Viewpoints: New Administration Needs To Reverse Uninsured Trend Line; Time To Restore Confidence In FDA

Stat: Millions Of Americans Still Need Help Getting Health Insurance
In 2020, the United States entered its most severe public health crisis in a century with 13% of Americans under the age of 65 — more than 35 million people — without health insurance. Despite widespread concerns, though, the surging Covid-19 pandemic has not led to major increases in the number of people without health insurance. This is mainly because the massive job losses that began in March were concentrated in sectors in which people are less likely to get insurance through their jobs and many employers who furloughed workers continued to pay their employees’ health insurance premiums. And of the estimated 3 million people who did lose their health insurance in 2020, many were likely to get covered on another family member’s health plan or through the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces and Medicaid expansions. While this is better news than expected, it is not time for complacency. (Sara R. Collins, 1/25)

Stat: Choosing The Right FDA Commissioner Is An Essential Task
An independent, credible, science-led Food and Drug Administration has long been vital to America’s public, social, and economic health. It is even more essential today. As our country seeks to work its way out of a catastrophic pandemic and turn the page on one of the worst presidential administrations in its history — including one that bullied and traumatized FDA leaders and officials — President Joe Biden and his administration must choose the FDA’s next leader with care and caution. The FDA needs a leader who will decisively move on from the political weakness too often shown by Commissioner Stephen Hahn. The FDA needs a leader experienced in the public health sphere and with management experience at the very top of it. The FDA also needs new blood in its leadership. (Daniel Carpenter and Gregg Gonsalves, 1/24)

The Washington Post: New Biden Plan Provides Critical Support For Food Assistance
Stories of deep, pervasive hunger have been among the more disturbing undercurrents of the past year. Food lines stretch for miles. About 29 million U.S. adults — nearly 14 percent of the adult population — said last month that their household sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the previous seven days, according to the Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse Survey. The shares are even higher among Blacks, Latinos and households with children. (Catherine Rampell, 1/23)

The Hill: Joe Biden Faces Difficult Health Care Issue
As President Biden had declared in his inaugural address, “Few people in our history have been more challenged or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we are in now.” Many of these issues he spoke of came from or are exacerbated by the coronavirus. One area of the health care crisis, the declining state of mental and physical health, is a notable problem the new administration must deal with now. The mental health of Americans overall has deteriorated as a result of the pandemic, and there have been more reports of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. (Douglas Schoen and Jessie Howkins, 1/24)

The Hill: Drastic Measures For Drastic Times — Caregiver Need Mobile Health Apps 
In a cancer diagnosis, family members have delicate and difficult moments when specialists cannot reach consensus on the results of a beloved family member. Distress, grief and concern are complicated by the necessities of caregiving. Family caregivers can lose as many as 10 years of their lives and about $660,000 over a lifetime. (Fereshteh Ghahramani, 1/24)