Health stories in the news

New York Times columnist hopes Obama “tunes out” the AMA

New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof calls on President Barack Obama to tune out the American Medical Association, which is opposing a public health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers.

Instead, he bids the president heed Dr. David Scheiner, what was Mr. Obama’s doctor in Chicago.

The AMA members are looking after themselves not their patients, Dr. Scheiner is quoted as saying.

“They’ve always been on the wrong side of things,” Dr. Scheiner told me, speaking of the A.M.A. “They may be protecting their interests, but they’re not protecting the interests of the American public.

Kristof supports the AMA’s campaign to reform malpractice laws, but he goes on:

Yet when the A.M.A. uses its lobbying muscle to oppose major health reform — yet again! — that feels like a betrayal. Doctors work hard to keep us healthy when we’re in their offices, and that’s why they win our trust and admiration — yet the A.M.A.’s lobbying has sometimes undermined the health of the very patients whom the doctors have sworn to uphold.

To learn more:

• Read Kristof’s column: The Prescription for Obama’s Own Doctor.

How good is the drug industry’s offer of $80 billion in savings?

The editors at the New York Times think the pharmaceutical industry’s pledge to provide $80 billion in savings over the next decade should be considered merely as an “opening bid”.

They write:

“The pledge should help large numbers of older Americans struggling to pay high drug bills. But before anyone gets too ecstatic, we will need a lot more details about what industry is giving up and what it is getting.”

The promised discounts, the editor write:

“…will still provide less savings to the federal budget than the administration had been seeking. And viewed against the backdrop of the $1 trillion or more needed to finance health care reform over the next decade, these cost reductions seem small. The $80 billion is also a fraction of the nation’s overall drug spending, which federal estimates suggest will total $3.3 trillion over the next decade.”

Moreover, if health reform succeeds in providing tens of millions of uninsured Americans with coverage, the pharmaceutical industry will profit from increased sales, they note.

To learn more:

• Read the New York Times editorial The Drug Industry’s Offer.

High cancer-risk air pollution in Puget Sound region, reports find

Seattle Times Science Reporter Sandi Doughton writes that state and federal analyses find that toxic air pollution in the area “ranks among the highest in the nation.”

But she adds:

“But the reports probably overestimate the danger because the data used are 7 years old and don’t take into account recent efforts to reduce pollution, particularly from diesel-powered trucks and ships, experts say.”

To learn more:

• Read Doughton’s article Toxic air pollution poses cancer risk, reports say.

Tags: Air Pollution, AMA, American Medical Association, Health Insurance, Health Policy, Health-care Reform, Insurance, Obama, Pharmacy, Public-health Insurance

Category: Cancer, Health Insurance, Health-care Policy, Insurance, Poisoning & Environmental Health