Today's OpEds: A new breed of medical education, more on the Medicare 'doc fix,' efforts to cut health care waste

Jun 28 2010

New Breed Of Med Schools May Transform Health Care Miami Herald
Medical schools in particular may transform the way healthcare is practiced and viewed by the general community and its leaders. The medical school with this focus will not only pursue traditional missions like research and teaching students diagnostic skills but also emphasize community involvement, local medicine, social consciousness and local cultural issues (Dr. John Rock, 6/28).

A Little More Help For Your Kid The New York Times
Jobs are depressingly scarce for recent high school and college graduates. Jobs with health benefits even more so. One of the few bits of good news out there is that under the new health care reform law, young adults will be able to stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they turn 26 (6/25).

The Medicare 'Doc Fix': How To Make Political Lemonade Kaiser Health News
The mechanism that governs the growth rate of Medicare spending on physician services isn't working. The Sustainable Growth Rate put in place in 1997 is supposed to keep total Medicare physician costs from growing faster than the overall economy. … But it doesn't work. The SGR target is too low. Medical inflation is perennially above the growth rate of the economy (Austin Frankt, 6/28).

Work To Cut The Waste In Health Care The [Lafayette, Louisiana] Advertiser
While the government's health-care reform expands coverage, it does nothing to curb cost. It's up to all of us in the private system — insurers, doctors, hospitals, businesses and individuals — to reduce costs (Mike Reitz, 6/28).

The Myth Of The Perfect Drug The Boston Globe
Society must be careful to weigh the benefits of effective new drugs for diseases that until now have been poorly treated, versus the added risks of the new medications. If we focus too much on the risks of drugs, and do not balance those risks against the benefits, fewer drugs will be approved and reach patients in need. That is a risk in and of itself (Christoph Westphal, 6/28).

Health Care Unreformed The Daily Caller
The week the bill passed, President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats insisted that the American people would embrace the bill after it became law. Instead, there is increased skepticism and doubt about how the law will change healthcare in our country (Rep. Joe Pitts, 6/28).

New Law Thursday Will Bring A Breath Of Fresh Air To Kansas Kansas City Star
On Thursday, Kansas' Clean Indoor Air Act takes effect, restricting smoking in bars, restaurants, workplaces and public places. The protections from secondhand smoke that we enjoy throughout most of the metropolitan area soon will extend across the state (Lougene Marsh, 6/27).

The New Fraud Offensive ModernHealthcare
Of course, those ill-gotten healthcare payments have been pouring out of federal healthcare programs for decades, with interdiction efforts successfully recovering only a trickle of that money every year. So it seems that BP isn't the only one incapable of plugging a massive leak (David May, 6/28).