Category: Opinion

Cronyism Thwarts Telemedicine and Other Innovations

The goal of health care reform is to provide better health care to everyone at a lower cost, year after year. The solution is not to provide a better third-party-payer system — e.g., health insurance or government-provided health insurance — but instead to allow technological development and entrepreneurship to improve the current business model through groundbreaking innovations that empower consumers, improve quality and cut prices.

GOP lawmakers continue to mislead about the ACA

After six years of blind rejection of the Affordable Care Act, and never proposing a plan on how to achieve affordable health care for all Americans, our elected representatives have finally given us a vague proposal, “alternative facts” and misleading statistics on the Affordable Care Act . On the very same day as this misleading diatribe, the Post-Gazette had an article showing that the percentage of Americans without health insurance was the lowest ever .

When cancer treatments do more harm than good

When my 80-year-old father was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease, he was so weak that he could no longer walk, and his oncologist worried that chemotherapy might do more harm than good. But there was a new drug available, a “targeted therapy” that uses antibodies to destroy cancer cells while apparently leaving the rest of the patient’s cells alone.

Badly needed start

As the lead physician on the Residential Care Committee of the Sunshine Coast Division of Family Practice, I wish to advise your readers that we support the urgent implementation of the contract signed by the Trellis Group with Vancouver Coastal Health for the building of the Silverstone long-term care facility. This build will replace two aging structures with a new state-of-the-art facility and will give our community 20 additional beds.

Important public forum

… appointed, and the Senate confirmed on a party line vote, Atlanta’s Rep. Tom Price as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Price, like his friend Speaker Paul Ryan, wants to do away with traditional Medicare and change the age of …

Defund Planned Parenthood

This weekend, America spoke out and asked the 115th Congress to reroute taxpayer dollars from Planned Parenthood, including Planned Parenthood of the North Country, to comprehensive health care centers. More than 225 #DefundPP events took place in 43 states and the nation’s capital, drawing tens of thousands of people rallying to protest tax dollar support of Planned Parenthood.

Ancient Chinese fortune-telling offers modern day benefits

Co-translator and co-annotator Joanna C. Lee explained that the editions are adapted for the modern reader, so the entries start on Jan 1, rather than the actual first day of the Year of the Rooster , and extend beyond Dec 31 to Feb 16, 2018, the day the Year of the Dog begins. Which is lucky, because, as Lee points out, the new volume includes the “hilarious” prognostication for this year’s US presidential inauguration day.

Obamacare has staying power

… the trigger? That’s a rhetorical question, of course. Republicans see that they have two choices: They can snatch health insurance away from millions of people, or they can replace Obamacare with something that looks suspiciously like …

ACA repeal vs. N.Y.: Tallying up the harm

President Trump and Congressional Republicans are determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act and roll back the coverage gains and consumer protections the law has provided for millions of Americans. With no clear or realistic plan for replacement in sight, consumers, health care providers and insurers both in New York and across the nation are united in their fears regarding the chaos that could ensue.

Why is vaccine safety still debated?

… vaccines for medical reasons and people who don’t respond to particular vaccines. Our advances in medicine and health care mean we will likely never see the return of the high mortality rates of the 18th century, when almost one in three children …

OPINION: We can improve our mental health care system

The Chronicle Herald has been hosting a valuable, on-going public discussion of ways to improve our health care system and there has been insightful commentary from experienced professionals and patients. Psychologists work with mental health problems as well as preventive and coping behaviours relevant to many physical health problems, both in the public system and in private practice.

Hardy Jackson: Taking down the Big Top

Bo, an Asian elephant with the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, is fitted with a tux in Philadelphia in 2001. Bo, an Asian elephant with the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, is fitted with a tux in Philadelphia in 2001.

Excellent advice for the path forward

You may have missed the insert in the newspaper Feb. 5 and thrown it out with the ads. I almost tossed it myself, but fortunately took a second look at “Crossroads for America: Challenges and opportunities in renewing our republic.”

Suzanne Wikle: Medicaid keeps adults healthy and employed

Many people get health insurance through their jobs, but for those who work in food service, retail or child care, the chances are high that their jobs don’t offer health insurance. In Kansas, very low-income parents and their children may receive health care coverage from KanCare, our name for Medicaid.

EDITORIAL: Common sense prevails in case of Arizona pet masseuse

Regular readers might recall that last June we wrote about Grace Granatelli, an animal masseuse in Scottsdale, Ariz., who was being hassled by that state’s veterinary medical examining board. The case provided a perfect example of how many occupational licensing regulations – rather than promote public safety or consumer interests – too often serve only to protect entrenched elites at the expense of innovation, entrepreneurship and job creation.

Letter: The real heroines of Norse history weren’t the warriors

There was certainly a need for strong women on the western seaboard of Scotland in the 10th century . While experts speculate upon the gender and identity of the Norse warrior-chief in the boat burial at Ardnamurchan, perhaps some thought might also be spared for the plight of the indigenous female population under siege? If fortunate enough to survive the Viking onslaught, women would have been taken hostage or forcibly removed from their homeland to become slaves, and traded across the Norse kingdoms from their slave-market in Dublin as far as the Middle East.

EDITORIAL: FDA rules will shutter many vape shops, including in Las Vegas

For decades, the federal government, health care advocates and doctors have warned of the hazards of smoking cigarettes, and rightly so. Yet just as more and more smokers are finding a way to kick carcinogen-laden cancer sticks, D.C. bureaucrats are coming to the rescue of the tobacco industry by over-regulating e-cigarettes.As Caroline Kitchens reported last week for RealClear Health, unless something changes soon, the doomsday clock will strike midnight on the e-cigarette industry.