Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Campaign Laughs Off Trump's Debate Drug Test Suggestion
The Washington Post: Trump’s Drug-Testing Demand For Debate Mocked By Biden Campaign, Saying ‘His Best Case Is Made In Urine’
President Trump on Sunday demanded Joe Biden be subjected to a drug test for the first presidential debate this week, once more suggesting without evidence that his Democratic opponent takes performance-enhancing drugs. After Biden laughed off the request at a news conference, his campaign slammed Trump’s demand, suggesting it shows the president’s best case for the coming debates is “made in urine.” “Vice President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said in a Sunday statement to Politico. “We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn’t make a plan to stop COVID-19.” (Bella, 9/28)
Politico: Biden Camp Clapback: Trump’s Best Debate Case ‘Made In Urine’
This latest in the race began Sunday morning when President Donald Trump used his Twitter feed to amplify unfounded statements that Joe Biden takes performance-enhancing drugs before their first face-off Tuesday night. “I will be strongly demanding a Drug Test of Sleepy Joe Biden prior to, or after, the Debate on Tuesday night. Naturally, I will agree to take one also,” Trump wrote. “His Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???” (Caputo, 9/27)
Politico: No Handshakes, Limited Audience: Covid Shapes Final Trump-Biden Debate Talks
Representatives for President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have hammered out the final details for Tuesday’s debate, a showdown that will be heavily shaped by the coronavirus pandemic. The two sides have decided to forego the traditional pre-debate handshake in light of the virus, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations. They also won’t do an elbow-bump, a coronavirus-era handshake substitute which both campaigns saw as awkward. (Isenstadt, 9/26)
ProPublica: What Trump And Biden Should Debate At The Cleveland Clinic: Why The Hospital’s Private Police Mostly Arrest Black People
Cleveland Clinic’s private force ... is granted policing powers by the city. These hospital cops don’t just handle disturbances in hospital corridors or emergency rooms. In look and practice almost indistinguishable from Cleveland police, the clinic’s 153 officers are armed, make arrests and stop motorists on city streets, including major commuter routes. Along with smaller private police departments operated by University Hospitals and the nonprofit University Circle economic development group, they patrol the city’s medical zone, an island of prosperity and promise that cuts through one of the poorest sections of Cleveland. (Armstrong, 9/28)
Kaiser Health News: Promises Kept? On Health Care, Trump’s Claims Of ‘Monumental Steps’ Don’t Add Up
When it comes to health care, President Donald Trump has promised far more than he has delivered. But that doesn’t mean his administration has had no impact on health issues — including the operation of the Affordable Care Act, prescription drug prices and women’s access to reproductive health services. In a last-ditch effort to raise his approval rating on an issue on which he trails Democrat Joe Biden in most polls, Trump on Thursday unveiled his “America First Healthcare Plan,” which includes a number of promises with no details and pumps some minor achievements into what the administration calls “monumental steps to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare in the United States.” (Rovner and Galewitz, 9/28)
In other election news related to COVID and voting —
AP: Appellate Court Halts Wisconsin Ballot-Counting Extension
A federal appeals court on Sunday temporarily halted a six-day extension for counting absentee ballots in Wisconsin’s presidential election, a momentary victory for Republicans and President Donald Trump in the key presidential battleground state. As it stands, ballots will now be due by 8 p.m. on Election Day. A lower court judge had sided with Democrats and their allies to extend the deadline until Nov. 9. Democrats sought more time as a way to help deal with an expected historic high number of absentee ballots. (Richmond, 9/27)
The Washington Post: Third U.S. Judge Bars Postal Service Delivery Cuts Before November Presidential Election
A third federal judge on Sunday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to halt changes that have delayed mail delivery nationwide, handing the latest judicial rebuke to unilateral service cuts that critics allege would suppress mail-in voting in November’s elections. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington, D.C., sided with the states of New York, Hawaii and New Jersey and the cities of New York and San Francisco. They alleged that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy disrupted operations without first submitting changes to the Postal Regulatory Commission, and told Congress he had no intention of returning removed collection boxes or high-speed sorting equipment. (Hsu, 9/27)
The New York Times: Ransomware Attacks Take On New Urgency Ahead Of Vote
A Texas company that sells software that cities and states use to display results on election night was hit by ransomware last week, the latest of nearly a thousand such attacks over the past year against small towns, big cities and the contractors who run their voting systems. Many of the attacks are conducted by Russian criminal groups, some with shady ties to President Vladimir V. Putin’s intelligence services. But the attack on Tyler Technologies, which continued on Friday night with efforts by outsiders to log into its clients’ systems around the country, was particularly rattling less than 40 days before the election. (Perlroth and Sanger, 9/27)
The New York Times: For 38 Million Americans With Disabilities, Voting Is Even Harder Than Usual This Year.
According to new projections from researchers at Rutgers University, nearly one in six American voters is disabled. For those 38 million people, the coronavirus pandemic has enormously complicated what was already a frustratingly difficult process: casting a vote. (Astor, 9/25)
