Viewpoints: Quality, Price Details Often Overlooked; VA Needs To Reconsider Options
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Few Consumers Use Information On Health Provider Quality Or Price
It’s widely assumed that Americans will become increasingly diligent and informed health-care consumers as higher deductibles and other forms of cost sharing push them to be more prudent purchasers and as they become aware of comparative provider quality and price information. That may well happen–but findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation’s April Health Tracking Poll show that the effort to bring provider quality and cost information to consumers is still in its infancy. (Drew Altman, 4/27)
The New York Times:
Nobody Said That
Imagine yourself as a regular commentator on public affairs — maybe a paid pundit, maybe [a] supposed expert in some area, maybe just an opinionated billionaire. You weigh in on a major policy initiative that’s about to happen, making strong predictions of disaster. The Obama stimulus, you declare, will cause soaring interest rates; the Fed’s bond purchases will “debase the dollar” and cause high inflation; the Affordable Care Act will collapse in a vicious circle of declining enrollment and surging costs. But nothing you predicted actually comes to pass. What do you do? You might admit that you were wrong, and try to figure out why. But almost nobody does that; we live in an age of unacknowledged error. (Paul Krugman, 4/27)
Arizona Republic:
New VA Problems Get The Same Old 'Solutions'
Give the Department of Veterans Affairs some credit for realizing the challenges it faces. Now, if it just could open its eyes to the obvious resolutions. ... Yes, the VA needs to expand, but as a military version of Medicare, directing qualified vets to the private-sector health-care providers of their choice and paying the bills it is responsible for paying. It doesn't need to create a government version of a health-care system that already exists. To [VA Secretary Robert] McDonald's credit, part of his expansion plans include more emphasis on the Veterans Choice program, which refers some veterans to private-sector providers. The bad news is that enlarging the VA fiefdom is his primary mission. (4/25)
The New York Times:
Dr. Oz Is No Wizard, But No Quack, Either
A more careful look, however, at the merits of the supposed case against [Dr. Mehmet Oz] makes it start to look weaker than a cup of green coffee. ... Much of what Dr. Oz talks about is pretty anodyne stuff: Eat fruit! Exercise! Sleep right! Diet features prominently on every show .... Different doctors take different approaches to issues like whether or not to prescribe statin drugs to patients with high cholesterol, or how to treat people with pre-diabetes. Some are quick to prescribe medications, whereas Dr. Oz tends to favor less interventionist, more natural approaches based on diet and exercise. (Bill Gifford, 4/25)
Dallas Morning News:
Finally, Feds Taking Steps To Make Medicare Cards Safer
It’s about time. For three years, I’ve been getting on the federal government to stop imprinting Social Security numbers on Medicare cards, a practice that placed millions of people at risk for financial losses from identity theft. I’m finally getting my wish. (Pamela Yip, 4/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Bill On Drug Pricing Would Help State In Figuring Healthcare Costs
A new crop of specialty drugs holds great promise for treating or even curing some devastating diseases, but their high cost challenges health insurers and taxpayer-funded health programs. In California, Gov. Jerry Brown has asked for $300 million in the coming fiscal year's budget just for specialty hepatitis C medications such as Sovaldi, which can cost Medi-Cal or the state prison system more than $80,000 for a course of treatment. Before policymakers can figure out how to cope with the costs over the long term, they need to know more about why these drugs are priced as high as they are. That's where a new proposal by Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) comes in. (4/26)
The Washington Post:
A Counteroffensive In The Heroin War
No state in this nation has been more quietly terrorized by heroin than Maryland, my Maryland. Hopefully, the state’s attempt to hush the national media’s branding of Baltimore as “the heroin capital of America” is over. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced plans to launch a strong counteroffensive in his state’s heroin war. Now a game-changing pushback on the pushers can finally begin. (Milton Emmanuel Williams Jr., 4/24)
Boston Globe:
What Price Is Too High For A Miracle Drug?
Naloxone isn't magic, but its power to rescue a heroin user from the brink of death can certainly seem miraculous. The anti-overdose drug, also known by the brand name Narcan, is easy to administer and has saved thousands of lives. ... in Massachusetts, as in most other states, the price of naloxone is up sharply. A 2-milliliter dose that used to cost the state $19.56 has more than doubled to $41.43. ... The price jump may be unwelcome — no one likes to pay more for vital supplies — but it is hard to see anything unfair or unethical, let alone unlawful, about it. That hasn’t stopped [Attorney General Maura] Healey from demanding that companies selling naloxone in Massachusetts provide detailed explanations for the higher costs of the drug, and account for “any changes in prices over time” since the opioid crisis was declared a public emergency. Healey’s spokesman insists the attorney general “isn’t suggesting anything nefarious.” ... But the innuendo is hard to miss. (Jeff Jacoby, 4/26)
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
The Demands On Caregiver Parents Are Relentless
The entire nation shuddered at the story of Daequan Norman, the 21-year old man with severe cerebral palsy who was abandoned in a West Philadelphia park by his mother. He was wrapped in a blanket with a Bible in this spring's cold, helpless because he cannot move his arms or legs, and cannot speak. His mother has been charged with attempted murder and other offenses. In searching for some meaning in this tragic situation, let's take an unflinching look at the exceptional demands upon parents of children with severe disabilities. (Diane Gallagher, 4/27)
