Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Debate Reinforces That Trump's Eye Is On Preelection Vaccine Prize
Stat: Debate Highlights Trump’s Hunger For An Election-Eve Vaccine
President Trump spoke on Tuesday as if his campaign depends on a Covid-19 vaccine. Specifically, a vaccine approval by Election Day. Throughout a turbulent, disorganized, and hostile debate, Trump highlighted his government’s efforts on vaccine development, pledging, dubiously, that the country is “weeks away from a vaccine” and contradicting high-level officials within his own government who have suggested it will be months, at least, before a vaccine is available. (Facher, 9/29)
Stat: Trump Claims Insulin Is ‘Cheap .. Like Water.’ But It Still Costs Just As Much
Not only has he lowered drug prices, President Trump claimed in the first 15 minutes of Tuesday’s debate — but he has helped lower the price of insulin, specifically, so that it is so cheap that it’s “like water.” In reality, insulin still retails for roughly $300 a vial. Most patients with diabetes need two to three vials per month, and some can require much more. (Florko, 9/29)
Vox: It’s True: 1 In 1,000 Black Americans Have Died In The Covid-19 Pandemic
During a discussion on race in America in the first presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden cited a horrific statistic to punctuate his case that President Donald Trump has not been good for Black Americans: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans have died in the Covid-19 pandemic. “You talk about helping African Americans — 1 in 1,000 African Americans has been killed because of the coronavirus,” the Democratic nominee said Tuesday. “And if he doesn’t do something quickly, by the end of the year, 1 in 500 will have been killed. 1 in 500 African Americans.” (Scott, 9/29)
Time: The Trump-Biden Debate Was a Missed Opportunity to Provide Americans With Clarity on COVID-19
If Americans were hoping to get some reassurance, clarity, or even hope from this year’s presidential candidates about how the U.S. will make it through the coronavirus pandemic, then Tuesday night’s first debate fell woefully short. During the 15-minute segment dedicated to COVID-19—which is still killing hundreds of Americans each day, and stands to worsen once again—neither President Donald Trump nor Former Vice President Joe Biden provided any substantive plans for what health experts say will be a critical next few months, and possibly years, in the fight against the coronavirus. Instead of thoughtful plans for addressing the deadliest and most disruptive public health crisis the world has faced in a century, viewers got a mud-slinging brawl between two candidates who were mostly more interested in landing jabs than in providing any reassurance to an already edgy public reeling from lost loved ones, lost jobs and disrupted lives. (Park, 9/30)
The Atlantic: Why Trump Has No Real Health-Care Plan
There’s a reason Donald Trump has never produced a health-care plan that protects consumers with preexisting medical conditions: Ending protections for the sick is the central mechanism that all GOP health-care proposals use to try to lower costs for the healthy. Every alternative to the Affordable Care Act that Republicans have offered relies on the same strategy—retrenching the many ACA provisions that require greater risk- and cost-sharing between healthy and sick Americans—to lower the cost of insurance for healthier consumers. Put another way: Reducing protections for patients with greater health needs isn’t a bug in the GOP plans; it’s a key feature. (Brownstein, 9/29)
Vox: Presidential Debate: Joe Biden’s Plan To Beat Covid-19 In The US
Joe Biden’s plan to beat back the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States is founded on a simple premise: leadership matters. President Donald Trump has badly botched the response thus far, according to most experts, and the numbers tell the tale: 200,000 Americans are dead. He’s tried to discredit the scientific institutions tasked with managing the response. Millions of people are still out of work. Thousands of businesses have closed that will never reopen. Biden’s campaign has spent the last six months coming up with its plan to fix it. (Scott, 9/28)
