Viewpoints: When Insurers Reject ‘Unproven Therapies’; Can Trump Help Americans Who Are Dying ‘Deaths Of Despair’
A collection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Arizona Republic:
Sarah Wants Her Life Back (UnitedHealthcare Refuses To Give It To Her)
Isn’t it nice that the insurance company is looking out for Sarah, preventing her from having to endure “unproven therapies,” regardless of what her doctor has witnessed with other patients over and over and, well, over again? I’m quite sure UnitedHealthcare’s denial is for Sarah's own good. Quite sure it has nothing to do with the cost of IVIG: about $32,000 a month. Or the fact that she’d need it for up to a year. (Laurie Roberts, 3/26)
The Washington Post:
Americans Are Dying ‘Deaths Of Despair.’ Will Trump Help?
It is a political cliche that President Trump owes his electoral victory to the extraordinary support he received from white voters without a college degree, two-thirds of whom voted for the Republican. Much less settled is the question of why these largely low-income voters, once reliable Democrats, cast their lot with a brash billionaire from New York. (3/25)
The Washington Post:
More Lies On Planned Parenthood
Not "even a scintilla of evidence.” That was the judgment of a federal judge last month in Texas about allegations of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. He was not alone in finding that the health-care organization did not illegally profit from fetal-tissue donation: Three Republican-led congressional investigations, 13 states and a Texas grand jury all could find no substance to claims about the alleged sale of “baby body parts,” which gained currency through videos released by anti-abortion activists. (3/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
High-Tech Help For The Freelance Physician
From Amazon to eBay and Uber to Airbnb, digital technology has revolutionized everyday life. But when you get sick, you might as well take a time machine back a few decades. You phone your doctor’s office to make an appointment. You sit in a waiting room stocked with old magazines. The physician writes down notes about your symptoms and stores them in paper files. When you’re done, a receptionist hands you a little card with the date and time of your next visit. (Allysia Finley, 3/24)
Louisville Courier-Journal:
'Tired Of Burying My Friends'
I am a full-time student with a part-time job. I went to decent schools and stayed away from the neighborhoods my parents warned me about. I am not an anomaly, and neither is gun violence. I apologize if I seem insensitive towards the individual’s right to own a gun, but it is time we take a critical look at our society’s priorities. What good is a world full of guns if we must fill our days with this pain? How many of our children are we willing to lose to maintain our sense of entitlement? (Tara Ann Steiden, 3/23)
The New York Times:
To Win Again, Democrats Must Stop Being The Abortion Party
But once-solid Catholic support for Democrats has steadily eroded. This was due at least in part to the shift by many American Catholic bishops from emphasizing social issues (peace, the economy) to engaging in the culture wars (abortion, gay marriage). Along the way, many Catholics came to view the Democrats as unconditionally supporting abortion. Last year’s election was a watershed in this evolution. Hillary Clinton lost the overall Catholic vote by seven points — after President Obama had won it in the previous two elections. She lost the white Catholic vote by 23 points. In heavily Catholic states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, she lost by a hair — the last by less than 1 percent. A handful more of Catholic votes per parish in those states would have won her the election. (Thomas Groome, 3/27)
