Viewpoints: Work Requirements Set Harmful Hurdles For Disabled; New Strategies Against ACA Will Hurt Millions

USA Today: New Medicaid Work Rules Mean Worse Health, Less Work For The Disabled
During last year’s fight against efforts in Washington to repeal the Affordable Care Act, poll after poll showed most Americans opposed Medicaid cuts that would turn back the clock on decades of civil rights progress for people with disabilities. Disability rights activists vividly and compellingly pointed out that Medicaid delivers essential health care as well as long-term supports and services that make life in the community possible for millions of people with disabilities. Thanks in large part to their brave efforts, so far we have thwarted congressional proposals to dismantle Medicaid. But in 2018 we face a new looming threat: Medicaid work requirements, recently permitted by the Trump administration in three states: Kentucky, Indiana and — just this week — Arkansas. (Marty Ford, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration’s Under-The-Radar Attack On Medicaid Is Picking Up Speed
For now, congressional Republicans appear to have set aside efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Yet, it’s increasingly clear that the Trump administration is doubling down on its attempts to seriously weaken the ACA’s Medicaid expansion by making it more difficult for millions of low-income people to get health coverage. The administration’s strategy is focused on state waivers, which do not require congressional approval. On Monday, the administration approved a sweeping new waiver in Arkansas that could jeopardize coverage for many low-income adults. (Jared Bernstein and Hannah Katch, 3/6)

Orange County Register: Protecting Health Care For Californians Takes More Than A Press Release — It Takes A Real Plan
I grew up in East Lost Angeles where many residents had no health insurance or were dramatically underinsured. When I was a teenager I was diagnosed with a tumor in my spinal canal. It sent me to the emergency room and for a moment I was so sick a priest was called to give me last rites just in case. There is a decent chance I am here today because my mother, a public employee, had good health care. I have never forgotten that — the difference between quality health care and no care. And that’s why I have never stopped fighting my entire adult life for quality, universal and affordable health care for all Californians. (Antonio Villaraigosa, 3/3)

Vox: Idaho Is About Way More Than Obamacare
There is a lot more at stake in Idaho than Obamacare. That’s what I’ve come to realize over the past few weeks. I’ve spent a lot of time talking to people who would defend the state’s plan to allow non-Obamacare insurance plans back onto the market and the people who view those arguments as patently ridiculous. What I’ve learned is: This isn’t just about whether a state can bring back preexisting conditions. This isn’t just about what they would do to Idaho’s insurance market and the people left behind in the Obamacare exchanges, where actuaries say premiums would increase. Instead, there are some more fundamental questions at play about a state and the federal government’s obligation to enforce the law of the land — and whether we will set what some would call a very dangerous precedent about ignoring the law when we don’t agree with it. (Dylan Scott, 3/5)

The New York Times: How A Bad Law And A Big Mistake Drove My Mentally Ill Son Away
Ever since the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., law enforcement and other officials have been calling for changes in the Baker Act, a Florida law that allows involuntary commitment for 72 hours of people who are an imminent danger to themselves or others. If the Baker Act had been easier to deploy, they think, Nikolas Cruz, the accused shooter, would have been taken and treated before his horrible act. However this law may be reformed, it will never be able to get people with serious mental illness the treatment they need. (Norman J. Ornstein, 3/6)

Vox: Why Apple, Amazon, Google, And Uber Are Making Big Health Care Moves
Some of the biggest and most famous brands in America are making big bets on health care. The blue chips of Silicon Valley — Amazon, Apple, Google, Uber — have announced in the past few weeks they’re interested in disrupting an industry that has bedeviled us with rising costs and inefficiencies for decades. Amazon is setting up a mysterious new partnership with JPMorgan Chase and Warren Buffett. ...It is way, way, way too early to start imagining a world where health care is truly owned by Big Tech — you order prescription drugs with your Amazon Prime account, see a nurse at the Apple Clinic, get your benefits statements from Google, and call an Uber instead of an ambulance when you need to go to the hospital. But something is happening here.  (Dylan Scott, 3/6)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Emulate VA Transparency To Reduce Opioid Oversubscribing
Opioid overprescribing has fueled a crisis in opioid overdose death that is unprecedented in our nation's history. As the opioid overdose death toll continues to rise, new initiatives to help curb overprescribing are desperately needed . In this context, one recent initiative from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs deserves special mention due to its novel approach and potential impact: accountability through transparency. Earlier this year, the VA took the bold step to publish its opioid prescribing rates from each of its medical centers across the country to an interactive website. ...As an initiative, the OSI (Opioid Safety Initiative) has led to prescribing decreases of, on average, 25 percent nationally, and as much as 66 percent at some VA medical centers. (Ali Mchaourab and Jason Tuckerman, 3/7)

Lexington Herald Leader: Fighting Opioid Addiction Must Include Job Training For Those In Recovery
The numbers aren’t final yet, but 2017 will likely be another record-breaking year for overdose deaths in Kentucky. That’s astonishing when you consider that more than 1,400 of our friends, relatives and neighbors lost their lives to opioids in 2016. The suffering has been immense. Nearly every family has been impacted by this scourge. Our foster-care system, our courts, our prisons and jails, and our first responders are near the breaking point. The Bevin administration and the General Assembly have moved swiftly to create laws and implement policies that address this crisis. (John Tilley, 3/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Effective Drug Education Should Be ‘Just Say Know’
Last month, when 10 otherwise healthy middle-schoolers had been hospitalized “after they ingested an unknown substance,” my suspicions were aroused. Sure enough, that substance was edible marijuana. Those 10 students will be OK, and unlikely to repeat that dysphoric experience. Over the past 50-plus years, thousands of others have made the same mistake, usually involving a brownie or other edible, and learned from it — either to abstain completely or moderate their use. The decision to use marijuana is not to be taken lightly, and requires sound information. That’s why I was grateful to hear that San Francisco Unified School District is, according to School Board President Hydra Mendoza, prioritizing “drug education and, specifically, the risks of cannabis.” (Marsha Rosenbaum, 3/6)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Healing The Deep Wounds Of Violence
It takes more than a stitch to heal a bullet wound. With the creation and launch this summer of the St. Louis Area Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (STL-HVIP), a citywide network of hospital-based intervention and ongoing support, the St. Louis medical community is taking a significant step to help patients heal from acts of violence. (Laurie Punch, 3/6)

Lexington Herald Leader: Nursing Home Ombudsmen Key To Care
This is a true story. Thomas, 52, slipped on ice in his driveway and broke his leg a few months ago. His recovery was complicated, but finally he was well enough to leave the hospital and go to an area nursing home for physical therapy and further rehabilitation. Thomas was in a great deal of pain when he arrived. Fortunately, a long-term care ombudsman was in the building visiting residents that day. (Sherry Culp, 3/7)