Viewpoints: Single-Payer Systems Are Also Expensive; Why Some Insurers Have Made Money With Obamacare

The Huffington Post: Why Some Obamacare Insurers Are Making Money, But Many Are Losing Big
The U.S. health insurance industry has lost a few billion dollars selling policies on Affordable Care Act exchanges. It’s why many carriers are seeking large premium increases next year and why at least one major carrier is dropping policies in most states. (Jonathan Cohn, 5/16)

The New York Times: A Single-Payer Plan From Bernie Sanders Would Probably Still Be Expensive
Bernie Sanders’s chances at enacting a “political revolution” are all but gone. But that doesn’t mean his policy agenda won’t continue to be felt in this election or future Democratic platforms. One of his signature proposals is to move the country’s health care system to a government-run, single-payer system. Last week, Hillary Clinton nodded in that direction, suggesting that she would be open to allowing Americans older than 50 to buy into the government Medicare program that currently covers those 65 and older. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 5/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Is ‘House V. Burwell’ Health Law Case About Statute Or Constitution?
Last Thursday, the Obama administration suffered a legal setback, when a federal judge in Washington ruled that the administration exceeded its authority by paying out cost-sharing subsidies to health insurers under the Affordable Care Act. The administration will doubtless appeal the case, which was brought by the Republican-led House of Representatives, but whether those appeals succeed may well depend on whether courts view the case as one of statutory interpretation, or one with constitutional implications. In its briefs in the case, the administration tried to portray House v. Burwell as a successor case to King v. Burwell, another lawsuit surrounding Obamacare subsidy payments, which the Supreme Court decided in June 2015. (Chris Jacobs, 5/16)

Bloomberg: Another Judge Trots Out Bad Law To Attack Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act is being subjected to judicial torment. The latest agony is last week’s ruling by a federal judge that the law failed to appropriate funds needed to help cover low- to middle-income people. The case, brought by Republican members of Congress, shouldn’t have been allowed to go forward in the first place, because a dispute between Congress and the president about the scope of appropriations isn’t a matter for the courts. It’s also wrong on the merits, since it assumes that legislation should be interpreted to thwart itself. The Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court will probably overturn it. (Noah Feldman, 5/16)

USA Today: War On Drugs Requires New Tactics: Our View
With an average 78 Americans dying each day from overdoses of prescription opioid painkillers and heroin, it’s clear that the U.S. is losing the war on drugs. The epidemic has spread to suburbia and rural areas. The death toll from heroin has more than tripled since 2010. And the nation is desperate for answers. Congress is working on bipartisan measures that would give states, localities and non-profit groups money to finance an array of education, treatment and law enforcement programs. Final passage can't come a moment too soon. But it's all rather standard fare. (5/16)

USA Today: Heroin Injection Sites Perpetuate Harm: Opposing View
There are no “safe heroin injection sites.” The only “safe” approach to heroin is not to take it. For addicts, the humane public health response is to help them get and stay sober, or at the very least, opioid replacement therapy in sustained treatment. Any approach without these goals is cruel and dehumanizing — not healing, but perpetuating harm. Addiction is a treatable disease. Millions of Americans are in recovery — living healthy, productive lives. Supporting addicts’ heroin use maintains their disease, administering the poison that causes their illness and diminishes their lives. A government-approved place for unlimited heroin injection creates the conditions for never-ending addiction and gives government a drug dealer’s power over the addicted. (John P. Walters, 5/16)

Los Angeles Times: I Use Pain Medication, But I'm Not An Addict
Not all pain medication users are addicts. That sentence had to be my first because it is a truth that is not well represented. The media have chosen to tell you ever more frightening tales about prescription pill abuse without letting you know about us — the responsible users. Opioids, narcotics, barbiturates, muscle relaxers, corticosteroids, or tricyclics are a part of our daily medication regimen, but we aren’t looking to get high. (Nicole Hussey, 5/16)

Stat: Why We Shouldn't Trade A Weakened FDA For More Medical Research Funds
In a quest to bring new medical products to Americans, Congress is considering a grand bargain. Legislation passed last year by the House would provide billions more dollars for medical research and encourage faster approval of prescription drugs and devices. The Senate is currently working on a set of companion bills in hopes of crafting a compromise measure. (Ed Silverman, 5/17)

