Viewpoints: Reversing The Downward Trend In U.S. Life Expectancy; Who Is Responsible For Kids’ Smartphone Use, Addiction?
A selection of opinions on health care from news outlets around the country.
The Washington Post:
U.S. Life Expectancy Is Dropping. Here’s How To Fix It.
Driven by sharp increases in deaths from drug overdoses, U.S. life expectancy declined for a second consecutive year in 2016. Even during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s, life expectancy did not decrease over multiple years. Preliminary data suggests that U.S. life expectancy may drop even further in 2017 — a three-year decline not seen since World War I and the global influenza pandemic a century ago. The dramatic increase in deaths from illegal opioids — particularly illicitly manufactured fentanyl — is driving this alarming trend. (Thomas R. Frieden, 1/11)
USA Today:
Time For Apple To Update Parental Controls
No one disputes that parents have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that their children use smartphones safely. And we said that precisely in our letter to Apple. ... The problem is that most experts agree that Apple’s parental controls, which were introduced in 2008 before most kids had smartphones, have failed to keep pace with the research on negative outcomes. For example, Apple’s controls are largely binary, meaning parents can only shut certain applications or tools on or off, vs. moderating or modifying their usage, which research suggests is a better approach. Children who engage in limited use of their smartphones have better mental health outcomes than those who do not use them at all, and even the most concerning apps such as Facebook can also have beneficial impacts in moderation. (Barry Rosenstein, 1/11)
USA Today:
Don't Blame Apple For Smartphone Addiction
Anxiety and depression have spiked recently among young people, and researchers believe that heavy usage of wireless devices is a main reason why. To help combat this trend, a couple of large investors — Jana Partners and the California State Teachers' Retirement System — have turned to shareholder activism. Specifically, they’ve targeted Apple, demanding that the iPhone maker develop software giving parents more power to limit the amount of time their kids can be active on their phones. The two investors also want Apple to commission a study of the link between smartphone usage and mental health issues. ... Even so, the investors' particular tactic is suspect. (1/11)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Federal Right-To-Try Legislation — Threatening The FDA’s Public Health Mission
[I]n August 2017, the Senate passed the Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act, which would sharply curtail the FDA’s oversight of access to investigational drugs for patients with life-threatening illnesses. Though popular with the public and supported by politicians from both parties, the legislation has been widely criticized by policy experts. In isolation, its impact would probably be limited, since the bill was substantially hollowed out to secure the necessary votes. Nonetheless, the motivation behind the proposed legislation threatens to weaken the FDA’s ability to pursue its public health mission. (Steven Joffe and Holly Fernandez Lynch, 1/10)
New England Journal of Medicine:
In-Person Health Care As Option B
What if health care were designed so that in-person visits were the second, third, or even last option for meeting routine patient needs, rather than the first? This question seems to elicit two basic responses — sometimes expressed in the same breath: “The idea will upset many physicians, who are already under duress” and “I wish my health care worked that way.” (Sean Duffy and Thomas H. Lee, 1/11)
The New York Times:
The Women The Abortion War Leaves Out
Motherhood is really expensive. ... The price of motherhood is set by our government’s policies. It will, at some level, always be cheaper for a woman to have an abortion than to have a baby. But if anti-abortion campaigners truly want to decrease the numbers of abortions, rather than passing laws designed to drive up the costs of abortion, they would do far better to invest in the kinds of economic supports that make becoming a parent a realistic possibility for struggling women. (Michelle Oberman, 1/11)
Bloomberg:
With Trump MIA On Opioids, Here Come The Lawyers
How is the U.S. going to end its opioid crisis? The answer really shouldn’t be that difficult. ... President Donald Trump seems uninterested in taking these obvious steps. Yes, he created an opioid commission, whose recommendations he has ignored, and declared a “national health emergency.” But instead of adding funding, he actually proposed cutting the substance abuse budget by $400 million. And of course nothing signaled Trump’s lack of seriousness than the person he named to be his “opioid czar”: Kellyanne Conway, the spinmeister best known for rebranding Trump’s fantasies as “alternative facts.” (Joe Nocera, 1/12)
Stat:
Black Mothers Are Dying: The Toll Of Racism On Maternal Health
From my perspective, it sometimes feels that being a poor, black mother is akin to a diagnosis that increases the risk of dying during pregnancy or soon after giving birth. By fighting the racism that contributed to the deaths of Erica Garner and so many other American women, we can also stop the need for mourning. (Wrenetha Julion, 1/11)
New England Journal of Medicine:
When The CHIPs Are Down — Health Coverage And Care At Risk For U.S. Children
Despite bipartisan agreement on a 5-year plan in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, Congress failed to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) last fall, causing uncertainty and worry for families and state CHIP directors alike. ... Shortly before leaving town for the holidays, Congress included stopgap funding of $2.8 billion for CHIP in a short-term government funding bill. That additional funding means that states have not had to begin disenrolling children from CHIP just yet. But with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reporting on January 5 that it could ensure only that the available funds would keep CHIP funded in every state through January 19, it also means that the sword of Damocles continues to hang over the program: parents and state CHIP directors will still be on edge. (Lisa C. Dubay and Genevieve M. Kenney, 1/10)
San Jose Mercury News:
Republicans Should Fund CHIP Health Care For Kids
Congress has become so embarrassingly dysfunctional that it can’t find a way to fund one of the most admired, fully bipartisan health care programs of the past 20 years: the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides basic coverage for 9 million kids, including 200,000 in the Bay Area. House Republicans are using children’s health as a pawn in their never-ending quest to cripple the Affordable Care Act. (1/11)
New England Journal of Medicine:
Rejuvenating Regenerative Medicine Regulation
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently made long-awaited progress toward protecting patients from interventions involving human cell- and tissue-based products (HCT/P) of unknown safety and efficacy. By clarifying its position on the handling and therapeutic use of cells, the agency has sent a clear signal that it intends to regulate a broad swath of highly manipulated cellular materials as biologic drugs. This is a welcome development, and complementary action taken at the state level and by professional societies would further promote the interests of patients. (R. Alta Charo and Douglas Sipp, 1/10),
