Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democratic Moderates Are Flexing Their Muscles, Argue 'Far-Left' Policies Could Lead To An Electoral Undoing
The Washington Post: Far-Left Policies Will Drive A 2020 Defeat, Centrist Democrats Fear. So They’re Floating Alternatives.
After ceding the policy debate to the left for months, Democratic centrists have begun to fight back with new proposals and a stark warning: The latest wave of far-left ideas, though popular with many in the Democratic Party, could lead to electoral disaster in 2020. Environmentalists are drafting alternatives to the Green New Deal. Candidates who have endorsed Medicare-for-all are open to backing more incremental plans. And the economic strategist who helped steer the last two Democratic presidents is warning that liberal tax proposals could backfire. (Scherer and Viser, 4/11)
The Wall Street Journal: At Party Retreat, Pelosi Tries To Focus Democrats On ‘Kitchen Table’ Issues
House Democrats are hoping to use their retreat this week and the two-week recess that follows to refocus on policy topics that helped them win the chamber in 2018. ... In a letter sent to House Democrats Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee wrote about the importance of “fighting for kitchen table issues,” listing reducing health-care costs and raising wages among them. Health care was the signature issue in the 2018 midterm election. (Duehren, 4/11)
And on the topic of Obamacare -
The Hill: GOP Senator Issues Stark Warning To Republicans On Health Care
GOP Sen. Mike Braun (Ind.) has a stark warning for Republicans: Come up with a viable alternative to ObamaCare or face another rout in the 2020 election. Speaking with The Hill at his office in the Senate Russell Building, Braun described the GOP’s push to repeal ObamaCare without a plan of their own as one of the primary reasons for the Democratic wave election in 2018. (Easley, 4/12)
Des Moines Register: Chuck Grassley Says Supreme Court Unlikely To Strike Down Obamacare
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday he doubts a Republican lawsuit will succeed in getting the Affordable Care Act overturned. “I don’t believe the courts are going to strike it down,” the Iowa Republican said in a phone interview with the Des Moines Register. Grassley regained one of the most powerful health care perches in Congress this year when he resumed his role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. (Leys, 4/11)
And, from the campaign trail -
Los Angeles Times: Kamala Harris And Other Democrats Point To Racial Gap In Care Of Pregnant Black Women
It was a harrowing brush with a baffling problem: the high risk of dying as an expectant mother in America, a danger that is especially acute for black women like [Tamara] King. The nation’s maternal health crisis has captured increasing attention in the media, in the medical community and in Congress. Now it has hit the 2020 presidential campaign, with multiple Democrats touting plans to expand healthcare access and address the racism that leads to disparate treatment of white and black patients. (Mason, 4/11)