Modern Healthcare: Federal Survey Finds 'Troubling' Online Behavior That Could Impact Medical Record Sharing
The growing, global epidemic of data breaches—including those in healthcare—are making people gun shy about online services, including the exchange of medical records, according to a Census Bureau survey. A 2015 Commerce Department survey of 41,000 households was light on healthcare specifics, but noted that consumers around the world use the Internet to send and store personal medical data, business communications, and even intimate conversations. (Joseph Conn, 5/16)

The New York Times: You Mean I Don’t Have To Show Up? The Promise Of Telemedicine
Aside from whatever a visit to the doctor costs you in money, it also costs you in time. A lot of it. End to end, the travel and waiting time for a doctor’s appointment can take several hours — often disrupting work or school. Only 17 percent of it — 20 minutes, on average — is spent actually seeing the doctor, according to a study by the University of Pittsburgh physician Kristin Ray and colleagues at the Harvard Medical School and the RAND Corporation. (Austin Frakt, 5/16)

Stat: ‘The Biggest Loser’ Shows The Complexity Of Keeping Weight Off
“Isn’t this a depressing finding?” several interviewers asked me. If you look only at the headlines, yes, it can be depressing. Dig deeper, though, and this finding points the way to smarter and more effective ways to lose weight and keep it off. (Stanford, 5/16)

The New York Times: Finding Organ Donors Concealed In Plain Sight
Last June, after it became clear that their 3-month-old son, Nathan, needed a liver transplant, Rob and Christina Whitehead of Mokena, Ill., created a Facebook page to tell his story. Word spread quickly. “More than a hundred people called our donor hotline,” recalled Talia B. Baker, director of the Living Donor Liver Transplant program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In August, Nathan received a transplant. He’s had some complications, but nine months later, videos show him cruising happily with his walker. Nathan’s case is not unique. “There have been several instances where people have posted a need for an organ for a baby or an adult and we’ve had a massive outpouring,” Baker said. (David Bornstein, 5/17)

USA Today: Past Time To Ban Skin Shocks To Disabled: Column
"How is this legal?" This is one of the first questions people ask when they hear about what happens at the Judge Rotenberg Center, a residential school for disabled children and adults just south of Boston. For decades, JRC has worked off a treatment model of reward and punishment — punishing its clients severely when they misbehave. In particular, JRC is the only program of any kind in the United States to use electric shock as a form of behavior modification. (Shain M. Neumeier, 5/16)

The Washington Post: A Doctor Said My Son Had ‘No Hope.’ At 30, He Doesn’t Let Autism Hold Him Back.
Recently a momentous, fabulous, electrifying thing happened. My son, my wife and I got into the car, and she asked him, as she always does, where he would like to go. “No idea,” he said. No idea!? Ellen and I sat up in our seats. Our spirits rose like party balloons. No idea! We burst out laughing, and Walker smiled like a stand-up comedian who had just landed a joke. Walker is not a 1-year-old starting to put words together. He’s a handsome, 30-year-old, 6-foot-3 man with severe autism. He speaks, a little. He converses not at all. He can barely tell people his thoughts. We had only very rarely heard a casual, flip response like this. (Robert Hughes, 5/16)

The Chronicle: State Sen. Tony Hwang: Time To Care About Our Hospitals
“We’re being taxed into oblivion.” With those words, Connecticut Hospital Association Senior Vice President Stephen Frayne this January summed up the plight of hospitals across our state. But the powers-that-be at the State Capitol aren’t listening. (Tony Hwang, 5/16)

Stat: Postcard From Bulgaria: A World Where Disability And Illness Aren’T Hidden
Here in Smolyan, disabilities and illnesses are often left untouched by the medical establishment and chronic illness is woven into the fabric of everyday life. I know this must be the case in every country without good medical care, but it was the first time I had seen it up close. (Sophia Padelford, 5/13)

The Chicago Tribune: How To Reduce Suffering In Illinois: More Medical Marijuana
Illinois has taken a go-slow approach to medical marijuana, limiting risk by allowing the industry to operate as a pilot program until the start of 2018. So far, so good: The highly regulated system, designed to provide relief to patients suffering from 39 specific ailments, such as cancer and Parkinson's, has operated smoothly since it started last year. (5/13)