Viewpoints: Bush, Bono and others reflect on World AIDS Day; Coburn and Burr on Medicare savings

Dec 2 2011

The Wall Street Journal: No Retreat In The Fight Against AIDS
On this Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, the promise of progress against the disease has never been more vivid -; or more fragile. ... In lean budget times, the U.S. and the developing world must prioritize. But there can be no higher priority than saving lives. And there is no better way to save lives than to support and expand effective, proven programs such as Pepfar (George W. Bush, 12/1). 

The New York Times: A Decade Of Progress On AIDS
How did we get here? America led. I mean really led. ... When the history books are written, they will show that millions of people owe their lives to the Yankee tax dollar, to just a fraction of an aid budget that is itself less than 1 percent of the federal budget. ... To get this far and not plant your flag would be one of the greatest accidental evils of this recession (Bono, 11/30).

Houston Chronicle: Tracking Progress On World AIDS Day
For all the progress in the United States and other advanced countries offering widely available treatment for HIV/AIDS, the virus remains a scourge across large parts of the globe of the AIDS-related deaths recorded globally. …Obviously, much work remains to be done to curb this killer. And apparently, it will have to be done with scarcer resources (11/30).

San Francisco Chronicle: Now Isn't The Time To Cut Programs That Fight AIDS
At some point, it will be time to declare victory and move on. Other diseases and social problems need attention, after all. But that moment hasn't come yet. ...  Some $15 billion was spent last year by various agencies, down slightly from the prior year and well below the $24 billion judged necessary by U.N. officials. The higher sum is an implausible dream, given a global financial dip, but further cuts will be self-defeating, deepening poverty, wrecking fragile economies and pushing up death rates (11/30).

McClatchy: On World AIDS Day, Blacks Remain Outcasts
Blacks make up only 14 percent of our population but account for 44 percent of all new HIV infections, making them the racial/ethnic group most affected by HIV ... we have a long way to go to conquer this disease. The best place to start, at home, is with increased awareness, health education and prevention in the black community (Juleyka Lantigua-Williams, 11/30).

San Jose Mercury News: War On AIDS Shouldn't Stop Now, Economy Aside
Obama should use the occasion to promote Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's idea of putting the world on the path of an "AIDS-free generation" (11/30).

Politico: To Save Medicare, Congress Should Build On What Works 
With the right improvements, however, we can uphold our promise to save this program for millions of elderly and disabled who depend on it; and we can give them better benefits than they have today. ... Congress should create competition in health care to create more affordable options for seniors by using private plans offering Medicare benefits  (Sens. Richard Burr and Tom Coburn, 11/30).

Los Angeles Times: When Faith Is A Barrier To Care
Faith-based groups that accept government grants and contracts must be willing to do all the work the government outlines, including contraceptive and abortion services. ... Some congressional Republicans are, strangely, accusing the Obama administration of religious discrimination because the Department of Health and Human Services did not offer a grant to a Catholic organization to continue its work on behalf of trafficking victims, which includes providing counseling, housing, legal and medical assistance. What that work doesn't include is providing, or referring clients for, contraceptive and abortion services, which would run counter to Catholic tenets (12/1).

The Baltimore Sun: Navigating The Medical Maze
It's "open season" for health care coverage, and the hunt to find just the right plan is coming down to the wire; for Medicare, the last day to make a selection is Dec. 7. Earlier this year, thanks to Medicare and medicine, my 82-year-old mother-in-law received eye surgery that promises her clearer vision than she's had in more than three-quarters of a century. Still, despite due diligence during last year's open enrollment, and a first-hand trip through the system this year, the coverage choices and their consequences remain frustratingly opaque (Angela Dale, 11/30).

The Washington Post: Health-Care Changes Signal Much-Needed Shift
Regardless of the law's pros and cons, some of the government's most significant, positive changes to health care exist outside of it. These changes are enabling more disruptive innovations – the types of innovations that could radically improve cost, quality and access in health care. ... If we are to have both more affordable and higher quality health care in the coming decades, moving away from the "more is always better"-philosophy for medical care is a fundamental shift our health care system desperately needs (Vineeta Vijayaraghavan and Clayton Christensen, 11/30).

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: An Idea To Tackle Tort Reform, Defensive Medicine In Georgia
Here's a thought: Why not scrap the medical tort system entirely, saving several billion dollars in the process? Before every trial lawyer within 200 miles heads for my office, let me explain. The idea is to replace the current legal system for medical malpractice with an administrative law system that draws heavily on the current arrangement for workers compensation claims (Kyle Wingfield, 12/1).