Viewpoints: Medicaid Fix In Nonexpansion States Needed; Ideas For Treating Addiction In Tennessee
Editorial writers weigh in on these various public health topics.
USA Today:
Medicaid: Congress Needs To Help Expand Healthcare Coverage
In 2017, long before I ran for the Senate, I was arrested at the U.S. Capitol while protesting for expanded access to health care. And as a man of faith, I was fighting long before then to get Georgians the health care they deserve because I believe health care is a human right. Now, as Congress works on a historic economic package that will revitalize our nation’s care infrastructure and move our economy forward, I’m still fighting to expand health care access for our neighbors who need it most. (Raphael Warnock, 10/5)
The Tennessean:
The Pandemic Has Increased Addiction. We Must Invest In Treatment
Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has driven the prevalence of substance use disorder to record levels, with drug overdoses in 2020 up over those in 2019, reaching 91,000 deaths nationwide. Overdose deaths in Tennessee mirror this national trend. (David Marcovitz and Katie D. White, 10/2)
The New York Times:
Why A Patient In Denial Is So Tough For Doctors
My patient’s chart was brief. A diagnosis of colon cancer that might have been cured had he not disappeared from medical care to return, nearly a year later, with cancer so advanced that it had torn through his intestines. Colleagues at the hospital had called him to schedule appointments, to get follow-up and to start chemotherapy, but he never responded. Now he was back, but there was nothing the surgeons could fix, and so he would remain in the intensive care unit until his death. (Daniela J. Lamas, 10/6)
Associated Press:
Henrietta Lacks' Family Sues Pharma Company Over Use Of Her Cells
The estate of Henrietta Lacks sued a pharmaceutical company on Monday, accusing it of selling cells that doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took from the Black woman in 1951 without her knowledge or consent. The cells taken from the woman who died of cervical cancer, known as HeLa cells, have been reproduced infinitely ever since, and used in countless scientific and medical innovations including the development of the polio vaccine and gene mapping. (10/4)
Stat:
The AMA Needs To Declare A National Mental Health Emergency
As the pandemic continues to disrupt life across the U.S., a staggering number of Americans are reaching out to their primary care doctors for help with sometimes overwhelming mental health struggles. Yet primary care doctors like us have nowhere to turn when it comes to finding mental health providers for them, and our patients often suffer without the specialty care they need. It’s time for the American Medical Association to take decisive action and declare a national mental health emergency. (Susan Hata and Thalia Krakower, 10/6)
Modern Healthcare:
What Will Move The Needle On Costs?
How do you believe the federal price transparency requirements that took effect in January will ultimately affect costs? Niall Brennan: In all likelihood, it’s not going to control costs at the consumer level. There is some possibility for employers to leverage information in ways that might make them better, or more aggressive, purchasers of healthcare. I’m also aware of the arguments that if hospital B finds out hospital A is getting paid more for an appendectomy, hospital B may raise its prices. (Niall Brennan and Paul Ginsburg, 10/5)
