Viewpoints: Calif. health, welfare programs struggle under budget cuts; Protecting children from diabetes threat

Sacramento Bee: Gov. Jerry Brown, Lawmakers Have A Month To Get California Budget Right
Gov. Jerry Brown and the Democratic-controlled Legislature passed a budget last year that was built on a rickety foundation of false hopes. If that wasn't apparent at the time, it is now that the budget deficit has ballooned to $15.7 billion, up from Brown's $9.2 billion estimate from only four months ago. ... Brown offered several solutions on Monday. Health and welfare programs for the poor would bear 30 percent of the cuts, including $880 million from the main welfare program, CalWORKs, through a variety of reductions (5/15).

The Wall Street Journal: Jerry Brown Vs. Chris Christie
On public-employee unions, Mr. Brown can talk a good game-;at Monday's press conference, he announced a 5% pay cut for state workers, and he has proposed pension reform. Yet for all his pull with unions (the last time he was governor, he gave California's public-sector unions collective-bargaining rights), Gov. Brown, a Democrat, has not been able to accomplish what Republican Gov. Christie has: persuade a Democratic legislature to require government workers to kick in more for their health care and pensions (William McGurn, 5/15). 

Forbes: Not That the Obama Administration Has Noticed, But Drugs Are Expensive to Develop
Obamacare will hit pharmaceutical firms with more than $20 billion in new taxes over the next ten years. Some firms may conclude that they can't shoulder both a hefty tax bill and the risk of a multimillion-dollar research failure. That would be tragic news not just for patients waiting for cures but for the American economy, which benefits tremendously from the massive sums that pharmaceutical companies sink into research and development (Sally Pipes, 5/14).

Houston Chronicle: Protect Those Most Vulnerable To Diabetes
They used to call it adult-onset diabetes, because it only occurred in adults. Most often caused by obesity, it is now at record levels, affecting almost 26 million Americans …. And now, even more troubling news: A new study, published by the New England Journal of Medicine, shows the disease progresses faster and is tougher to treat in children; one major finding was that a standard medication successful for adults often fails with younger patients…. We can't afford to ignore this latest threat to our young and vulnerable (5/14).