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COLUMNS & BLOGS

DNA analysis embarrasses justice system

7/29/2010 © Miami Herald
Fred Grimm writes that after an embarrassing string of DNA exonerations, the state Supreme Court appointed an innocence commission to examine procedural flaws that led to so many wrongful convictions. The case of Derrick Williams featured several recurring themes in those lousy cases.

The real legacy of the session that wasn't

7/28/2010 © St. Petersburg Times
Sue Carlton writes that maybe instead of "special session," we should say "special seconds," since that's about how long lawmakers took to playpartisan politics and deny us the chance to vote on a constitutional amendment on drilling.

Scott and Greene should stop ads and start paying us

7/26/2010 © Palm Beach Post
Frank Cerabino writes that It would be so much more efficient for Rick Scott and Jeff Greene to streamline their process of buying votes by eliminating the middleman and making cash payments directly to the voters.

Is Don Berwick going to be Sherrod-ed?

7/27/2010 © Managed Care Matters
Joe Paduda writes that the appointment of Dr. Donald Berwick as head of CMS has incited a furor among politicians who disagree with his views. To support their claims, they are using Berwick's own words, eerily reminiscent of the Shirley Sherrod debacle.

Do you drive on your playground?

7/25/2010 © Orlando Sentinel
Scott Maxwell writes that we are even having a debate is nonsensical. Children and cars do not mix. Period. Here's an idea: Get some parking. That's what leaders in 99 percent of other coastal communities in America have done.

ADA has helped bring about a change in values

7/25/2010 © Fort Myers News Press
Roger Bradley, executive director of LARC, writes that life has changed for the better as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Act. But in the future, we shouldn't need legislation to motivate our community to make changes for anyone.

FDA unconcerned about danger of foster kids in drug trials

7/25/2010 © Sarasota Herald Tribune
Columnist Tom Lyons says FDA was wrong to urge Florida officials to let foster children be enrolled in drug trials.

Could dengue fever be linked to past government experiments?

7/21/2010 © Truthout
The outbreak of dengue fever in Florida’s coastal towns isn't such a surprise when you study historic documents about US Army and CIA experiments; also, dispersants to combat the oil spill may compound the problem.

The spill's staggering true toll

7/24/2010 © St. Petersburg Times
Professor Mark T. Brown, director of the Center for Environmental Policy at UF, writes that few have noted that BP will likely pay nothing for perhaps the most important consequence of its mishap: Damage to natural benefits by a healthy Gulf of Mexico.

Prognosis from reform: Higher premiums

7/23/2010 © Palm Beach Post
Janet Trautwein, CEO of the National Association of Health Underwriters, writes that health reforms may make insurance easier to come by for many Americans, but they may not be able to afford the insurance now available to them.

Berwick seeks more science in medicine

7/21/2010 © Palm Beach Post
Stacey Singer says the health-reform debates are about to re-ignite as the CMS appointee will go to the Senate for confirmation after all.

Do lawmakers think we have amnesia on oil drilling?

7/20/2010 © Florida Today
Matt Reed writes that if politicians had shown any respect for Florida's statutory ban on near-shore drilling, Gov. Charlie Crist would not have ordered them to the Capitol today.

Looking to the future of children's health care

7/20/2010 © Daytona Beach News Journal
Children's health advocate Linda Merrell writes that 750,000 kids in Florida remain uninsured. The community pays the price and consequences for uninsured children. But communities can make a difference.

No way are we 4 times crazier than Texans -- it's gotta be fraud

7/17/2010 © Miami Herald
Carl Hiaasen says So. FL is the "Deepwater Horizon of Medicare corruption in the United States, and the gusher is getting worse. No other place even comes close to matching the number of crooked health-care businesses, or the immense dollar amounts that wind up in the pockets of criminals."

Jeb Bush's hyped bio-tech boom went bust

7/18/2010 © South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Stephen Goldstein writes that four years after Jeb Bush left office, we're reeling from the $1.5 billion cost of the biotech boondoggle he foisted on us with Scripps Florida.

He was sick. And jailed. Was anyone listening?

7/18/2010 © Sarasota Herald Tribune
Tom Lyons writes that six days after the death of a prisoner at the Sarasota County Jail infirmary, the paper got a call from a man who had been there. What a nightmare that place must be for a sick person.

GOP candidates for governor running against health reform

7/16/2010 © South Florida Sun Sentinel
Stephen Goldstein writes that the two Republican candidates for governor want to deprive Floridians of the benefits people are already getting, or will soon get, from federal health reform.

Medicare waste, fraud and self destruction

7/14/2010 © Orlando Sentinel
Mike Thomas writes that unless we rein in the outlandish costs and fraud in a Medicare program that has trillions in unfunded liabilities, we might as well write off our kids' future, print up a bunch more money, and go hang with the Greeks.

