Viewpoints: Does your doctor favor more expensive drugs?; Texas Sen. Wendy Davis says abortion law threatens 'health and safety' of women

Jul 17 2013

Los Angeles Times/ProPublica: Inside Doctors' Prescribing Habits
Your doctor hands you a prescription for a blood pressure drug. But is it the right one for you? You're searching for a new primary-care physician or a specialist. Is there a way you can know whether the doctor is more partial to expensive, brand-name drugs than his peers? (Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, 7/16).

The Washington Post: Why I Stood Up For Texas Women
Texas state leaders have again taken up a partisan effort to impose severe restrictions on the ability of women in our state to receive reproductive and other crucial health-care services. Just a few weeks ago, I spent nearly 13 hours filibustering this bill. I stood up to filibuster the bill because Texas Republican leaders would rather pursue a partisan agenda than help Texas women. I stood to oppose the bill because it rolled back constitutional rights and would reduce the number of women's health clinics from 42 to 5, thereby threatening the health and safety of thousands of Texas women (Texas State Sen. Wendy R. Davis, 7/15).

The Wall Street Journal: An Obamacare Board Answerable To No One
Signs of Obamacare's failings mount daily, including soaring insurance costs, looming provider shortages and inadequate insurance exchanges. Yet the law's most disturbing feature may be the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB, sometimes called a "death panel," threatens both the Medicare program and the Constitution's separation of powers. At a time when many Americans have been unsettled by abuses at the Internal Revenue Service and Justice Department, the introduction of a powerful and largely unaccountable board into health care merits special scrutiny (David B. Rivkin Jr. and Elizabeth P. Foley, updated 7/15). 

Arizona Republic: U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema On Immigration, 'Obamacare' (Video)
U.S. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., is six months into her term. She recently spoke with The Republic's editorial board on immigration reform, 'Obamacare' -- and bipartisan attempts to salvage both efforts (7/15).

Fox News: Scary Lessons For Americans And Obamacare From UK's National Health Service
The power of television to shrink the world has always amazed me. Eating lunch on the road to Ft. William, a man at the next table recognizes me and introduces himself. Keith Farrington says he spent 15 years working as an assistant director of finance for the South East Thames Regional Health Authority, part of the National Health Service. He has strong warnings for the U.S. about Obamacare (Cal Thomas, 7/15).

Bangor Daily News: Don't Let Expansion Debate Be Last Word On Medicaid
The attention-grabbing debate over whether Maine should expand eligibility for Medicaid is over for now. But that doesn't change the fact that Maine's existing Medicaid program still serves more than 300,000 of the state's low-income, disabled and elderly residents. And it doesn't change the reality that Medicaid continues to account for about a quarter of the state budget. What also remains unchanged is that Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew asked federal officials in March for more flexibility so Maine could manage its Medicaid program, known here as MaineCare, the way it saw fit (7/15).

The Wall Street Journal: Pedaling For A Good Cause-;But Why?
I recently went on a 60-mile bicycle ride in the middle of the night. The venture resulted not from an existential crisis but from a charity challenge. By now the genre is familiar: A charity that promotes research into cancer or some other disease sponsors an event requiring feats of physical prowess or endurance. People sign up and seek sponsors, who agree to donate to the charity in exchange for-;what, exactly? (Brian M. Carney, 7/15). 

USA Today: ABC Shouldn't Give McCarthy Platform
Vaccine misinformation peddler actress Jenny McCarthy has just been named co-host of the popular ABC day time television show, The View. This is really bad news for America's children. Why? Back in 2007, McCarthy helped stoke the anti-vaccine campaign when she asserted on the Oprah Winfrey show that an MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccination caused her son's autism. "I have a very bad feeling about this shot," she claimed she said to her doctor, "This is the autism shot, isn't it?" (Ronald Bailey, 7/15).