Viewpoints: Equip First Responders With Naloxone To Combat Opioid Crisis; Women In Rural Areas Hit Hard By Abortion Restrictions

Editorial pages look at these and other health issues.

Seattle Times: Overdose Antidote Naloxone Belongs In The Hands Of First Responders

The nation’s opioid epidemic has no real cure, but law-enforcement officers and other first responders are saving lives when they carry the overdose antidote, naloxone. Earlier this month, leaders of the Seattle Police and the King County Sheriff’s Office announced they would equip their officers with the powerful medicine, designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. An injector or nose spray can give addicts a chance to survive an accidental overdose, get help, detox and, hopefully, find a way to start over in life. (4/24)

The Washington Post: Insurers Are Making It Harder For Me To Treat My Opioid-Addicted Patients

I’m an addiction specialist, and my voice-mail inbox is always nearly full. Some messages are from desperate individuals looking for outpatient treatment or help finding a detoxification program. Others are from patients needing a letter confirming their treatment for a child-custody dispute or care providers informing me that my patients have been hospitalized. It’s hard to know what to expect, but invariably one type of message awaits: voice mails from pharmacies informing me that a patient’s insurance provider will not approve payment for the medication to treat their opioid addiction unless I obtain prior authorization from the insurer. (Brian Barnett, 4/24)

Detroit News: Don’t Keep Leftover Opioid Medicine

Combatting opioid abuse is a battle that must be fought on a number of fronts, including the household medicine cabinet. Too many patients are hanging on to unused pills instead of disposing of them once they’re no longer needed. That increases the chance that the opioids will be abused, either by the patient or another party. A majority of opioids prescribed after surgery go unused, according to researchers at John Hopkins University. Yet 90 percent of patients fail to dispose of the leftover pills, instead choosing to stash them away, most often in unlocked drawers or cabinets. (4/24)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio's Abortion Restrictions Disproportionately Impact Rural Women

More than 45 years since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in the United States, Ohio is moving to implement yet another restriction on this safe and legal health care. Ohio is one of many states -- including Arkansas, Hawaii and Maine -- where ongoing lawsuits challenge restrictions that could disproportionately impact women in rural areas. (Reilly Wieland, 4/25)

Boston Globe: ‘Red Flag’ Gun Law Might Prevent Carnage

Authorites don't know why Travis Reinking allegedly went to a Waffle House in Antioch, Tenn., and opened fire Sunday, killing four people and injuring others. What they do know is that the suspect never should have had access to the AR-15 style weapon reportedly used in the mass shooting. Last year, that assault rifle, along with three other firearms and ammunition, were seized by law enforcement officials. Weeks earlier, Reinking, who had a history of erratic behavior, was arrested for breaching a White House security barrier. Still, even after his firearm owner’s ID card was revoked, Reinking was allowed to decide who could keep his guns — he chose his father, who returned them to his son. The Waffle House tragedy highlights why strong “red flag” laws should be implemented nationwide. (4/25)

The New York Times: The Deadliest Animal In The World

The deadliest animal is not the snake, dog, wolf, lion or hippo. It's not even the human, responsible for murdering some 437,000 of its kind a year. Rather, the deadliest animal is the tiny mosquito. (Nicholas Kristof and Jessia Ma, 4/24)

The Hill: Bernie Sanders Announces His ‘New’ Communism Jobs, Health-Care Plan

As Finland retracts its socialism, communists if not by name but in policy are out in the open in America. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to announce a federal jobs proposal that would guarantee every adult American a job with at least a $15 per hour wage and health benefits. We’ve seen this play before after the Bolshevik revolution 101 years ago. Ask yourself the question, was Joe McCarthy right to the extent that they are here and they have continued to fester and grow in the underpinnings of our society? (David Webb, 4/24)

