Today's Opinions and Editorials: The end of insurance rescissions, lessons from the health care rollout and the deficit panel's tough decisions

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May 3 2010

Playing Chicken Kaiser Health News
A lot of people laughed when Sue Lowden, the Nevada Republican running for the U.S. Senate, suggested last month that people start paying for their medical care with chickens. I didn't (Jonathan Cohn, 5/3).

Doctors Have Many Drug Choices — Too Many In Some Cases Los Angeles Times
More than 30 drugs are regularly prescribed to control hypertension; more than 20 treat depression. High cholesterol? There are more than 15 medications from which to choose. Even treatment for erectile dysfunction is no longer limited to Viagra (Valerie Ulene, 5/3).

End To Rescission, And More Good News The New York Times
Americans are already starting to see the benefits of health care reform. In recent days insurers and their trade association have rushed to announce that they will end rescissions immediately (5/2).

Lessons From The Health Care Rollout The Boston Globe
National health insurance has been a long time coming — nearly a century. This past year of highly partisan health care debates has exhausted Congress and the nation. Now what? (Jon Kingsdale, 5/3).

'Fearmongers' Were Right About Obamacare The Orange County Register
The ink was barely dry on President Barack Obama's signature before the RAND Corp. released a report concluding that, not only would the hard-won health care package fail to curb health insurance premium increases, but the bill itself would drive premiums for young people up as much as 17 percent (Michael Tanner, 4/30).

Deficit Panel Must Tackle Tough Issues The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
The closest you can get to bipartisan agreement in Washington is that something must be done about the debt. Taking action on either situation is something else (5/2).

Turns Out There's No Such Thing As A Free Overhaul The Arizona Republic
A rule of political sausage-making holds that no one seriously believes the expected costs of a proposed program as described by its proponents. With rare exceptions, new government services always cost more than advertised. Often, much more (5/3).

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.