Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Mammogram Recommendations May Influence Insurance Coverage; New Privacy Concerns
The Washington Post: Insurance Coverage For Mammograms Jeopardized By New Guidelines, Congresswoman And Breast Cancer Survivor Says
Earlier this week, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), an independent group of doctors and health-care experts, issued draft recommendations on mammography for women at various ages. Their recommendations could lead to insurance companies dropping coverage of mammograms for women under age 50, as well as other preventive techniques that would help protect young women from getting breast cancer and help those who do have it. This is a wrong and dangerous path to take. (Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., 4/23)
The New York Times: Zombies Of 2016
[N.J. Gov. Chris Christie] thought he was being smart and brave by proposing that we raise the age of eligibility for both Social Security and Medicare to 69. Doesn’t this make sense now that Americans are living longer? No, it doesn’t. This whole line of argument should have died in 2007, when the Social Security Administration issued a report showing that almost all the rise in life expectancy has taken place among the affluent. The bottom half of workers, who are precisely the Americans who rely on Social Security most, have seen their life expectancy at age 65 rise only a bit more than a year since the 1970s. Furthermore, while lawyers and politicians may consider working into their late 60s no hardship, things look somewhat different to ordinary workers, many of whom still have to perform manual labor. (Paul Krugman, 4/24)
Bloomberg View: Health and Privacy
The most common way for health data to leak isn’t when hackers steal it. It’s when you give it away click by click. Just as marketers put bits and pieces of online information together to predict what toothpaste you buy, doctors and hospitals are using the same techniques in the hope of improving your health on the basis of stuff you haven’t told them. The rise of electronic health records, wearable devices and smartphone apps tracking your every breath, meal and heartbeat can only speed the spread of health information. (Shannon Pettypiece, 4/23)
The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot: Again: Missing Target On Medicaid
Part of the reason reform is so difficult is that Medicaid is much bigger and more complex than partisans are willing to acknowledge. ... Medicaid isn't just free health care for poor people; it actually consists of two distinct programs. One is managed care, which helps lower-income Virginians. That's the most cost-effective Medicaid program, and the one that the federal Affordable Care Act calls for expanding. The other -- long-term, critical care for the disabled -- accounts for two-thirds of Medicaid's budget, despite serving only one-third of Virginia's Medicaid recipients. For years, the General Assembly -- led by Republicans -- has been shoveling money toward the biggest driver of Medicaid's growth. That program is inefficient and almost entirely the source of fraud cases. (4/23)
USA Today: Columbia Medical Faculty: What Do We Do About Dr. Oz?
A recent letter from 10 physicians to the Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons states that [Dr. Mehmet Oz] is "guilty of either outrageous conflicts of interest or flawed judgments" and that because of this "Dr. Oz's presence on the faculty of a prestigious medical institution unacceptable." ... We are members of the Columbia faculty who recognize that the Dr. Oz Show performs a public service by bringing alternative therapies which are generally under-researched and under-regulated into the public forum. However, a 2014 report in The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) reported that less than half of the recommendations on his show are based on at least somewhat believable evidence. This report raises concerns that Dr. Oz's presentations of anecdotal therapies as "miracle cures" occur in the absence of what we see as obligatory discussions of conflicts of interest, possible side-effects and evidence-based medicine. (Michael Rosenbaum, Joan Bregstein and 6 Columbia Faculty Members, 4/23)
Bloomberg View: The Unborn Can Be Murdered, Too
The Colorado legislature is now considering a bill to fill the gap in the law, so that the state would treat attacks on pregnant women as having two victims. That is already the practice of 37 other states and the federal government. NARAL Colorado, the state affiliate of the national organization that favors legal abortion, ... says that the bill is a stealthy attempt to enact the kind of personhood legislation that Colorado voters have repeatedly rejected .... It says that such laws have led to the imprisonment of pregnant women in other states. And it says that the bill is unnecessary, because Colorado already has tough laws on crimes against pregnant women. ... All three arguments are weak. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 4/23)
JAMA: Principles And Challenges In Access To Experimental Medicines
Efforts by patients to obtain early access to experimental medicines have increased as novel therapies provide new evidence of their potential to treat or cure life-threatening diseases. As drug discovery efforts, particularly for cancer and orphan diseases, are increasingly based on molecular targets, success rates improve, generating further interest in early access to experimental drugs. Devising “expanded access programs” (EAPs), however, presents challenges. Fairness and ethical issues need to be addressed as do practical matters, such as efficient conduct of clinical trials, adequate drug supply, finances, and geography. ... This Viewpoint outlines general principles to help balance the competing interests of individuals facing life-threatening illness with practical concerns and broader societal interests. (Michael Rosenblatt and Bruce Kuhlik, 4/23)
