Viewpoints: Obamacare, Narrow Networks And The Future; Health Insurance’s Zombie Marketing
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The Wall Street Journal:
Where Clinton Will Take ObamaCare
In claiming earlier this year that the current U.S. health-care system “was HillaryCare before it was called ObamaCare,” Hillary Clinton was telling the truth—but not the whole truth. In 1993, while first lady, Mrs. Clinton led a task force to deliver universal health care to the voters who elected her husband. She failed. After many revisions, the final bill stalled in the Senate for lack of Democratic votes. (Phil Gramm, 10/17)
The New York Times:
Savings? Yes. But Narrow Health Networks Also Show Troubling Signs.
You probably chafe a bit every time you learn that a certain doctor or hospital isn’t part of your insurance network. Narrowing the scope of your network helps insurers save money. They can drive hard bargains with doctors and hospitals to get lower prices and walk away from higher-priced ones. Increasingly, insurers are offering narrow network plans. Would you enroll in one? So long as quality doesn’t suffer, consumers should welcome the lower premiums they may offer. (Austin Frakt, 10/17)
The Columbus Dispatch:
Health-Care Action Needed
The Affordable Care Act has lived down to critics’ low expectations and dire warnings, but it also has extended medical-insurance coverage to 20 million previously uninsured Americans. And it has created expectations, for which there likely can be no retreat. Children can stay on their parents’ plan until age 26. Insurers cannot deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition. And the expansion of Medicaid — pushed through in Ohio by Gov. John Kasich as a compassionate measure and to lower state costs bloated by the uninsured — has been a success. In fact, much off the heavy lifting of the ACA expansion appears to have come via Medicaid. But concerns about the act’s flaws no longer can be dismissed as partisan obstructionism. (10/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Zombie Marketing: Selling Health Insurance To The Dead
Being dead hasn’t stopped Martin Siegel from being a solid insurance prospect. Siegel, who died in 2002, would have turned 65 this year. As such, he’s received solicitations from UnitedHealthcare, Kaiser Permanente and other insurers trying to sign him up for Medicare Advantage plans. “It’s just about every insurance company you can think of,” said Geri Siegel, his widow. ... “How could something like this happen?” The answer to that question leads us into the murky world of “big data,” in which people’s personal information is bought, sold and shared by public and private entities. (David Lazarus, 10/18)
St. Louis Post Dispatch:
Ouch! Health Insurance Costs Jump 6 Percent
Next month brings open enrollment for company health plans. The cost of covering you and your family will go up 5.5 percent to 6 percent, according to surveys from Mercer and the National Business Group on Health. A 5.5 percent increase would be more than five times general inflation. It is more than twice the rise in hourly earnings. But don’t expect your employer to pay the full 5.5 percent or 6 percent. Employers will see their own costs rise just 4 percent, according to Mercer, the big benefits consulting firm. (Jim Gallagher, 10/17)
Stat:
EpiPen Maker Tries Yet Another Tactic To Boost Profits
Among the many questionable tactics Mylan Pharmaceuticals has pursued to boost EpiPen sales has been a surreptitious lobbying campaign to have its device added to a coveted list of preventive services that is maintained by the federal government. Here’s why this matters: If Mylan succeeds in getting EpiPen on that list, consumers would not have to make copayments, leaving insurers or government agencies to pick up that cost. That sounds like a good deal for patients. But by taking their wallets out of the equation, Mylan minimizes the chance of a public backlash to its pricing. (Ed Silverman, 10/18)
Modern Healthcare:
Does The FDA Enable Drugmakers To Jack Up Prices On Cheap Old Drugs?
