Viewpoints: Viewing The ACA In A Positive Light; What About Trump’s Health Policy Proposals?
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
The Washington Post:
The Affordable Care Act Is Covering People, Holding Down Costs And Not Killing Jobs
I’m on a panel this morning talking about the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the broader economy. My rap starts from the perspective that the ACA, while not perfect, is working remarkably well. The ACA debate, on the other hand, has become inseparable from intense partisan politics and this has led to incessant hand-waving and smoke-blowing such that it’s impossible to get the straight dope on its impact. (Jared Bernstein, 10/11)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump’s Proposals On Tax Loopholes And Healthcare Aren’t What They Seem
On healthcare, Trump pledged to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act and replace it with “something absolutely much less expensive.” His prime tool for lowering costs, he said, would be to let insurers offer policies across state lines. That’s a change that Republicans have been touting for years, premised on the idea that an insurer in a state with light regulation could undercut the premiums of those in states with tougher rules. But Trump either overlooked or ignored that insurers can’t offer policies in a new state unless they strike deals with the doctors, hospitals and other providers in every community they plan to sell coverage. (10/11)
Stat:
To Drive Real Health Care Reform, Look To What Employers Are Doing
Private, non-government employers provide health care coverage to more than 55 percent of Americans, according to the Census Bureau. Many of these companies are already carrying out their own do-it-yourself, market-based health care reform. The formulas they use are both simple and sophisticated. Here’s how it works. First, you need an integrated database coupled with data analytics so you can understand what’s going on with your work force and how your policies on pay, health plans, sick leave, and disability time may provide incentives, for better or for worse. Then you can overhaul benefit programs to align workers’ goals with those of the business. After that, you need to focus resources where the real health care costs and waste are. (Hank Gardner, 10/10)
Bloomberg:
Not Working Makes People Sick
It has become one of the Great Questions of Our Age: Why have so many prime-age American men dropped out of the labor force? The percentage of American men ages 25 through 54 who are neither working nor looking for work has been growing for decades. ... On Friday, Bloomberg Businessweek's Peter Coy reported on new research by Princeton University economist Alan Krueger that explored another possibility -- maybe men have given up on working or looking for work because they really don't feel good. (Justin Fox, 10/10)
Los Angeles Times:
'Big Data' Could Mean Big Problems For People's Healthcare Privacy
The future of the U.S. healthcare system will be influenced to a large extent by a company that makes weapons of war. Defense giant Northrop Grumman has signed a nearly $92-million contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to build the second phase of a computer system that’s currently focused on reducing fraud but down the road will play a greater role in anticipating beneficiaries’ medical disorders. (David Lazarus, 10/11)
Sacramento Bee:
Prop. 56 Will Save Lives And Discourage Young People From Smoking
The leading cause of preventable death nationwide and in California, tobacco exacts a grave toll on communities, families, health care systems and businesses. Tobacco kills more Californians than car accidents, guns, alcohol, illegal drugs and AIDS combined, and harms the health of nonsmokers through secondhand smoke. This is a public health crisis. (Michael Ong, 10/10)
Stat:
Dear Fellow Doctors: Please Play Nice
“Doctors, especially residents, are so tired and so overworked that we don’t realize that the person on the other end of the phone is also tired and overworked,” a surgery resident at a Boston-area hospital told me. Exasperation with the medical system and sheer exhaustion, she said, “comes out as rudeness.” Yet lashing out just makes a bad situation worse. And a body of research shows it hurts patients, too. (Allison Bond, 10/10)
