Viewpoints: US, Europe Vaccine Schedule Comparison Is A Facade; Why A Health Care Plan Isn’t Happening
Editorial writers delve into these public health issues.
If any ambiguity remained about the ultimate goal of the current administration’s public health policy, last week shattered it. (Richard Hughes IV, 12/8)
It should be a relatively easy problem to solve. Twenty-four million Americans face whopping increases in their health insurance premiums starting next month, increases of hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year. These are the self-employed or employees of small businesses and their families who, because they don’t get health insurance from employers, buy insurance on the exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, as it is most commonly called. (Steven Pearlstein, 12/8)
The government shutdown may be over, but Congress still hasn’t solved the biggest problem left on its plate: Extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies to avoid a doubling of insurance premiums or replace them with something new altogether. Lawmakers have committed to a vote in December. (Wendy Netter Epstein and Christopher Robertson, 12/8)
Nothing corrodes public trust in a regulatory agency faster than the sense that its senior officials are auditioning for future jobs at the very companies they regulate. (Lee Rosebush and Marc Wagner, 10/9)
Today’s Food and Drug Administration seems to be of two very different minds about oversight. For some things like vaccines, even strong data apparently are not good enough. But for other products, the FDA is signaling that relatively little data will be needed. This dualism seems driven more by ideology than biomedical science, so it presents big risks to patients and the field. (Paul Knoepfler, 12/9)
