Viewpoints: GOP Reps. on health law; Medicare & life expectancy; Georgia insurance exchange progresses

Jun 22 2011

Roll Call: Roe, DesJarlais And Bucshon: GOP Doctors Eager To Talk Health Care With Obama
After a recent meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama and Republican House Members, we asked the president to meet with the GOP Doctors Caucus to discuss concerns that we have about how the health care law will affect our patients. We were pleased that the president agreed. ... We believe the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act threatens the good parts of our health care system, and we came to Congress with the intention of giving our patients access to affordable care (Reps. Phil Rose, Scott DeJarlis and Larry Bucshon, 6/21).

The Wall Street Journal: In Battle Over Medicare, New Prescription Needed
When it comes to Medicare, the bad news for Republicans is that they clearly haven't convinced people that Rep. Paul Ryan's controversial plan to change how it works is a good idea. For Democrats, meanwhile, the bad news is that very few people think the status quo on Medicare is good enough either. The bad news for all of us is that the temptation to resort to demagoguery rather than solutions to Medicare's problems remains alive and well (Gerald F. Seib, 6/21). 

CNN: Life Expectancy Deceptive Issue In Medicare Debate 
This is what you should think about whenever someone talks about increasing the eligibility age for Medicare or Social Security. Not everyone's life expectancy is increasing. Those who need the benefits the most would be the ones who stand to lose the biggest percentage of them by raising the eligibility age. Asking them to pay more out-of pocket doesn't seem like a fair, nor workable, solution (Dr. Aaron Carroll, 6/20). 

Los Angeles Times: Michelle Obama's Common-Sense Healthcare Advice Is The Real Obamacare
If you want to talk about the real Obamacare, it's not what the president's been focusing on. Rather, it's what his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, has been doing. As a federal appeals court was wrestling the other day with the legality of requiring people to buy health insurance, the first lady was visiting a Washington child-care center to promote a national initiative to get kids to eat better, exercise more and spend less time in front of the tube (David Lazarus, 6/21). 

MinnPost: Michele Bachmann Is On Fire
I spent much of Saturday at the RightOnline conference. ... Bachmann has always been able to get a big reaction from a righty crowd. But here's what's relatively new. She did all that without making any "news" in the usual (or former) Bachmannian sense of getting a fact so wrong or choosing word so outrageously inappropriate that the gaffe overshadowed the rest of the presentation. Yes, she ... repeated the well-traveled and oft-debunked falsehood that the government will be adding 16,500 IRS agents to enforce the Obama health-care law (Eric Black, 6/20).

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Next Steps For Georgia To Manage Health Care Legislation
Earlier this month, Gov. Nathan Deal signed an executive order creating the Georgia Health Insurance Exchange Advisory Committee, which is charged with determining whether Georgia should establish a state-based health exchange. If well crafted, a Georgia insurance exchange has the potential to increase transparency, present clear and meaningful choices, and promote better value for consumers who don't have access to a health plan at work (Cindy Zeldin, 6/20).

Arizona Republic: Healthy Families: 20 Years Of Reducing Child Abuse
In a time when Arizona's commitment to its children is in question, our state can be proud of a program that has a 20-year record of reducing child abuse and neglect while encouraging new parents to create loving, stable relationships with their young children (Becky Ruffner, 6/20). 

The New York Times: In Iran, A Brotherhood Of Doctors And Patients
Few doctors anywhere in the world have done their country a greater service than the Iranian brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei. Kamiar, who is 37, is currently living in Albany, N.Y., where he is working on a doctorate in public health. Arash, who is 42, is a resident of Tehran's notorious Evin prison — where until recently, Kamiar lived as well (Tina Rosenberg, 6/20).