Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As Ryan Announces Retirement, A Look Back At How He's Steered Health Policy While In Congress
The Associated Press: Speaker Ryan's Legacy To Include New Tax Code, Busted Budget
House Speaker Paul Ryan will leave Congress having achieved one of his career goals: rewriting the tax code. On his other defining aim — balancing the budget and cutting back benefit programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — Ryan has utterly failed. Ryan, a budget geek with a passion for details who announced Wednesday that he would retire next year, proved adroit in drawing up budget plans that balanced on paper but didn't get beyond the hypothetical. (Taylor, 4/12)
Modern Healthcare: House Speaker Ryan To Retire With A Mixed Legacy On Health Policy
House Speaker Paul Ryan will leave office in January likely without having achieved two of his top health policy priorities: repealing the Affordable Care Act and tackling entitlement reform. The Wisconsin Republican confirmed Wednesday that he won't seek re-election in November. He is now one of 38 sitting Republican House lawmakers who won't seek re-election in a cycle that retiring Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) described as a referendum on President Donald Trump "and his conduct in office." Ryan leaves an uncertain legacy when it comes to healthcare policy. (Luthi, 4/11)
The New York Times: Ryan Found Himself On The Margins As The G.O.P. Moved Right
Once described as “the intellectual center of Republicans in the House,” Mr. Ryan has styled himself as a master of policy, someone who understood the arcane details of budgeting, the tax code and health care. ... By that time, Mr. Ryan had carved out a niche as a rare creature in the House: someone who was admired in most conservative circles, and who had the respect of nearly everyone in his conference. He also presented himself as a younger and more modern face of the Republican Party. (Stolberg and Kaplan, 4/11)
The Washington Post: Fiscal Hawk Ryan Leaves Behind Growing Deficits And A Changed GOP
Fiscal issues have long been Ryan’s focus, as chairman of the Budget Committee and then the Ways and Means Committee, and it’s there that his failure to deliver looks most glaring, given years of promises and budget proposals aimed at slashing spending and reining in entitlements. Ryan acknowledged Wednesday that “more work needs to be done. And it really is entitlements.” But he added that he was proud that the House had passed what he described as “the biggest entitlement reform bill ever considered in the House of Representatives,” a reference to legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act and remaking the Medicaid program. That bill was rejected by the Senate. (Werner, 4/11)
The Wall Street Journal: With Paul Ryan's Exit, GOP Loses Advocate For Changes To Retirement, Healthcare
When House Speaker Paul Ryan leaves Congress, the Republican party will lose its most influential advocate for changes to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. As Budget committee chairman, a vice presidential running mate to Mitt Romney in 2012, Ways and Means chairman and finally House speaker, Mr. Ryan had pressed for curbs on federal spending on the three programs. These retirement and health care programs are popular with voters, but their costs are rising faster than the funds to pay for them. (Radnofsky and Timiraos, 4/12)
Elsewhere on Capitol Hill —
CQ: Indian Health Service Bill Heads To Senate Floor
A Senate panel on Wednesday approved a bill by voice vote that would give the Indian Health Service more authority for hiring and firing employees, although committee Democrats expressed concern that it would give the agency powers that could undermine its employees' rights. Republicans on the Indian Affairs Committee promised to address those concerns before the bill (S 1250) reaches the Senate floor. (Siddons, 4/11)
Kaiser Health News: Make Room For Baby: After Giving Birth, Duckworth Presses Senate To Bend Rules
It is so common that it likely will have happened at least once somewhere in the United States by the time you finish reading this sentence. But it took more than 230 years for it to happen to a senator. On Monday, Tammy Duckworth became the first sitting senator to give birth, forcing Senate leaders to face how ill prepared they may be to accommodate the needs of a new mother. (Huetteman, 4/11)
