Posts Tagged: prescription

Opinion

Deadly opioid overdose epidemic overshadowed by COVID-19

Illustration: Hydrocodone pills and prescription bottles. (Image: Andy Dean Photography, via Shutterstock.)

OPINION: A record 3,200 Californians lost their lives to opioids in 2019 — well before the stress and disruption caused by COVID-19 caused overdose deaths to spike to new highs nationwide. By May 2020, powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl caused California’s 12-month all-drug overdose death rate to spike nearly 27%, significantly faster than the national average.

Opinion

Health care and the pain of losing Medi-Cal coverage

A doctor examines a young patient at a hospital. (Photo: wavebreakmedia, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: A few months ago, I turned 19 years old. Approaching the last year of my teenage years should have been exciting, but instead it was bittersweet. On my birthday, I lost access to my Medi-Cal coverage and all of the preventative health care services that it provided. I spent the days leading up to my birthday rushing to complete all of the final health check-ups I could fit in, before I lost coverage – possibly forever.

Opinion

Tackling California’s opioid crisis

A photo illustration of opioid addiction. (Photo: Kimberly Boyles, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: A key focus of this year’s California legislative session is the nation’s opioid crisis, and rightly so. According to the California Healthcare Foundation, an estimated 2,000 Californians died of an opioid overdose in 2016. The opioid epidemic confronting California and the rest of America is a growing public health crisis from which no state is immune. 

Letters

Letter to the Editor: Transparency

Pharmacy transparency is one of the most vital components of healthcare in this country – sadly, California is severely lagging in this transparency department. In July, the California Senate Health Committee heard Assembly Bill 315 (AB 315) – it passed unanimously with support from both sides of the aisle. 

Opinion

Lower drug costs: The PBM role

A photo illustration of prescription drugs. (Photo: txking, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The public debate around the cost of prescription drugs has unfairly turned on the one player in the system reducing drug costs – pharmacy benefit managers or PBMs.

Opinion

Guide helps voters navigate the election labyrinth

An election-season shirt and tag. (Photo: IQConcept,via Shutterstock)

OPINION: It’s been called the most important election in our lifetimes. Indeed, the 2016 election will go down in history as truly unusual and at times, unpredictable. Here in California, voters have taken note, with registrations hitting a record high. But this year, the nearly 18 million California voters heading to the polls in November will face the most complex and expensive statewide election in decades.

News

Drug industry clout, Medicare costs

Prescription drugs displayed across a counter top. (Photo: Motorolka, via Shutterstock)

FairWarning: When the Republican-controlled Congress approved a landmark program in 2003 to help seniors buy prescription drugs, it slapped on an unusual restriction: The federal government was barred from negotiating cheaper prices for those medicines. Instead, the job of holding down costs was outsourced to the insurance companies delivering the subsidized new coverage, known as Medicare Part D.

Opinion

Prop. 46: When health care kills

OPINION: We live in a nation where up to 440,000 patients die each year of preventable medical errors. It’s now the third leading cause of death, behind only cancer and heart disease. Any of us could become a victim of medical negligence. You could be harmed by a doctor impaired by drugs or alcohol. Your life could be ruined by a prescription drug addict strung out on too many drugs obtained by “doctor shopping.”

News

Support drops for Props. 45, 46

Field Poll: Voter support has diminished for Propositions 45 and 46, two health–related ballot initiatives on the upcoming California general election. Currently, 41% of likely voters are inclined to vote Yes on Prop. 45, the Health Insurance Rate Changes initiative, 26% are on the No side, while a growing proportion (33%) are undecided.

Opinion

Injured workers pay price for reform

OPINION: Seemingly every decade or so, California’s workers’ compensation system is deemed to be “fixed — once and for all.” And yet, like clockwork, each subsequent round of changes to workers’ compensation brings about unintended consequences once in effect.

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