Viewpoints: Shortsighted Medicaid Changes Would Punish Poor People Instead Of Fixing Problems; Pharma Is Coming To The Rescue Again

Los Angeles Times: Trump Offers The Wrong Fix For Medicaid’s Shortcomings
Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor, is one of the costliest, if not the costliest, program that states operate. Total Medicaid spending by states and the federal government, which covers more than 60% of the claims, neared $600 billion in fiscal 2018; in California alone last year, Medicaid spending topped $100 billion. (1/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Pharma To The Rescue
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared China’s novel coronavirus a global health emergency, though governments and businesses have already been mobilizing against the contagion. And look who’s on the front lines—evil U.S. drugmakers. …Several U.S. drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson, Moderna Therapeutics and Inovio Pharmaceuticals are already working with the National Institutes of Health on vaccines. …All of this is worth pointing out as politicians on both sides of the aisle denounce drugmakers as parasites on society. While hard to estimate, the public health dividends from drugmakers’ research and development often exceed their commercial profits. (1/30)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus: Battling A Pandemic Is A Job For The Military
Even with China taking extreme measures to contain the spread of coronavirus — effectively quarantining 50 million people in the center of the country — at least 130 Chinese have died and it is beginning to pop up around the globe, including at least five cases in the U.S. This is one of the few times when there are advantages to being an authoritarian society where people are used to immediately obeying commands from higher authority; imagine the reaction if the U.S. government shut all transportation in and out of Chicago, a step the Chinese government has taken in a similarly sized metropolis, Wuhan. (James Stavridis, 1/29)

The New York Times: Coronavirus And The Panic Epidemic
The absurdity of the situation hit me on Wednesday when I was coming home from a local bar at 8 p.m. I had ridden my bike a few hours earlier to a park for a walk and then to meet a friend — my first human contact in five days, excluding the cashier at the grocery store. But the side gate I’d used to leave the enormous Communist-era compound was now chained shut. What? A notice in Chinese said it was locked to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. (Ian Johnson, 1/30)

The Hill: Warren’s Health Care Plan Would Be A Win For Small Businesses — Here’s Why So Many Oppose It 
I think some sort of a universal health care system (or “Medicare for All”) would be good for this country. A health care system where there are no premiums, no copays and no deductibles would be nice. Particularly so if it includes coverage for everything, including prescription drugs. So, if you’re a believer in that – and who wouldn’t be? – then you can’t get a better option than Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) health care plan. That’s particularly so if you’re a small business owner. (Gene Marks, 1/30)

Stat: Abortion Advice Should Be As Safe As Abortion Itself
Medication abortion is safe and effective, with a serious complication rate of only 0.4%. Despite this safety record, the FDA still employs strict guidelines that allow only certified providers to dispense this medication regimen in a clinical setting — a physician can’t send a prescription to a pharmacy, for example, and have the patient pick it up there and take the medication at home. Experts say this is overregulation. (Tracey Allyson Wilkinson, 1/31)

Newsweek: Abortion Isn’t Slavery. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Should Know Better
As a black woman who had an abortion, I am disgusted and seething. Last week, as the United States commemorated the anniversary of the legalization of abortion nationwide, the Trump administration made headlines for its despicable opposition to abortion access. Donald Trump became the first sitting president to attend the anti-abortion March for Life rally, and in remarks praising his efforts to restrict access to health care worldwide, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos had the nerve to compare abortion to slavery. … I am not sure DeVos is able to comprehend just how powerfully racist her words are. Perhaps the secretary’s own education failed to convey to her the horrors enslaved black people endured, or perhaps her abstinence-only sex education failed to teach her what happens during an abortion. Either way, the comparison demonstrates that she has utter disregard for basic science, refuses to learn about the history of slavery and is wholly unfit to lead our nation’s educational system. (Renee Bracey Sherman, 1/29)

The New York Times: Starving For Justice In ICE Detention 
On Jan. 29, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported to India an asylum-seeker who had spent nearly eight months in ICE detention. He was one of five asylum-seekers of South Asian origin who went on a hunger strike in October at the LaSalle Detention Center, an ICE processing facility in Jena, La, operated by the for-profit prison company GEO Group. All five had exercised their legal right to claim asylum, after escaping religious or political persecution. (Sarah Gardiner, 1/30)

Tulsa World: Tulsa World Editorial: Gov. Kevin Stitt’s Medicaid 2.0 Proposal Is Less Than Oklahomans Deserve And Less Than We’re Paying For
We were disappointed by Gov. Kevin Stitt’s announcement that he was buying into a Medicaid block grant program that will give working poor Oklahomans less than they deserve, less than people in other states are getting and less than Oklahoma taxpayers are paying for. Stitt announced his SoonerCare 2.0 program Thursday at a Washington news conference with key Trump administration health policy leaders. There is a better option. (1/31)

Colorado Sun: It’s Time For Our Federal And State Lawmakers To Get Serious About Fentanyl
Just last year, the General Assembly increased to four grams the amount of most illicit drugs, including fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, that a person can possess before it becomes a felony crime. Four grams of fentanyl, however, is enough to kill thousands, and one particularly strong analogue (Carfentanil) is even 100 times more powerful than that. And yet a person can now rest assured that if caught with up to that amount of either drug in Colorado, he or she will likely face only misdemeanor charges. As the chief federal law enforcement officer in Colorado, I know this sends the wrong message to drug traffickers and dealers, as well as to victims and their families. (Jason R. Dunn, 1/30)