There are lots of reasons for the nation's rising prescription drug spending, which increased 6.3% from August 2015 to August 2016, according to the Altarum Institute. But you wouldn't think one of them would be that the federal government is actively encouraging drug companies to slap higher price tags on old, cheap products. But that's exactly what's happening. (Harris Meyer, 10/17)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Time To Tackle Runaway Drug Pricing
If the ailment doesn’t kill you, the price of the drug treatment sometimes seems designed to finish the job. First came heart-stopping stories of price gouging for EpiPens. Then came a scandal behind pricing for anti-parasite pills. Now comes a bid to exploit increased demand for a drug to treat lead poisoning. Have these companies no shame? (10/16)
Sacramento Bee:
A High-Stakes Game Of Chicken On Drug Prices
California’s state government spends about $4 billion a year on prescription drugs – for low-income people in the Medi-Cal program, as well as state employees, retirees and prison inmates. Shouldn’t taxpayers be getting the best deal possible for their money? That’s the simple question presented by Proposition 61 on the Nov. 8 ballot. (Daniel Weintraub, 10/17)
KevinMD:
Health Care: The Big Issue Trump And Clinton Choose To Ignore
For me, the saddest part of the 2016 presidential election is not that we have two of the most disliked presidential candidates in history but that so little attention is being paid to health care. You may have noticed that health care rarely comes up in campaign speeches or in debates, and when it does it’s often scripted empty promises. Donald Trump has a plan entitled “Healthcare Reform to Make America Great Again.” Hillary Clinton talks about having fought for health care her entire career. It’s unclear if either of them — or indeed any candidate — can make a meaningful change. (Manoj Jain, 10/17)
The Des Moines Register:
Deadly Bacteria A Risk To Thousands Of Iowans
This obituary came to mind on Thursday when federal officials announced that hundreds of thousands of patients who underwent heart surgery in the United States over the last several years could be at risk of a deadly bacterial infection. The bacteria is linked to a common device used to keep a patient’s organs and blood at specific temperatures during surgery. In the past year, five of the 28 cases identified nationally were reported by Iowa hospitals. (10/17)
Boston Globe:
Let Children’s Hospital Expand
Boston Children’s seeks to modernize its operations to provide better care, in more comfortable surroundings, to the most critically ill children from Massachusetts, the broader New England region, and around the world. ... Hospitals around New England and beyond are referring their most challenging pediatric cases to the talented professionals at Boston Children’s Hospital. These clinicians have dedicated their lives to caring for children with the most complex medical needs. We need to come together and give them our support. (Jack Connors Jr., 10/18)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cancer Patients Bring Urgent Voices Of Value To St. Louis
Having just hosted the latest of a decades-long string of presidential debates, St. Louis is rightfully proud of serving as a setting for vital national conversations. On Oct. 20, the Gateway City will be the site of another gathering that could also prove historically consequential — but in a way that should concern the millions of Americans with serious medical conditions. (Jonathan Wilcox, 10/17)
Kansas City Star:
Jackson County Establishes Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
To help fight a nationwide epidemic in the abuse of addictive painkillers, Jackson County on Monday took the first step toward setting up a computerized system to monitor the sale of certain prescription drugs. The county Legislature unanimously approved the ordinance authorizing its prescription drug monitoring plan but set no date for when it will be up and running. The program is estimated to cost $150,000 or less and would use software now being used by some of the 49 states with statewide monitoring programs. Missouri is the only state without one. (Mike Hendricks, 10/17)
Miami Herald:
Most Of Your Calcium Intake Should Not Come From Supplements
The 2,742 study participants, aged 45-84, were part of a larger Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Study participants completed records on dietary habits and supplement use. They had a cardiac CT scan, which measures coronary artery calcium, a marker for heart disease risk. Calcium from food, no matter how high the intake, was not associated with increased risk of calcium plaque buildup. In fact, food is protective. (Sheah Rarback, 10/17)
Health Affairs Blog:
The Culture Of Health Action Framework And Systems Science: Opportunities And Challenges
The main challenge to realizing this vision is determining how best to address the complexity of making all the moving parts work together in tractable ways. In creating a Culture of Health, we need to be able to know, in a timely fashion, what works and what does not work to improve health, why a given strategy succeeded or failed, and what changes are necessary to make meaningful progress. (Yan Li and José Pagán, 10/17)
