Viewpoints: Romney's critical missing information on Medicare; anti-smoking messages too graphic

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Romney Falls Short On Medicare Reform
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney conveniently left out key facts when he ripped a new health care cost-control measure - the Independent Payment Advisory Board. . The Affordable Care Act also specifically limits the board's powers. It cannot ration care, reduce benefits, raise premiums or other cost-sharing such as copays. As part of that, it cannot raise Medicare's eligibility age, as Romney himself has proposed (Jill Burcum, 11/8).

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare: Flawed Policy, Flawed Law 
Republicans should be doing everything they can to explain their proposals: a better set of incentives that will encourage-;not require-;people to purchase health insurance by offering targeted assistance and creating a broader, more competitive marketplace where consumers can purchase affordable, portable health insurance of their choice (Grace-Marie Turner, 11/9).

Des Moines Register: Here's How To Bow Out Of Health Law
If you don't agree with the law, then don't use anything it offers. ... Business owners opposing the law should not take advantage of any tax credits offered. Any parent of a young adult should not keep their child on their health plan until the age of 26. Any young adult who opposes the law shouldn't stay on his parents' plan. If an insurer cancels their coverage, they shouldn't complain to a state or federal agency. They should handle the problem themselves (11/8).

Roll Call: Medicare Linked To The Health Care Overhaul
The health insurance and delivery system is half public and half private -; but with a huge intersection between the two. As we cut the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, the shifting of costs to the private sector adds to insurance costs for consumers and businesses. And because insurance plans for most people are tax-subsidized, the subsidy costs are added to the burdens of taxpayers. Changes in one part of the system have to be synced with changes in the other (Norman Ornstein, 11/9).

Minneapolis Star Tribune: What Germans Can Teach Minnesotans
Germans more readily accept what U.S. economists contend: When health care costs go up for one, they go up for everyone. ... If those ideas were easy for Americans to swallow, this nation likely would not have nearly 50 million people without health insurance, or a major party hell-bent on repealing the new federal law's coverage mandate (11/9).

Los Angeles Times: Graphic Labels On Cigarettes Go Too Far
Though we like the idea of warnings that might repel potential smokers, we've been concerned from the start about forcing one particular industry to advertise against its own product -; a product that is perfectly legal to produce and sell (11/9).

Detroit Free Press: Eat Healthier, And There Are Ways Government Can Help
Two of three Michiganders are overweight or obese, increasing health care costs and decreasing productivity in the 10th fattest state in the nation ... No one wants to create a nanny state that tells people what they can eat or how many calories to consume. Still, obesity is a public health problem that public policy should try to alleviate (11/9).

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Saving Milwaukee's Babies
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and the city's Health Department are putting down a marker for the community Wednesday morning in its efforts to save the lives of its most vulnerable citizens. Barrett and Health Commissioner Bevan Baker will announce a target for reducing infant mortality among African-American children…. The city is right to make saving babies a priority. Barrett is right to set a tangible goal (11/8).