Viewpoints: While Some Fight To Keep Obamacare, Others Hold Focus In Repeal Battle

The New York Times: The Fight For Obamacare Has Turned
The campaign to let 20 million Americans keep their health insurance is working. It still has a long way to go, and it’s not guaranteed to succeed. But the progress of the last couple months is remarkable. (David Leonhardt, 2/28)

The Washington Post: Calling Republicans’ Bluff On Obamacare
Trump once claimed that the White House was close to finishing its plan. Well, that’s not exactly right. The Post reports that “some lawmakers, state leaders and policy experts who have discussed the matter with either Trump or his top aides say the administration is largely delegating the development of an ACA substitute to Capitol Hill.” But at least they have agreed not to repeal Obamacare without a replacement plan, right? Not so fast. (Jennifer Rubin, 2/27)

The New York Times: If Obamacare Exits, Some May Need To Rethink Early Retirement
Here’s another possible consequence of repealing the Affordable Care Act: It would be harder for many people to retire early. Americans reaching 65 become eligible for Medicare. Before reaching that age, some can get retiree coverage from their former employers. But not very many companies, especially small ones, offer medical insurance to retirees. If early retirees are poor enough, they could turn to Medicaid. To retire early, everybody else would need to turn to the individual health insurance market. Without the subsidies and protections the A.C.A. put in place, health care coverage would be more difficult to obtain, cost consumers more where available, and provide fewer benefits than it does today. (Austin Frakt, 2/27)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Black Doctors: Fix The ACA, Don't Repeal It
The Cincinnati Medical Association supports the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, contrary to the Republican majority in the 115th U.S. Congress and President Trump, who are on record advocating repeal of this 2010 law. We see every day the many benefits that this legislation has provided for our patients. Across the nation 11.5 million Americans are covered in the ACA marketplace, more than half – 6.3 million – in Republican congressional districts. Additionally, ACA-associated Medicaid expansion has occurred in 32 states. This increase in access is beneficial for patient continuity of care as well as lessening the burden on our emergency rooms. (Roosevelt Walker III, 2/27)

Boston Globe: A Pre-Existing Condition
On Tuesday night, when the president outlines to a joint session of Congress what he is going to do to the Affordable Care Act, Jen Fox will be sitting right there in the House Chamber, listening to him. Fox, a Hopkinton native and now a student at George Washington University, is an intern in the Washington office of Representative Joe Kennedy, who like all members of Congress gets to bring a guest. Kennedy couldn’t think of anyone better suited to bear witness to the importance of the Affordable Care Act than his intern. (Kevin Cullen, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Republicans’ Alarming Proposal Would End Medicaid As We Know It
Congressional Republicans and President Trump want desperately to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a move that would take health insurance away from as many as 32 million Americans over the first decade if there is no replacement plan. These efforts have garnered national attention, with crowds of outraged constituents dominating town hall meetings. But what Trump and the GOP are trying to do below the radar might even be more alarming — ending Medicaid as we know it by imposing a “per-capita” cap or block grant. (Henry Waxman, 2/27)

Stat: Dear Tom Price: As You Pursue Medicaid Changes, Remember Your Roots
Many of us who choose to do our residency training at Boston Medical Center do so because of its stated mission to provide “exceptional care, without exception” — a motto we take extremely seriously, especially when we find ourselves taking care of Boston’s sickest, poorest, and most vulnerable citizens. We fear, Secretary Price, that the policies the Trump administration is proposing would cut funding to programs like MassHealth. That would endanger patients ... and our ability to provide them with the exceptional care that every American deserves. (Yuvaram Reddy and Christopher Worsham, 2/27)

Sante Fe New Mexican: Bad Signs For State’s Medicaid Expansion
As Gov. Susana Martinez returns to New Mexico after meetings in Washington, D.C., she is probably carrying sober news back to lawmakers: Medicaid expansion is dead. Martinez was one of the first Republican governor to embrace President Barack Obama’s initiative under the Affordable Care Act to expand the government insurance program to low-income working adults who make less than $17,000 a year or a family of four up to $33,000, and had been priced out of the private insurance market. The reality is that New Mexico has a lot of those workers. ... The expansion has helped more than 220,000 residents gain health insurance, and the boost in health care hiring has likely kept the state from falling back into recession. (Bruce Krasnow, 2/27)

Raleigh News & Observer: ACA Changes May Cost NC And Other States That Didn't Expand Medicaid
When the nation’s governors met with President Trump on Monday, North Carolina’s Pat McCrory was not one of them. He was missing, of course, because he lost his bid for re-election to Democrat Roy Cooper. But his absence nonetheless carried strong symbolism regarding a prime concern at the meeting – Medicaid funding. McCrory and other Republican leaders in North Carolina who refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act now find themselves left out as the president and Republicans in Congress weigh how to continue funding for states that expanded. As a result, North Carolina may find itself twice deprived. (2/27)

RealClear Health: It's Time To Trump Addiction
Some people may find it surprising that the three of us are working together in this political environment. However, when it comes to the opioid epidemic, we are willing to put aside party politics so we can save thousands of lives. We urge President Trump to implement his campaign promise to “end the opioid epidemic in America.” The most efficient and cost-effective way to achieve this is by breaking down the barriers to the treatments that actually work. What works best is medication-assisted treatment (MAT) — the combination of behavioral counseling and recovery medication. (Newt Gingrich, Patrick J. Kennedy and Van Jones, 2/28)

The Washington Post: The Trump Administration’s Nonsensical Stance On Marijuana
With Trump’s appointment of Jeff Sessions — one of the nation’s most outspoken anti-drug warriors — as attorney general, it seems the long-simmering tension between state marijuana law reform and federal prohibition is headed for a full-blown confrontation. It’s not surprising, then, that White House press secretary Sean Spicer attracted enormous attention last week when he appeared to presage a federal crackdown on marijuana law reform in the states — which would reverse the lax policy on marijuana set by the Obama administration. (Sam Kamin, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Maryland’s Smart Move To Stop A Smuggling Problem In Prison
Opioids are a scourge across the country, but especially so in the Old Line State. According to the most recent available data, 1,468 people died from overdoses between January and September 2016, with well more than 90 percent of them in combination with opioids including heroin, fentanyl and prescriptions such as Vicodin and Percocet. That figure is even more staggering considering heroin-related deaths have increased by 74 percent from the same period the year before. There also has been a jump in deaths because of the popularity and availability of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 30 to 50 times stronger than heroin. This substance is now being mixed into street drugs, producing a deadly multiplier effect for users who take too much. (Marc Kilmer, 2/24)

Los Angeles Times: Overregulation Is Forcing Women To Have Late-Term Abortions
In my experience as an OB-GYN, when women decide to end a pregnancy, they want to obtain an abortion quickly. One good reason is the simple fact that early abortion is associated with a lower risk of medical complications compared to later abortion. In many settings, however, women face barriers accessing early care, ranging from mandatory waiting periods to difficulty putting the money together to pay for the procedure. (Daniel Grossman, 2/28)

San Antonio Press Express: Bill Targets State Nursing Home Issues 
Texas does not do well by the more than 93,000 elderly and disabled people who depend on the services of nursing homes for their daily care. That could be changing with recently introduced legislation to eliminate a loophole in the law that allows a large percentage of violators of nursing home regulations, even repeat offenders, to avoid fines. (2/27)