Viewpoints: Lessons On Repeal And Replace Rhetoric Round Two; Praise For The Not-So-Obvious Benefits Of The Health Law

The Washington Post: Republicans Are Running The ‘Repeal And Replace’ Scam All Over Again
Despite all the attention we in Washington pay to the Russia scandal and the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the president’s latest antics (for perfectly good reasons), polls have repeatedly shown that when you ask voters what they care about most in considering their vote for Congress this fall, the most-commonly-mentioned issue is health care. And Republicans have set a health-care time bomb that is going to explode in their faces just in time for the November elections. (Paul Waldman, 8/17)

Des Moines Register: The Value Of Health Care Reform Is More Than You May Think
Since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted, the media has expounded on the landmark patient protections. Most Iowans probably know that the ACA ended health insurance discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Parents are generally aware that adult children can stay on their health plan until age 26. These were great advances, but many of the long-range benefits of the ACA haven’t received much attention. Nonetheless, new structures have taken hold behind the scenes, and they’re working to improve care quality, increase innovation, and even boost the economy. (J. Marc Ward, 8/17)

Axios: It's Not Just The Uninsured — It's Also The Cost Of Health Care 
We still have an uninsured problem in the U.S., but we have a far broader health care affordability problem that hits sick people especially hard. Why it matters: It's time to think more broadly about who's having trouble paying for the health care they need. The combination of lack of insurance and affordability affects about a quarter of the non-elderly population at any one time, but almost half of people who are sick. Now that the Affordable Care Act has expanded health coverage, the percentage of the non-elderly population that is uninsured is now just under 11%, the lowest level ever recorded. Another 15.5% who have insurance either skipped or delayed care because of the cost or reported that they or someone in their family faced problems paying their bills in 2017. That brings the total percentage of non-elderly people with insurance and affordability problems to 26.2%. More striking: nearly half of all people in fair or poor health — 46.4% — are uninsured or have affordability problems despite having coverage. (Drew Altman, 8/19)

San Jose Mercury News: Why Gig Economy Workers Deserve Basic Protections
The California Supreme Court’s decision in Dynamex v. Lee holds that businesses can no longer misclassify their workers as “independent contractors” in order to avoid meeting basic labor standards. Dynamex is a trucking company, but many tech companies rely heavily on this misclassification strategy as well, and they have unleashed their lobbyists to try to reverse the decision. (Maria Noel Fernandez and Ben Field, 8/17)

Columbus Dispatch: Start On A Better Rx Deal For Taxpayers
With what is now known about the way prescription-drug middlemen have profited at the expense of Ohio taxpayers, it’s clear the state’s Medicaid managed-care plans must negotiate better deals with pharmacy benefit managers. The Department of Medicaid is right to put managed-care companies on notice that they are not to continue current contracts beyond Jan. 1. It’s about time. Months of investigation by Dispatch reporters, followed by a state Medicaid-commissioned report, have shown that pharmacy benefit managers, hired to make the Medicaid drug benefit more efficient, have billed taxpayers $223.7 million over and above what they paid pharmacies for the drugs in question. (8/19)

Stat: Kidney Disease Is A Killer. More Precise Classification Can Help Tame It
Kidney disease, once commonly thought of as a single entity, has become far more complicated. That’s a good thing, because it opens the door for better and more precise treatments. Back in 2002, the National Kidney Foundation published the five stages of kidney disease. That was an important step forward in classifying and treating chronic kidney disease, which affects 30 million Americans. These stages helped better identify the progression of the disease, as the tissue destruction and scarring captured in the stages cause an ongoing loss of kidney function. Sixteen year later, genomics and proteomics have ushered in precision diagnoses and therapies for cancer and other diseases while leaving much of kidney disease behind. (Franklin W. Maddux, 8/20)

The Washington Post: Reversing Roe V. Wade Will Be Just The Beginning
Are opponents of Brett M. Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination engaged in “a scare tactic” when they contend that his confirmation would lead to overturning Roe v. Wade ? Kavanaugh’s supporters claim as much, and some elite commentators agree, suggesting that a reversal of Roe is less likely than an incremental chipping away at a woman’s right to choose. But what if the opposite is true? What if opponents of Kavanaugh’s confirmation are actually understating the threat to reproductive freedom? That prospect merits serious consideration at next month’s Judiciary Committee hearings. (Ronald A. Klain, 8/17)

The Wall Street Journal: A Shot Of Competition For EpiPen
A couple of years ago Washington fell into anaphylactic shock over the high cost of EpiPens, devices that shoot adrenaline into someone having an allergic reaction. But the Trump Administration this week injected some overdue competition into the market that could lower prices for millions of Americans. On Thursday the Food and Drug Administration approved the first generic competitor to Mylan ’s EpiPen. The competing drug is manufactured by the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva. One might wonder why a simple spring device filled with a cheap medicine didn’t have competitors, even decades after invention. (8/19)

The New York Times: Advice I Never Wanted To Give
Everybody wants to talk to me about suicide. It’s my own fault, I suppose. Or maybe it’s my little sister Lydia’s fault. But there’s no point in assigning blame. Mostly I just miss her. Lydia took her own life in the summer of 2012. She had just turned 28. Those first few weeks after her death, I had no idea what to say, or how to say it. So I didn’t say anything. I just kept to myself and drank too much and sobbed. But after a few weeks, this little voice inside kept nagging at me. When are we going to talk about it? How are we going to deal with this? (Adam Cayton-Holland, 8/18)

Stat: NYU Medical School Students Are Getting Free Tuition. But Everyone Will Reap Benefits
At yesterday’s white coat ceremony for its class of 2022, New York University School of Medicine announced it will cover tuition for all medical students, regardless of their financial situation. The announcement (which I certainly wouldn’t have minded coming three years earlier) isn’t just great news for NYU medical students. It could also help shape the landscape of health care in the United States in four key ways. (Eli Cahan, 8/17)

San Antonio Press-Express: Texas Shouldn’t Adopt Medicaid Work Requirements
On Jan. 11, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an update allowing states to set work requirements for Medicaid recipients who are not pregnant, elderly or disabled. To promote holistic health and “help families rise out of poverty,” CMS will support state efforts to create program incentives. (Joelene Gonzalez, 8/17)