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This weekend, in the New York Times, Robert Pear wrote about the high deductibles of the exchange policies that most people are buying. ... This is actually good insurance design. Insurance that covers routine expenses isn’t really insurance; it’s a sort of inefficiently expensive prepayment plan. If Obamacare forces people away from "first dollar" coverage with low or no deductible, and toward plans that cover people only for unanticipated emergencies, that would be a win for economic logic. The problem with this is twofold: First, unless they’re pegged to income, high deductibles are regressive, forcing the poorest people to pay the largest share of their income. And second, people absolutely hate economically logical health-care plans. This is why you see unions giving up quite a lot of other concessions on wages and benefits in order to keep those gold-plated health-care plans. (Megan McArdle, 11/17)

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that Medicare will begin paying physicians and other practitioners to discuss advance care planning, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Advance care planning marks a critical step forward in ensuring that care delivery aligns with individual goals, values and preferences .... In 2013, nearly 70 percent of people who died in Tennessee were age 65 and older, making Medicare the largest insurer of health care provided during the last year of life. In fact, almost 30 percent of all Medicare dollars nationwide are paid during the last year of life .... This money is often spent to keep a patient alive far past the hope of recovery. (Edie Rimas and Ben Gardner, 11/17)

In public health, you go where the crisis is. If there is an outbreak and you have the ability to relieve suffering, you rush to the site of the need. This is why, a year and a half ago, I returned to my hometown, Birmingham, Ala., to provide abortions. For the previous two years, I had been flying to the South from Chicago to provide care to women whose access to abortion services was limited to a few clinics, despite the fact that abortions are deemed legal by the Supreme Court. These women face harsh life circumstances and incessant hostility, merely for wanting to exercise their rights. (Willie J. Parker, 11/18)

With all of the recent posturing at the State House, it might be easy to assume that Gov. Maggie Hassan and Republicans in the Legislature are having trouble finding common ground on how best to tackle substance abuse. But, as lawmakers gear up for a special session devoted to New Hampshire’s opioid epidemic, that’s not necessarily the case. Yes, Republican leaders at first resisted Hassan’s calls for a special legislative session and have warned that she’s taking too heavy-handed an approach in pushing her proposals. They want to set up a task force to study possible solutions to the state’s substance abuse crisis, with the goal of passing a bill as early as possible when the regular session resumes in January. (11/17)