Viewpoints: Zika And The Reluctant Congress; Better Ways To Pay For Hospital Care
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Houston Chronicle:
Congress' Reluctance To Fund Zika Response Harms Texans
So long as obstinate members of Congress are willing to prioritize political showboating over the lives of actual, living people, Texas women and families will remain particularly vulnerable to the largely unknown health consequences of the Zika virus. With at least 80 confirmed cases so far, the Lone Star State ranks among the top four most widely infected states in the nation. (Sarah Nesbitt, 8/4)
JAMA Forum:
Will Episode Payment Models Show How To Better Pay For Hospital Care?
What’s the right way to pay for hospital care? Believe it or not, even in 2016, we don’t really know. In many advanced economies, hospital care is paid with a yearly budget for a given population. In other countries with advanced health care systems, hospital care is paid piecemeal; every inpatient day generates new bills for the room, the nursing staff, and the procedures. (Ashish K. Jha, 8/4)
JAMA:
United States Health Care Reform: Progress To Date And Next Steps
Health care costs affect the economy, the federal budget, and virtually every American family’s financial well-being. Health insurance enables children to excel at school, adults to work more productively, and Americans of all ages to live longer, healthier lives. When I took office, health care costs had risen rapidly for decades, and tens of millions of Americans were uninsured. Regardless of the political difficulties, I concluded comprehensive reform was necessary. The result of that effort, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), has made substantial progress in addressing these challenges. Americans can now count on access to health coverage throughout their lives, and the federal government has an array of tools to bring the rise of health care costs under control. However, the work toward a high-quality, affordable, accessible health care system is not over. (President Barack Obama, 8/2)
Earlier, related KHN coverage of President Obama's JAMA special communication: Obama Renews Call For A Public Option In Health Law (Rovner, 7/11).
The issue of JAMA also includes related editorials by Howard Bauchner, Peter R. Orszag, Stuart M. Butler, and Jonathan Skinner and Amitabh Chandra.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer:
Comprehensive New Law Offers Help In Fight Against Opiate Epidemic
Last year a grim record was set in the Cleveland area, with someone dying of a heroin or prescription drug overdose every day on average. This year, it's worse; nearly twice as bad, with two people losing their lives to opioid overdoses every day. We've already lost more than 230 Greater Clevelanders in 2016. Even deadlier drugs, like fentanyl, a synthetic form of heroin, are increasingly involved. (Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, 8/5)
The Des Moines Register:
Medicare Should Help Seniors Stay Active
As you approach the ripe old age of 65, your mailbox begins filling up with a daily dose of Medicare plans from insurance companies you may have heard of and many you have not. It truly can be overwhelming. As you contemplate your next move and begin the task of sorting out and trying to make sense of it all, there is help. And it's free. (Deb McMahon, 8/4)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
For Better Health Care Access, Pursue Interstate Licensing
Imagine you got a nasty cut that needed stitches while you were vacationing in Florida this summer. Apart from putting a damper on your trip, would you be concerned that you wouldn’t be able to see a Missouri-licensed doctor? Probably not. After all, a doctor based in Orlando is trained the same way as a doctor based in Kansas City .... To make health care in this country better, we need to make the supply of doctors a priority — doctors who are physically present in a state, but also doctors who can reach patients through telemedicine. (8/5)
Chicago Tribune:
Sink Your Teeth Into This Debate Over Flossing
The Associated Press investigated the claims for floss and found: The evidence for flossing is "weak, very unreliable," of "very low" quality and carries "a moderate to large potential for bias." Our favorite moment in this floss beatdown: The federal government has recommended flossing since 1979, lately in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. But that recommendation must be based on scientific evidence. After AP inquiries, the feds removed the flossing recommendation from the guidelines this year . . . and admitted to the AP that "the effectiveness of flossing had never been researched, as required." (8/4)
The Washington Post:
It’s Time To Make It Harder To Get Dangerous Drugs Through The Mail
The House of Representatives recently passed a number of bills designed to combat the epidemic of dangerous drugs sweeping across the United States. No congressional district has been spared from this problem, and people are dying at an alarming rate from the use of fentanyl, bath salts, flakka, K2, Spice and other synthetic drugs. But lawmakers failed to act to close a major entry point for these terrible drugs into the United States: the global postal system. (Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, 8/4)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Strengthening Research Through Data Sharing
Data sharing has incredible potential to strengthen academic research, the practice of medicine, and the integrity of the clinical trial system. Some benefits are obvious: when researchers have access to complete data, they can answer new questions, explore different lines of analysis, and more efficiently conduct large-scale analyses across trials. Other advantages, such as providing a guardrail against conflicts of interest in a clinical trial system in which external sponsorship of research is common and necessary, are less visible yet just as critical. (Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., 8/4)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Toward Fairness In Data Sharing
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) has proposed a plan for sharing data from randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) that will require, as a condition of acceptance of trial results for publication, that authors make publicly available the deidentified individual patient data underlying the analyses reported in an article. Before any data-sharing policy is enacted, we believe there is a need for the ICMJE, trialists, and other stakeholders to discuss the potential benefits, risks, and opportunity costs, as well as whether the same goals can be achieved by simpler means. Although we believe there are potential benefits to sharing data (e.g., occasional new discoveries), we believe there are also risks (e.g., misleading or inaccurate analyses and analyses aimed at unfairly discrediting or undermining the original publication) and opportunity costs (e.g., the ICMJE proposal would have enormous direct costs and would probably divert resources, both financial and human, from the actual conduct of trials). (8/4)
