Viewpoints: Uneven Medical Care Costs Are Out Of Hand; Preventive Biologics Could Tackle Antibiotic Resistance
Editorial writers discuss health care costs, antibiotic resistance, mental health and more.
The Philadelphia Inquirer:
Health Care Should Cost The Same No Matter Where You Get It
As doctors, we get a front-row seat to witnessing how high health-care costs, which have been rising across the board for decades, harm our patients. Many Americans know too well how they’ve been impacted by skyrocketing prescription drug costs or rising insurance premiums and deductibles. But another less obvious aspect of health care is also costing patients millions of dollars, both here in the Philadelphia area and across the country. And Congress must act on it. (Max Cooper and Meaghan Reid, 10/19)
Stat:
Solve The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis With Preventive Drugs
The antibiotics crisis is a silent pandemic that threatens to knock modern society back into the medieval age of therapeutic leaches and serum therapy. A world where an accidental scratch in the rose garden can kill. Why is the supply of new antibiotics so thin, and growing thinner? A high-profile Wall Street Journal article recently highlighted what everyone knows: There is huge need but no market demand. (Brian Finrow, 10/18)
The New York Times:
The Troubled Teen Industry Needs Better Regulation
In 1994, the 15-year-old Liz Ianelli was sent by her parents to the Family Foundation School in Hancock, N.Y., which claimed to treat her disruptive behavior. But she said her “therapy” for most of the next three years consisted of daily emotional attacks by staff and fellow students, forced labor, food deprivation and other assaults. (Maia Szalavitz, 10/19)
The New York Times:
Why Are So Many Americans Dying?
Unless they’re in the top 1 percent, Americans are dying at higher rates than their British counterparts, and if you’re part of the bottom half of income earners, simply being American can cut as much as five years off your life expectancy. (David Wallace-Wells, 10/18)
Dallas Morning News:
Veteran Suicide Prevention: We Need To Close Gaps In Grant Program
This year marks the third anniversary of the Commander John Scott Hannon Veterans Mental Health Care Improvement (Hannon) Act, passed in 2020 to broaden mental health care and suicide prevention programs for veterans by building upon the Veterans Affairs Department’s existing mental health services. (Cole Lyle, 10/18)
