Viewpoints: American Health Is Declining Under RFK Jr.; Congress Can’t Let Medicare Miss Innovations
Editorial writers tackle these public health topics.
"President Trump and RFK Jr. promised to 'Make America Healthy Again.' But instead, the administration has done quite the opposite." (Edward J. Markey and Rochelle Walensky, 3/14)
Safe and effective medical technologies can improve people’s lives only when they are accessible. As a physician and inventor, I am acutely aware that the more treatment options available to a provider, the better equipped they are to alleviate suffering and save lives. (Josh Makower, 3/16)
For almost a decade, I’ve fought for a cure for a disease I don’t even have yet. In 2018, when my mom was dying of the fatal neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), I learned that I carried the same mutated gene, C9orf72, that caused her disease. That means I will likely either develop ALS or frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), another disease that is caused by the C9 mutation. (Mindy Uhrlaub, 3/16)
Imagine walking into your pharmacy, handing over your prescription and having it denied. Now imagine that the reason is not insufficient insurance coverage or the wrong dose, but a pharmacist who personally objects to your medication. What right does a pharmacist have to make moral decisions for their patients? (Elizabeth Chiarello, 3/14)
A Dutch psychiatrist gave lethal injections to patients with mental suffering, some of them teenagers. Does that make him a hero—or something else? (Charles Lane, 3/15)
