize for language that appears to have become profane in these polarized times -- a compromise. The bill recognizes that an outright repeal and replacement of Obamacare is going to be politically challenging for at least the next two years. It likewise recognizes that the persistence of Obamacare nationwide is likely to be challenging and expensive. (Seth Chandler, 2/21)

Bloomberg: A GOP Tax Idea Would Upend Health Insurance 
Last week brought thwarted mergers, threats by insurers to leave the Affordable Care Act's individual exchanges, and the release of a (very) rough sketch of a possible GOP repeal-and-replace plan for the ACA. What's missing in that skeletal outline is how to pay for new initiatives, such as an expanded tax credit to help people buy insurance, while also repealing the new taxes established by the ACA. Some in the GOP are floating one possible solution: capping the federal tax breaks workers and companies get for employer-provided health insurance. (Max Nisen, 2/21)

Richmond Times Dispatch: Looks Like Virginia Republicans Were Right About Medicaid After All. 
Over the course of Virginia’s protracted dispute about expanding Medicaid, Republican opponents repeatedly have warned about getting stuck with a big bill the state cannot afford to pay. Looks like they could be right. (2/21)

WBUR: Caring For Immigrant Patients When The Rules Can Shift Any Time
Knowing patients’ immigration status and the reasons they came to this country can affect the services they are eligible for, the relative costs of medications, the fears that may keep them from returning for needed services, and even the diagnosis of unexplained symptoms. Immigration policy, Marlin told us, "is no longer a spectator sport" for us or for our patients. But it is not simple to practice medicine under these new and uncertain circumstances. (Elisabeth Poorman, 2/21)

Bloomberg: 'Right To Try' Laws Don't Help The Dying 
A national “right to try” law, supported by Vice President Mike Pence and scores of Republicans in the the House and Senate, is meant to circumvent the FDA’s regulatory authority by giving patients who are terminally ill the right to use drugs that the agency hasn’t yet approved. The idea sounds reasonable; in the past few years, bipartisan majorities in two-thirds of state legislatures have passed essentially the same law. In reality, however, these laws give patients no new rights at all. They do nothing to compel drug makers to provide experimental medicines to the dying, or insurers to pay for them. They merely eliminate a patient’s right to sue for any injuries that might arise -- that is, if any patient ever gets an untested drug in this way. (2/21)

Boston Globe: Did Dana-Farber Pay Too High A Price For Its Mar-A-Lago Fund-Raiser?
When asked why he robbed banks, the legendary bank robber Willie Sutton said, “Because that’s where the money is.” That’s also why the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute holds fund-raisers at Mar-a-Lago, the posh Palm Beach resort that serves as President Trump’s Florida home. It’s where the money is. The most recent gala, held over the past weekend, raised $2.2 million. All for a good cause. But at what cost? (Joan Vennochi, 2/21)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Turn Off The Drug Spigot In The St. Louis Region
Heroin and opioid overdoses have increased to the point where they claim more lives regionally than homicides. State and local lawmakers need to focus greater efforts on combating a growing epidemic. Gov. Eric Greitens’ pledge to help create a statewide prescription drug database is a good start, but a more comprehensive law enforcement effort would go even further to push down the number of drug-related deaths. (2/21)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Overprescribed: Curbing The Easy Fix Of Psychiatric Meds For Seniors
With many communities still struggling to manage the opioid epidemic, the last thing the nation needs is a new drug-related problem — the overprescribing of psychiatric and other medications to senior citizens. A new report in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine raises a red flag about the trend, saying it appears to be particularly common in rural areas where patients with symptoms of mental illnesses might have less access to talk therapy and other nondrug treatments. But even in these communities, there are alternatives to medications that can and should be explored. (2/20)

The Des Moines Register: Who Should Decide Drug Treatment: Your Doctor Or Insurer?
When your life — or maybe your vision, or your freedom from debilitating pain — is at stake, who should get to make the call about your treatment? I’d say a medical professional. But health insurance companies beg to differ. (Stacie Bendixen, 2/21)

Stat: Patient Reviews Published Online Can Help Improve Health Care
It’s no secret that the US health care system needs to improve. Consumers — in this case patients and employers — have more collective power to influence change than they realize by choosing how, where, and from whom they get health care. Uber, Nordstrom, and many other companies seek their customers’ opinions and respond to them. Health care needs to follow suit to become the patient-centered service industry that it should be. The University of Utah, where I work, began collecting patient feedback early on and was the first health system in the US to publicly post patients’ reviews of their providers. It has paid off in many ways. (Vivian S. Lee, 2/21)