Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Beyond Preexisting Conditions: GOP's Change To Essential Benefits Would Affect Nearly Everyone
Stateline: Scrapping ‘Essential Benefits’ May Be Biggest Health Care Change
Critics of the Republican health care plan the House passed last week mostly have focused on how it might harm Americans with pre-existing health conditions and poor and disabled people who rely on Medicaid — two vulnerable, but limited, populations. But another change might have more far-reaching effects: eliminating the Affordable Care Act’s “essential health benefits,” or EHBs. That shift could affect almost everybody, including the 156 million Americans who receive health coverage through their employers. (Ollove, 5/9)
The New York Times: G.O.P. Bill Could Affect Employer Health Coverage, Too
If it becomes law, the American Health Care Act will have the biggest effects on people who buy their own insurance or get coverage through Medicaid. But it also means changes for the far larger employer health system. About half of all Americans get health coverage through work. The bill would make it easier for employers to increase the amount that employees could be asked to pay in premiums, or to stop offering coverage entirely. (Sanger-Katz, 5/9)
The Fiscal Times: 6 Ways The Republican Health Plan Could Affect Someone Not On Obamacare
ch of the focus on the potential impact of the health care overhaul plan that Republicans in the House of Representatives passed last week has focused on people who purchase insurance on the individual market through the health insurance exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act. But the effects of the American Health Care Plan were it to become law, would also be felt by people who enjoy employer-sponsored coverage, or who earn too much money to qualify for subsidies under the ACA. (Garver, 5/8)
NPR: GOP Health Bill Would Let States Determine 'Pre-Existing Condition' Protections
Ryan Lennon Fines seems like a typical 2-year-old. He and his parents, Scott Fines and Brianna Lennon, flip through a picture book of emergency vehicles. Ryan is looking for the motorcycle, but a photo of an airplane catches his dad's eye. "That's an air ambulance," Fines tells him. "You've been on one of those." (Sable-Smith, 5/8)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Tom Price: Obamacare Repeal Is ‘Better Way’ To Treat Pre-Existing Conditions
Health Secretary Tom Price took his star turn on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday to defend the House health care bill’s treatment of Americans with pre-existing conditions, calling the Obamacare repeal a “better way” to cover those illnesses. Pressed by Andrea Mitchell on a coalition of health groups and other advocates who oppose the measure, Price said it said it would allow “for every single person to get the access to the kind of coverage that they want.” (Bluestein, 5/8)
The Hill: More Than One-Third Of Americans Oppose GOP Healthcare Bill
More than one-third of American voters oppose the new Republican legislation aimed at repealing and replacing ObamaCare, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll released Monday. Forty-four percent oppose the new legislation, while 31 percent favor the GOP plan. A quarter of those polled were unsure. (Shelbourne, 5/8)
