Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Both Sides Tailor Talking Points To Sway Justices
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Three House Chairmen Look Beyond Obamacare
Leading House Republicans stopped short of endorsing a short-term extension of the health law’s tax credits if the Supreme Court voids them in much of the country. The three committee chairmen tasked with organizing the House GOP response to a decision this June said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that they want to retain a number of the law’s provisions if the court sides with plaintiffs in a case that will be heard Wednesday and could gut the law as it stands. (Radnofsky, 3/3)
The Associated Press: GOP: Our Plans Would Help People Losing Health Subsidies
Congressional Republicans sent a message Monday that they hope the Supreme Court and voters will hear: They have ideas to keep the country’s health care system from crumbling if the justices obliterate a bedrock feature of President Barack Obama’s heath care law. The plans — one set from three GOP House chairmen, another from three top Republican senators — were far from legislative proposals, lacked detail and left many unanswered questions. They were released in the run-up to Wednesday’s oral arguments before the Supreme Court in a case in which Republicans and conservatives are challenging federal subsidies that help millions of Americans afford health coverage under Obama’s 2010 law. (3/2)
The Hill: Republicans To High Court: We Have ObamaCare Plan
The effort is intended to make it easier for the court to strike down the subsidies, since Republicans believe the court is more likely to rule in their favor if it believes a plan is in place to limit the fallout. It’s the same reason Republicans have seized on statements from the White House and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell that officials have “no plans” in case of a plaintiff victory. “What Burwell does not have — any plan — Republicans do have,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told The Hill on Monday. Senate Republicans have recently tried to unite their party around a fallback plan in which people could receive temporary government help to keep their subsidies. (Ferris, 3/3)
The Fiscal Times: If Supreme Court Strikes Down Obamacare, GOP Says It Has A Plan
If the Supreme Court rules against the Obama administration in the latest legal challenge to Obamacare, a group of Republicans say they have a plan to prevent millions from losing their subsidized health care coverage. (Ehley, 3/2)
The Hill: Obama: No 'Plausible' Basis For SCOTUS Ruling Against ObamaCare
President Obama said his administration is not preparing a backup plan in case the Supreme Court rules against ObamaCare because he believes there is no “plausible legal basis” for such a ruling. In his first public remarks on the high-stakes case, Obama stuck with his health secretary’s previous remarks that the administration is not concerned about how to protect the subsidies at the heart of his healthcare law. (Ferris, 3/2)
