Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Paying For 'Medicare For All' Is Entirely Possible Without Burdening Middle Class And Poor; Government Interventions Have Damaged Health Care
Los Angeles Times: Paying For ‘Medicare For All’? No Problem
Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have struggled to explain how they would pay for “Medicare for all.” This is puzzling. A single-payer approach like Medicare for all can reduce overall health spending. Other wealthy countries that have universal coverage spend far less on healthcare than the United States as a share of their gross domestic product. A lack of money is not the problem. That’s why it should not be difficult to devise a way to pay for Medicare for all to benefit the vast majority of us, particularly low- and middle-income earners. (Stephen Marks, 10/24)
The Hill: Doctors Have A Problem With Warren's Costly Health-Care Plan
Now medical times have changed and not necessarily for the better. While it is true that advances in the fields of genetics, robotics, immunology and cardiology have brought my patients more exciting life saving options than ever before, at the same time, government interventions have made the process of health-care delivery more cumbersome, bureaucratic and inefficient. (Marc Siegel, 10/24)
Philadelphia Inquirer: There’s No Such Thing As Universal Healthcare
Every four years presidential candidates list the things they’ll give Americans in exchange for their votes, and every four years Americans seem to forget there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Front and center this time around is Medicare for All. As with lunches, there is no such thing as free, or in this case universal, medical care. There is simply medical care, and it is expensive. The government can hide who pays for it. It can hide the fact that some people don’t have access to it. It can even force some to pay for others. But there is nothing it can do to make it universal. (Antony Davies and James R. Harrigan, 10/24)
US News: Business Roundtable Should Demand Health Care Price Transparency
This month Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon asking him how he plans to implement the Business Roundtable's new "stakeholder" mission. The BRT, which Dimon chairs, recently announced it is extending the focus of corporations from shareholders to employees, customers, suppliers and communities. Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, asked that Dimon endorse her Accountable Capitalism Act, which places a slew of new corporate governance regulations on businesses. (Cynthia Fisher, 10/22)
Stat: Tuberculosis Treatment Improves With Text-Based Behavioral Nudges
Nancy had been coughing for months. When she started experiencing chest pain, this bubbly mother of three and very proud grandmother went to see a doctor at her local clinic in Thika, about 20 miles northeast of Nairobi. He delivered a crushing diagnosis: She had contracted a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis. That was in June 2016. (Erez Yoeli, Jon Rathauser and David Rand, 10/25)
Stat: Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance Requires New Diagnostic Tools
A century ago, a severe bacterial infection was often a death sentence. With the advent of penicillin and the antibiotics that followed, such infections became eminently manageable, even routine. Today, though, with the rise of antimicrobial resistance, we are perilously close to returning to where we were 100 years ago. (Eric Stern, 10/24)
The CT Mirror: Abstinence, Death And How To Change The Opioid Epidemic
So, as we face a central question of our opioid epidemic, how do we turn back this tide of death? Answers stare back at us. We have to step away from abstinence-only approaches, such as arbitrary “three-strikes and you’re out” policies and detox protocols that don’t include the use of proven medications. (Charles Atkins, 10/25)
The New York Times: Should Family Members See Patients Die In The I.C.U.?
On one recent intensive care unit shift, I admitted a man whose heart had stopped earlier that day. By the time I met him, it seemed clear that he wasn’t going to live. So when he went into cardiac arrest for what I suspected would be the last time, I headed out of the unit to find his wife. The nurses had told her to wait in the family room and though we hadn’t met, I instantly knew who she was. Leaning against a wall, eyes bleary and absent. I introduced myself and explained that my team had started CPR again. I was worried that it wouldn’t bring him back. (Daniela J. Lamas, 10/25)
Sacramento Bee: Newsom Should Have Signed Hospital Closure Notification Bill
The California Nurses Association backed Newsom based on promises to govern in a way that would protect our patients and communities. As nurses, we are constantly monitoring our patients’ condition, and reassessing the best course of action. When we measure Newsom’s AB 1014 veto against his empty promises, we will continue to hold him accountable. (Zenei Cortez, 10/23)
The CT Mirror: Connecticut Legislators: Respect And Protect Our Health
Respect that the well-being of our minds and our bodies are cultivated by the families who raise us, the homes in which we live, the work at which we labor and the people with whom we surround ourselves. Each and every one of us experience an “environmental impact” no less dramatic than the stress being waged upon our planet. It is high time that people and their welfare receive the same level of attention and concern. (H. Andrew Selinger, 10/24)
Nashville Tennessean: Bill Lee Needs To Talk To Tennesseans About Medicaid Block Grant Plan
Gov. Bill Lee muddled his administration’s pitch for a TennCare block grant funding model earlier this month when he, although in his mild-mannered way, appeared to berate critics of the plan. The block grant model would mark the first time that any state has received federal funding for Medicaid in a lump sum, which is the same model for many other federal programs, including the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. (Alex Hubbard, 10/24)
