Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Checking The Party Lines: The GOP Makes 'Dishonest Claims' To Defend Health Plan; Will 'Obamacare Overhaul Posse' Include Input From Female Senators?
The Washington Post: Republicans Serve Up Dishonest Claims To Defend Their Health-Care Bill
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was asked Sunday whether the health-care bill the House of Representatives passed last week would, as its GOP boosters insist, improve coverage and preserve patient protections. “I think that’s unlikely,” she responded. “Unlikely” was a kind way of putting it. Ms. Collins’s comments came on the same morning that Trump administration officials and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) made several indefensible claims about the bill they championed, despite widespread condemnation from experts, wariness from industry and concern from more sensible members of their own party. (5/8)
WBUR: The Republican Health Care Bill Is An American Tragedy
Last Thursday, Congressional Republicans voted to pass the American Health Care Act, the first step in fulfilling their pledge to “repeal and replace” former President Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act. This comes after attempts to pass an earlier version of the Republican health care bill imploded about a month ago. If the new version of the bill becomes law, it stands to reshape both the landscape of American health and the health care industry -- one-sixth of our economy. (Sandro Galea, 5/9)
The Washington Post: The Health Bill Is A Total Disaster. That’s Why Republicans Keep Lying About It.
As the political world absorbs the implications of the House GOP vote to repeal and replace Obamacare, it is being widely suggested that the move could put GOP control of the House in jeopardy. There is a long way to go until Election Day 2018, and all kinds of things can change, but there are two indicators right now that this may be shaping up as a legitimate worry for Republicans. (Greg Sargent, 5/8)
The Washington Post: The AHCA Dampens GOP Senate Aspirations
Just a couple of months ago Republicans would boast of the plethora of Senate pickup opportunities in 2018. Democrats will be defending 25 seats, Republicans only nine. Among the Democratic seats up for grabs are a slew from states President Trump won in 2016 — Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Montana, West Virginia, Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin. As of February, the Cook Political Report rated four Democratic seats (plus the seat of independent Angus King of Maine, who caucuses with Democrats) as “lean Democratic” races and listed eight in the “likely Democratic” column. By contrast, only two GOP-held seats are in the “lean Republican” column. (Jennifer Rubin, 5/8)
Los Angeles Times: Senate Republicans Couldn't Bother To Find A Single Woman To Help Overhaul Health Care
I know there aren’t that many women in the U.S. Senate. Just 21 of the 100 U.S. senators are female, and probably some of them had other plans. But still, couldn’t Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) find one woman to join the 13 men on his Obamacare overhaul posse? Just one? True, most of the women in the Senate are Democrats and would probably be annoying about pap smears, mammograms and Planned Parenthood. They might also point out that the Republican’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will invariably affect women. Women have a higher rate of poverty than men. (Mariel Garza, 5/9)
The Wichita Eagle: Health Care Redux: Can’t We Learn?
In the midst of Republicans’ endless health care victory laps last week, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, offered this bipolar view of the meaning of Thursday’s vote: “You either believe in government or you believe in markets. I believe in markets.” Thus he joined 216 other House Republicans in passing along to the Senate the American Health Care Act, revoking the most critical parts of the Affordable Care Act, which they had derisively labeled “Obamacare” seven years ago and refused thereafter to try to improve. (Davis Merritt, 5/9)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: GOP Lies, Point-Blank, About Its Health-Care Plan
The continued willingness of Republicans to lie, point-blank, with a straight face and without a hint of conscience, about the impact of their proposed “health-care reform” just amazes me. I have never seen anything like it since those Joe Isuzu ads of the 1980s. (Jay Bookman, 5/8)
The Des Moines Register: Young Should Explain His Health Vote To Iowans
Rep. David Young’s congressional district includes Polk County. Though hardly a hotbed of liberalism, it is also not a solidly red area of the state. That is why Young is among the Republican U.S. House members who Democrats will work hard to unseat in the 2018 election. Last week, Young made their job easier. (5/8)
