Patriot Ledger Op-Ed: Gutting the Affordable Care Act will make fighting opioid epidemic much harder
Substance abuse is an epidemic plaguing far too many communities throughout Massachusetts. It’s a public health emergency that requires a coordinated response between local, state, and federal officials in partnership with families, health care providers, and law enforcement.
JAMA Internal Medicine Op-ed: Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids: The Path Forward
Untreated hearing loss is a major health problem in the United States, particularly for older Americans. Approximately 48 million Americans, including half of those in their 70s, have hearing loss in at least 1 ear. The risk of hearing loss in older adults is about 10 to 20 times higher than the risk of heart disease and 100 times higher than the risk of cancer. Despite the large numbers with hearing loss, only a small share-roughly 14%, according to one analysis-actually use a hearing aid.
Many factors are responsible for this large gap, including the lack of routine hearing screenings for older adults and social stigma that discourages people with hearing loss from seeking treatment. But the way that hearing aids are regulated and sold is also to blame for this disparity. Researchers, consumer advocates, and policymakers are demonstrating a growing interest in reforming the hearing aid market to increase access to these devices.
Washington Post Op-Ed: Elizabeth Warren: Trump’s nominees are putting us all at risk by ignoring ethics laws
President-elect Donald Trump is selecting nominees to run his government. It’s no secret that I have deep reservations about the policy views of many of these nominees. I will vote against some of them.
CNN Op-Ed: Elizabeth Warren: Trump, show us you'll stand up for workers
Over the past eight years, President Barack Obama has advanced strong executive actions and federal rules that have provided millions of people with better wages, better benefits and stronger protections in the workplace. On Friday, a new president will move into the Oval Office. He will face a stark choice — expand on those efforts or destroy them.
Boston Globe Op-Ed: The GOP’s strategy for Obamacare? Repeal and run.
FOR EIGHT YEARS, Republicans in Congress have complained about health care in America, heaping most of the blame on President Obama. Meanwhile, they’ve hung out on the sidelines making doomsday predictions and cheering every stumble, but refusing to lift a finger to actually improve our health care system.
The Patriot Ledger Op-Ed: Natural gas projects prioritize profit over safety
Because we must import nearly all of our fossil fuels from other states or abroad, Massachusetts must be very thoughtful about energy policy and how it affects both our families and our businesses. Over the last decade, we have helped lead the nation in innovations about how to produce and use energy, making significant advances in energy efficiency, clean energy, and a modernized electricity grid.
New York Times Op-Ed: What Apple Teaches Us About Taxes
Apple got a big surprise last week when the European Commission ordered Ireland to collect more than $14 billion in back taxes from the company. The global giant had been attributing billions of dollars in profits to a phantom head office, allowing it to pay a tax rate of 1 percent or lower.
New England Journal of Medicine Op-Ed: Strengthening Research through Data Sharing
Data sharing has incredible potential to strengthen academic research, the practice of medicine, and the integrity of the clinical trial system. Some benefits are obvious: when researchers have access to complete data, they can answer new questions, explore different lines of analysis, and more efficiently conduct large-scale analyses across trials. Other advantages, such as providing a guardrail against conflicts of interest in a clinical trial system in which external sponsorship of research is common and necessary, are less visible yet just as critical.
CNN Op-Ed: Elizabeth Warren: Republicans, stop obstructing Obama
Just hours after news broke of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing, Donald Trump gave Senate Republicans three words of advice on filling the vacancy: “delay, delay, delay.”
Chicago Sun-Times Op-Ed: How to give people on Social Security a fairer shake
In 2009, a Chicagoan by the name of David Voigt lost his job. He applied for job after job. He even tried finding work in different fields and new careers – but, like so many others at the peak of the recession, he just couldn’t find work with the economy doing as poorly as it was.