Editorial writers weigh in on these public health topics.
The United States recently reached a grim milestone: 100,000 overdose deaths in one year. This spike is the result of numerous factors, from the social isolation and economic destruction of the Covid-19 pandemic to a surge in the availability of fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid. Although an effective treatment for opioid use disorder exists — methadone, a medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1947 — restrictive federal regulations create powerful barriers to people seeking access to this lifesaving medicine. ... I introduced into the U.S. Congress the Opioid Treatment Access Act, which would improve access to and modernize the delivery of opioid treatment for people with opioid use disorder. (Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), 1/4)
Texts from Egypt’s New Kingdom period suggest that even when workers were too sick to build the royal tombs, they were still paid. The pharaohs apparently calculated that allowing for health needs leads to better work. And that’s a society that literally treated many workers as slaves. Some 5,000 years later, we need to modernize how we support worker health — though companies that have yet to offer even basic paid sick leave should finally catch up to the ancient Egyptians. Instead of merely continuing to compensate workers once they are ill, we need to rethink time off to keep employees healthy. (Daniel Freedman, 12/28)
It appears to be a matter of when, not if,...
ACT leader David Seymour's claims that doctors are erroneously certifying people unfit for work are being labelled as "political rhetoric" by the president of the Royal College of GPs. ACT wanted ...