Viewpoints: Health care and the federal deficit; Doctors reassessing health law

The Wall Street Journal: Four Deficit Myths And A Frightening Fact
We don't have a generalized overspending problem. We have a humongous health-care problem. … Try to ignore the current shallowness in American politics, if you can, and assume that the federal budget deficit will be among the major issues of the 2012 campaign. It certainly should be, for while everyone wants a lower deficit, the two parties have starkly different visions of how to get there (Alan S. Binder, 1/19).

USA Today: Why Doctors Might Be Turning On 'ObamaCare'
The final verdict may not be in yet, but some of the early returns on "ObamaCare" are not good. Indeed, many doctors are becoming wary of the law at a time when only one in three Americans support it (Marc Siegel, 1/18). 

The Baltimore Sun: Expanding Access To Health Care
Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration is proposing to establish a number of health enterprise zones to address the glaring health disparities along racial and class lines that end lives prematurely and cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year in additional medical costs. This is a promising idea that deserves further exploration; the need is obvious, the disparities are well-documented and a plan to test the program's effectiveness through a series of pilot projects offers an affordable, relatively low-risk approach to the problem (1/17).

New England Journal of Medicine: Preparing For Precision Medicine
Recent biotechnological advances have led to an explosion of disease-relevant molecular information, with the potential for greatly advancing patient care. However, progress brings new challenges, and the success of precision medicine will depend on establishing frameworks for regulating, compiling, and interpreting the influx of information that can keep pace with rapid scientific developments (Reza Mirnezami, Jeremy Nicholson and Ara Darzi, 1/19).

New England Journal of Medicine: Alleviating Suffering 101 -; Pain Relief In The United States
The magnitude of pain in the United States is astounding. ... The total financial costs of this epidemic are $560 billion to $635 billion per year, according to Relieving Pain in America, the recent report of an Institute of Medicine (IOM) committee that we cochaired. ... relieving acute and chronic pain is a significant overlooked problem in the United States. Major impediments to relief include patients' limited access to clinicians who are knowledgeable about acute and chronic pain -; owing in part to the prevalence of outmoded or unscientific knowledge and attitudes about pain (Dr. Philip A. Pizzo and Noreen M. Clark, 1/19).