The New York Times: The Strong And Stressed Black Woman

I provide therapy to people from all socio-economic and racial backgrounds. I am the only black female clinical psychologist on the faculty of the department of psychiatry at Northwestern University, and black women often come to me in secret, feeling alone and embarrassed. They come despite friends and family telling them to “just pray.” They come because they are “desperate” and “can’t take it anymore.” I often get requests for informal consultation via email, LinkedIn, even Facebook. They’re skeptical about mental health treatment. They don’t want therapy, just to talk, and maybe get some advice. (Inger E. Burnett-Zeigler, 4/24)

The Washington Post: Why Legal Marijuana Is Abandoning Weed’s Old Slang

For decades, the marijuana industry operated underground, outside the confines of the law. But even though at the federal level possession and the use and sale of marijuana remain illegal, 29 states and the District of Columbia now allow medicinal marijuana to be sold for the treatment of specific diseases. Moreover, nine states now permit its recreational use. As a linguist, I’ve been interested in exploring how legalization has changed the way we talk about the drug — specifically, how new dispensaries are marketing their product. (Frank Nuessel, 4/24)

Stat: Cancer Centers Sell Out Science When They Push Clinical Trials As Treatment

In a promotional video, the MD Anderson Cancer Center advertises clinical trials alongside immunotherapy and proton-beam therapy as one of its many ways of “fighting cancer.” Cancer Treatment Centers of America promotes clinical trials as part of its “commitment to bringing our patients new and innovative cancer treatment options.” You may have seen billboards or heard radio spots with similar messages. But what you are actually seeing and hearing in such advertising is a betrayal of ethics and science. (Jonathan Kimmelman and Alex John London, 4/25)

Kansas City Star: Debate Over Expanding KanCare Is About People, Not Politics

Expansion of KanCare, the Medicaid program that provides health insurance to low-income individuals, is about people and not politics. It is about making sure we do whatever we can to keep our families, friends and neighbors healthy in mind, body and spirit. (Robert Schremmer, 4/24)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Missourians Need Legislative Help To Curb Air Ambulance Charges

Missouri families stuck with astronomical air ambulance bills need legislative help, because it’s pretty clear that insurers won’t be coming to the rescue. Insurers pay only part of the charges of medical evacuations to air ambulance companies that haven’t negotiated rates with them, leaving families with big bills from emergencies that left them no other options. (4/24)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Should Invest Cannabis Taxes In Stephon Clark's Neighborhood

To repair some of the damage caused by criminalization, the city should set aside the millions of dollars it expects to bring in over the coming years from marijuana taxes and invest that money in children and youth services, and in economic development in those neighborhoods most impacted by the decades-long war on drugs. It should create a public planning process on how to use those revenues to build economic health and well being in Stephon Clark’s neighborhood and in neighborhoods like it. (Malaki Seki Amen, 4/24)

The Baltimore Sun: Md.'s Psychiatric Bed Shortage Detrimental To Patients And Community

Without access to treatment, people with a severe psychiatric illness, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, fall prey to their psychosis and may engage in a range of illegal behaviors, from public urination to violent offenses. This leads to people being incarcerated simply because they need medical care. Such “criminalization of mental illnesses” happens across the nation. And it is shameful. Maryland knows these problems firsthand. Officials within the state’s Department of Health were held in contempt of court last year for failing to hospitalize inmates with mental illnesses for weeks after they had been ordered to do so. These wait times are akin to torture. (Evelyn Burton, 4/24)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Physician Assistants Can Help Nevada Overcome Rural Health Care Access Issues

This is a pivotal moment for Nevada when it comes to health care. A 2017 report, “Health Workforce Supply in Nevada,” evaluated the supply of physicians, nurses and other health care workers in the state. Alarmingly, they found that the health care workforce in Nevada is in bad shape. Ranked among U.S. states, Nevada comes in 48th for the number of physicians per capita, with just 245 physicians per 100,000 residents. And when it comes to primary care, the outlook is even worse: Nevada is ranked 50th, with just 88 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents. According to the report, “it is abundantly clear that Nevada’s health workforce supply falls well short of national averages for most of the key professions needed to ensure access to basic primary, preventive, and specialty services.” And the situation could become even more desperate as the state’s population grows and ages over the next few years. Enter physician assistants. (Julie Thomas, 4/21)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription