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One of the most popular partisan attacks on Medicaid is the claim that the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act exacerbated the opioid crisis in America. —You’ll find this claim retailed on right-wing websites all across the internet. It’s been energetically marketed by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who paints a picture of an army of Medicaid patients using their government-provided ID cards to obtain prescription opioids for free, then turning around and selling the drugs at a terrific markup. Johnson’s claim has been widely debunked, as we’ve reported before. But a new paper from a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins emphasizes another aspect of the matter generally overlooked or minimized by Johnson and his acolytes: Medicaid, including Medicaid expansion, is crucial for treating the opioid epidemic. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/20)

With midterm elections rapidly approaching, over half of voters say that health care is one of the three most important issues impacting their vote. Americans across the country, no matter their political leanings, agree that health care needs to be a priority for policymakers. However, in recent months, Congress has failed to make meaningful moves to address the health concerns experienced by millions of Americans, from high deductibles to ever narrowing coverage networks. If Americans on both sides of the aisle agree that health care must be a priority, why has Congress been silent? (Jim Manley, 8/20)

When news organizations covered how Florida educators flooded Robert Goodman, a teacher fighting colon cancer, with donated sick and vacation days so Goodman could take time off to complete treatment after he posted a plea for help on Facebook, the story was framed as a heartwarming tale. “Today’s #PositivePost is about this teacher who got the news he has cancer,” tweeted a news anchor in Indianapolis. “This is a wonderful story,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). Au contraire. Yes, the donors were indeed generous. But that the story exists at all highlights the cruelty of our health-care and economic system. (Helaine Olen, 8/20)

In the real world, it has become clear that placing restrictions such as work and reporting requirements on Medicaid is disastrous. They’re legally dubious, for one thing — as a federal judge stated in late June when he tossed out work requirements imposed in Kentucky. More important, they lead to needy beneficiaries being thrown off the program and locked out of healthcare for lengthy periods, often because of confused regulations and the natural uncertainties of life in a low-income environment. The best evidence for that comes from Arkansas, where thousands of residents may lose their eligibility for Medicaid for no good reason — and may not even know they’ve been barred until they go to a doctor and get turned away. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/20)

Last week, the New York University School of Medicine became the first medical school in the nation to become fully tuition-free. Dr. Robert Grossman, dean of the medical school, cited young physicians’ “crushing debt” as an impetus for the move. One may think that doctors, with their gigantic salaries, are immune to student debt worries, but Dr. Grossman’s announcement made official what many medical school students have long known: The crisis of paying for education has finally caught up with the one percent. (Farzon A. Nahvi, 8/20)

When two physicians wrote recently in STAT that their colleagues aren’t burning out but are instead suffering from “moral injury,” they struck a nerve. Thousands of physicians across the country talked about it on social media and discussion boards; rapper and internist ZDoggMD spent nearly 30 minutes discussing it with his followers. This is a subject that clinicians have been talking about in differing, veiled terms for years. It’s reflected in the quiet whispers that something is wrong — something more than mouse clicks and workflows. Is it any surprise that a broken system has produced a broken workforce? (Andrew Morris-Singer, Stuart Pollack and Matthew Lewis, 8/21)