Viewpoints: Obamacare And Medical Debt; Zapping Zika
A selection of opinions from around the country.
The New York Times' Upshot:
Obamacare Seems To Be Reducing People’s Medical Debt
Even if you lack health insurance, you’ll probably be able to get treatment at a hospital in the event of a catastrophe — if you’re struck by a car, say. But having insurance can mean the difference between financial security and financial ruin. A new study is showing that, by giving health insurance to low-income people, Obamacare seems to have cut down on their debt substantially. It estimates that medical debt held by people newly covered by Medicaid since 2014 has been reduced by about $600 to $1,000 each year. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 4/20)
The Washington Post:
We Must Zap Zika Before It’s Too Late
Congress and President Obama are engaged in a needless spat over the president’s Feb. 8 request for about $1.9 billion to fight the growing danger of the Zika virus. For two months, the Republican-controlled House and Senate have not acted. Further delay will degrade preparedness for a virus that carries a greater punch than was first believed . The dispute is one that White House and legislative staff could easily resolve in an hour — and ought to get done tomorrow. (4/20)
news@JAMA:
JAMA Forum: The Stars Of Hospital Care: Useful Information Or A Distraction?
Public reporting of the quality of care delivered by physicians, hospitals, and other health care organizations has been around for a while. Some of the earliest efforts began in the 1990s, when the New York State Department of Health began reporting risk-adjusted mortality rates for surgeons performing cardiac surgery in that state. The early reports could be obtained by mailing a request to the Department of Health, which would send along a paper copy of the latest data. (Ashish Jha, 4/20)
The Arizona Republic:
Is Obamacare Destined To Fail?
It's not surprising that UnitedHealthcare is high-tailing it out of Arizona's health-insurance marketplace. The exchanges -- a major part of the Affordable Care Act -- are money losers. Not enough young, healthy people have signed up in Arizona and elsewhere to use the plans. Which means those enrolled in plans have needed -- or at least are using -- more care than people who get insurance through their employers. (Joanna Allhands, 4/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Will Zika Fears Cause A Population Gap?
Imagine a full year, or two, during which a nation’s old people die but no new people are born. Picture an elementary school with empty first- and second-grade classrooms. Look further ahead to the years no new workers join the labor pool. How would a two-year collapse in the birth rate rattle a nation? We might be about to find out. (Karin Klein, 4/20)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Partnerships, Not Parachutists, For Zika Research
When the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the recently reported clusters of microcephaly and other neurologic disorders represent a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), she called for increased research into their cause, including the question of whether the Zika virus is the source of the problem.1 The declaration provides an opportunity to step up the pace of research in order to find the answer to some important questions more quickly. It could not only facilitate the accumulation of knowledge about the relationship between the Zika virus and microcephaly, but also accelerate the study of newer technologies for mosquito control, which could have far-reaching effects on global health security beyond controlling Zika infections. (David L. Heymann, Joanne Liu and Louis Lillywhite, 4/21)
The Washington Post:
Republicans Finish Discrediting Their Planned Parenthood Investigation
Marsha Blackburn isn’t one to worry about appearances. The Tennessee Republican didn’t make any pretense this week of being impartial with the committee she chairs, the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, commonly known as the Planned Parenthood committee. (Dana Milbank, 4/20)
The Boston Globe:
It’s Time To Fix Bridgewater State Hospital
It is time, at last, for a reckoning. Will Massachusetts continue to live with the moral stain that is Bridgewater State Hospital? Or will we finally end the decades of torture and misery inflicted there in our name? (Yvonne Abraham, 4/20)
The New England Journal Of Medicine:
Reducing The Risks Of Relief — The CDC Opioid-Prescribing Guideline
Deaths from prescription-opioid overdose have increased dramatically in the United States, quadrupling in the past 15 years. Efforts to improve pain management resulted in quadrupled rates of opioid prescribing, which propelled a tightly correlated epidemic of addiction, overdose, and death from prescription opioids that is now further evolving to include increasing use and overdoses of heroin and illicitly produced fentanyl. (Thomas R. Frieden and Debra Houry, 4/21)