Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Why Build A Wall When Big Pharma Is Behind The Opioid Crisis?; Stop All This Nonsense About Single Payer
USA Today: Opioid Epidemic: Blame Big Pharma, Not Mexican Drug Lords, For Crisis
Over the past two decades, I have seen firsthand the consequences of our crisis. I began my journey into addiction not with an illegal herb or powder from the jungles of Colombia, but from labs found in Connecticut and Ohio, sold by high-heeled pharmaceutical reps, prescribed by my doctors and paid for by my insurance company. After 10 years addicted to opioids, I was finally able to get help, relying on public services such as Medicaid. I have watched friends die from opioid addiction, making me all the more determined to hold manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma accountable and promote ways to end the crisis, providing people with on-demand services, such as harm reduction, evidence-based prevention, treatment and recovery supports. (Ryan Hampton, 2/5)
Arizona Republic: Fentanyl Bust In Arizona Undermines Trump's Border Wall
America is understandably aghast with the 254 pounds of fentanyl seized at the Arizona-Mexico border, reportedly enough to kill more than 115 million people. And guess where federal officials carried out this huge fentanyl bust? At the Nogales border crossing in Arizona. Yes, a port of entry, not somewhere over a border fence in the barren desert. (Elvia Díaz, 2/4)
Boston Globe: No Litmus Test For Single-Payer Health Care
Let’s put this bluntly: If 2020 Democratic primary voters make support of a Bernie Sanders-style “Medicare for all” program a litmus test for their 2020 presidential nominee, it’s time for them to have their collective heads examined — no matter what health care coverage they have. The baseline priority, obviously, has to be this: selecting a candidate who can beat Donald Trump — not the depth of her or his commitment to “Medicare for all,” as single-payer health care now likes to be called. (Scot Lehigh, 2/5)
Los Angeles Times: The Anti-Vaxx Movement Is A Worldwide Pandemic
It’s not quite six weeks into 2019, and it’s already looking like it will be another banner year for measles in the United States. An outbreak in the Pacific Northwest that began in late January continues to spread, with more than 50 cases now being reported. Meanwhile, Texas health officials on Tuesday confirmed five cases of measles in the Houston area — four of them in children under 2. And health officials in New York are still dealing with an outbreak of measles from late 2018 among orthodox Jews who apparently brought the virus back from Israel.The global measles picture is even gloomier. ...All in all, in just the last few years there has been a 30% increase in measles worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. (2/6)
Stat: Cancer Treatment At Home Is Closer To Happening Than You Think
Imagine having cancer and being told that most of your treatment will happen in your home instead of a high-tech cancer center. That may sound preposterous, but it’s closer to happening than you might think. Each year, about 1.7 million Americans are diagnosed with cancer. Within a year of diagnosis, three-quarters of those with advanced cancer end up in the hospital; 1 in 6 are hospitalized three or more times. And nearly everyone who needs chemotherapy spends hours a day in physician offices or outpatient clinics. (Nathan R. Handley and Justin E. Bekelman, 2/6)
The New York Times: Andrew Cuomo: Trump’s Assault On Abortion Rights Must Be Rejected
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Trump attacked the law that New York passed last month codifying a woman’s right to an abortion, and he proposed federal legislation to roll back the protections provided by the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The president’s diatribe was part of the far-right’s escalation of its assault on a woman’s constitutional rights.It’s worth recalling that in 1999, long before he ran for president, Mr. Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.” Today he claims to be anti-choice, and he shamelessly courts the religious right to win votes. (Andrew M. Cuoma, 2/6)
Stat: President Trump Should Open A War On Alzheimer's��
"The time has come in America when the same kind of concerted effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease.” That was President Nixon in his State of the Union address 48 years ago. The dread disease he was talking about was cancer, the second leading cause of death in the country, and he used the address to open his “war on cancer.” Since then, we have made major strides against that disease. Death rates have been declining for 25 years. Breakthrough treatments and cures are now coming at breakneck speeds. But we have made little or no progress against another “dread disease” plaguing Americans — Alzheimer’s. When President Trump delivers his State of the Union address tonight, he should declare war on Alzheimer’s. (George Vradenburg and Howard M. Fillit, 2/5)
The Hill: Marijuana Access Is Associated With Decreased Use Of Alcohol, Tobacco And Other Prescription Drugs
A significant amount of data has been generated in recent years showing that cannabis access is associated with reduced levels of opioid use and abuse. But emerging data also indicates that many patients similarly substitute marijuana for a variety of other substances, including alcohol, tobacco and benzodiazepines. (Paul Armentano, 2/5)
The Wall Street Journal: The Right Way To Spank A Child
The American Academy of Pediatrics has expressed opposition to “all forms of corporal punishment,” defined to include spanking and also “kicking, shaking, or throwing children; scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair, or boxing ears; forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions; burning, scalding, or forced ingestion (for example, washing a child’s mouth out with soap or forcing [him] to swallow hot spices).” Child abuse is a serious crime and should be punished as such. The academy is also right to oppose verbal punishment that “belittles, humiliates, denigrates, scapegoats, threatens, scares, or ridicules the child.” But it oversteps when it lumps spanking in with these harsh, heinous acts. (Robert C. Hamilton, 2/5)
Austin American-Statesman: Providing Quality Health Care To Immigrants Is Our Mandate
The immigration debate has continued in our country for decades. Plenty of arguments have been made over whether immigration is a security issue or an economic issue, whether it’s about jobs or public health. As a trained nurse and now the health services administrator at a facility that cares for parents together with their children on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), for us this about human beings. (April Green, 2/5)