Veterans deserve all the help they need

7/14/2010 © Orlando Sentinel
Scott Maxwell writes that too many of our politicians are oh-so-willing to send soldiers off to war — and unwilling to deal with the home-wrecking consequences that sometimes follow.

Introducing new bacteria won't help degrade oil

7/11/2010 © Pensacola News Journal
Professor Richard A. Snyder writes that until the effects of adding nutrients to Panhandle beaches are known, the most prudent approach is to avoid adding anything that might cause adverse effects.

'Time to get to work'? How about time to get a tutor

7/9/2010 © St. Petersburg Times
Daniel Ruth writes that Rick Scott doesn't need to get to work. He needs to get a tutor. It is not an unreasonable expectation that anyone who wants to be governor ought to know something about the job or the state they claim they want to lead.

Climate skeptics take cue from Big Tobacco

7/9/2010 © Orlando Sentinel
Environmental activist Lee Bidgood Jr. writes that signs that greenhouse-gas emissions have overheated and destabilized the climate are unmistakable. Yet climate skeptics and deniers have spread confusion, very much like the well-paid skeptics of tobacco's hazards.

Rick Scott's troubling story of convenience

7/7/2010 © Tampa Tribune
Steve Forbes, who supports Bill McCollum in the governor's race, writes that it's hard to know what to make of Rick Scott. He boasts of his experience building HCA/Columbia, but doesn't like to talk about how that story ends.

Medicaid Reform reduces fraud, improves care

Alan Levine says the bad actors at WellCare have been replaced by good people, and it would be a mistake to think Medicaid reform had anything to do with the fraud. In fact, he says, the opposite is true.

It takes a village to fight obesity

7/6/2010 © Sarasota Herald Tribune
Eric Ernst writes that cultural habits are hard to change. And we all know fighting childhood isn't really a school's problem. It's a societal one. Public health advocates are working on a communitywide approach to fighting obesity.

A peaceful death: Just what the doctor ordered

FSU geriatrics professor Marshall Kapp tells how health-care providers, caregivers and patient advocates can collaborate to prevent aggressive, pointless end-of-life resuscitation.

Drilling moratorium more about politics than science

7/2/2010 © South Florida Sun Sentinel
Kingsley Guy writes that the decision to impose a moratorium on oil drilling was based not on technical or economic rationales, but on the political calculation that it would make President Obama look like he was being tough on the oil companies so hated by his political base.

Why should a little fraud mess up a state contract?

7/1/2010 © St. Petersburg Times
Howard Troxler writes that the top brass who were supposed to be riding herd on WellCare sometimes simply went to work for WellCare, or joined its board. How is that legal? How is the company's contract not canceled?

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Health News Florida takes no positions on issues or candidates; instead, we post links to editorials, columns and letters that appear in publications around the state. The cartoons also run the gamut of opinions; if you disagree with the one we’ve posted today, you may like the one we post tomorrow.

Treating severe mental illness saves money in long run

By Judith Evans
Executive director, NAMI-FL
As the state's 2010 budget balancing act takes center stage, we can't ignore the cost-saving value of mental health care for people with severe mental illness.

More than 600,000 Floridians have a severe disorder such as major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or post-traumatic stress disorder. We have all been touched in some way by someone who lives with mental illness.

Treatment works — if you can get it. With treatment, people with mental illness often recover the ability to succeed in school and work, raise families and contribute to their communities.

While people with mental illness often receive treatment, but the question is where, and what type? Will they get community mental health treatment or will they resort to an emergency room ($1,300 per visit) or hospital ($1,600 per day)? Will they go to a youth detention center ($3,240 a month), jail ($1,400 month) or prison ($3,840 a month)? Will they become homeless ($8,000 a year) or attempt suicide ($10,000 per attempt)? And what happens to those who have served our country, our veterans, who cannot access mental health services through the VA?

The bottom line is that timely intervention in community-based services saves lives and makes prudent use of the public dollar.

Severe cuts are being recommended for our mental health system of care, even though the need for this care is increasing. Florida unemployment rates have reached the highest level in 25 years. Unemployed workers are four times more likely than those with jobs to report symptoms of severe mental illness, and four times as many report thoughts of harming themselves.

The state's mental health system, weakened by years of underfunding, is fragile to the point of collapse and cannot take any more cuts without spilling uncontrolled costs into other sectors. Tough times require wise decisions. The public-private infrastructure developed over the past 25 years is now at risk, and lives are at stake.

Preserving Florida's funding for mental health services is essential for our future. We insist that Governor Crist and our state legislators stand together to save mental health and vote to save lives.