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For such flawed creatures, human beings are surprisingly hard to improve, at least through our genes. That’s one reason there’s so much outcry over the recent claim that researchers in China altered the genes of a pair of twins girls – endowing at least one with resistance to HIV. The genetic change, even if it worked as advertised, would not be a clear-cut improvement but a trade-off. (Faye Flam, 11/30)

Unlike the meeting organizers, I favor a low-risk, temporary, three-year moratorium on implantation of gene-edited human embryos to make genetically modified babies. A moratorium won’t stop the most driven rogue, and one can reasonably ask how it would be enforced. But I believe it would send a strong message that going down this road in the near future won’t be tolerated. Three years is enough time for both the science and societal discussions to advance without being a burden. (Paul Knoepfler, 12/3)

Now that they've won the House and the 2020 presidential campaign is about to start, Democrats will have to decide how much Medicare for All should dominate their health care agenda.The big picture: The idea has strong appeal for many Democrats, as does the more limited approach of letting 50-64 year olds buy into Medicare. But both ideas also require spending political capital that could be devoted to other health issues. They also run the risk of dividing moderate and progressive Democrats, and could give Republicans the chance to get off the ropes on health care in 2020. (Drew Altman, 12/3)

Consider two bills my family members have received. One was for more than $13,000 for a radionucleotide stress test and the other was more than $4,500 for a contrast MRI scan. Medicare, allowed less than 10 percent of the charges.Premium content for only $0.99For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. But why charge such exorbitant fees in the first place? Certainly, a private sector insurance company would not want to pay these. But this may not be the case. (Kevin Kavanagh, 11/27)

As members of Congress work to pass the last five appropriation bills before a December 7 deadline, they must not miss the opportunity to repeal a misguided, job-killing medical device tax that threatens growth and innovation in America’s health care industry. This tax was implemented in 2010 as part of the Affordable Care Act to help cover the on-paper cost of the law, although none of the revenue from the tax was directed to defray health care costs. Since then, it has been delayed twice by bipartisan coalitions because it is so destructive to job growth, innovation, and health care quality. But it is still on the books — and is set to return. (Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, 12/3)

Last month, the NFL announced that it is awarding more than $35 million in grants to fund research on brain injuries. The recipients of the league’s largesse include researchers at prestigious academic institutions such as Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the University of Pittsburgh and UC San Francisco. Peter Chiarelli, who chaired the scientific advisory board to allocate the NFL’s funds, said the league did not influence the panel in any way: “We were totally independent.” We’ve seen this story line before. (Kathleen Bachynski, 12/3)

America is suffering from a crisis of irreproducible science. In 2012 the biotechnology firm Amgen tried to reproduce 53 “landmark” studies in hematology and oncology, but could only replicate six. That same year Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, “estimated that as much as 75 percent of published biomarker associations are not replicable.” The federal government bears some blame. According to a 2015 study, government funds two-thirds of preclinical research in America and half of that research is irreproducible. Of the $28 billion our country wastes each year in irreproducible preclinical research, the government share is $19 billion. (David Randall, 12/2)

We tend to accept some suicide as unavoidable and inevitable. Many people believe that mental illness, depression and addiction are conditions that cannot be prevented, addressed or effectively treated. But mental health conditions and substance use disorders can be treated even if we can’t always prevent them. People can — and do — heal, recover and live productive lives despite the challenges. It’s time to normalize the need to care for our mental health. Suicide can be prevented. (Barbara Van Dahlen and Talinda Bennington, 12/1)

A few days before Thanksgiving, I hosted a pre-holiday feast at Getty House for a group of men and women who live at El Puente, the city’s first temporary bridge housing site, built on a corner of the El Pueblo historic district downtown. It was a privilege to meet these men and women and to hear them describe their sense of renewed promise. They were thankful because, for the first time in months or even years, they have a place to sleep at night, a place to call home. Nearly every community in Los Angeles has been touched by the profound moral and humanitarian crisis of homelessness. The individuals and families living in tents, cars and on our streets aren’t faceless strangers. They’re our neighbors, and they’re in need of housing, healthcare and, most of all, hope. (Garcetti, 12/2)

A November report by the U.S. Marshall Service concluded what has long been known. The jail is an overcrowded, dangerous, and an unhealthy place. The running of the place affects us all. The jail puts taxpayers on the hook for potential civil rights violations, such as the $4 million dollars settlement paid out to the estate of Levert. (Phillip Morris, 11/30)

Partners HealthCare is responsible for more than 27 percent of all acute hospital stays in the state, with prices about 30 percent higher than the state average and quality that is often not any better than at other hospitals. The merger of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health, approved by the attorney general’s office on Thursday, will add another 800-pound gorilla. (Sam Richardson, 11/30)

The inspector general recommended that the government staff Tornillo as it would a permanent facility. It pointed out that a similar "flux" facility in Homestead, Fla., must adhere to the smaller ratio.Part of the problem is the government's decision to treat Tornillo, a pop-up tent village that opened in June, as a temporary way station for children. But that doesn't absolve the government of ensuring that it is not placing the minors at risk. Unfortunately, the government's failure to properly handle the migrants it insists on detaining is becoming a norm rather than an exception. And that is unacceptable. (Scott Martelle, 11/29)