Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: A Win For Obamacare?; Women Senators Flex Muscles In Health Care Debate
The Washington Post: Why Obamacare Won And Trump Lost
The collapse of the Republican effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act is a monumental political defeat wrought by a party and a president that never took health-care policy or the need to bring coverage to millions of Americans seriously. But their bungling also demonstrates that the intense attention to Obamacare over the past six months has fundamentally altered our nation’s health-care debate. (E.J. Dionne, 7/19)
The Wall Street Journal: Obama’s Last Laugh
Like pop-up dolls, across the length of Barack Obama’s presidency, Republicans voted to “repeal” the law that bears his name—ObamaCare. He laughed at them then, and he’s laughing now. No repeal and no replace. They can’t even do repeal and punt. For Democrats, this doesn’t quite make up for losing the election to Donald Trump, but it has to help. Schadenfreude can’t get much better than watching the Republican Party self-humiliate with an abject inability to win while controlling the House, Senate and White House. (Daniel Henninger, 7/19)
Bloomberg: Health-Care Debacle Exposes The Monster In Trump
Let's put aside for now the extent to which the Affordable Care Act would "fail" without active measures by the White House and the Republican Congress to undermine the state marketplaces; for that matter, ignore the extent to which active Republican resistance, such as the various lawsuits against the law and the decision by many Republican governors to not expand Medicaid, is responsible for a fair number of problems in the first place. Let's just stipulate for the sake of argument that Trump is correct and the law is doomed if his administration and Republicans in Congress adopt a passive stance of watching and waiting. (Jonathan Bernstein, 7/19)
Bloomberg: Letting Obamacare Fail Would Break Trump's Oath
Having failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Donald Trump is now stating openly that his plan is to let Obamacare fail instead. 1 Although the end result may be the same, there’s a vast difference between these two options, constitutionally speaking. Repeal is a normal legislative initiative, completely within the power of Congress and the president. But intentionally killing a validly enacted law violates the Constitution’s order that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” (Noah Feldman, 7/19)
Boston Globe: Protecting The Affordable Care Act Was In Trump’s Oath Of Office
At a minimum, if Trump lives up to his threat not to enforce the Affordable Care Act, it will lead to yet more lawsuits against him and his administration like those that have led federal courts to find his Muslim ban unconstitutional. Shirking his constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the laws, and thereby imperiling the health care market and the well-being of millions of Americans, will only bring the nation closer to a constitutional crisis. (Edward Markey, 7/19)
Los Angeles Times: As The Healthcare Bill Goes Down, It's Another Bad Week For Male Separatists
It’s been a bad week for male separatists. In Washington, D.C., the all-male Republican Senate leadership, which chose not to invite any female senators to their working-group meetings on repealing the Affordable Care Act, watched in frustration as their bill fizzled after those women declined to support it. Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, demonstrating that overconfidence and sexism often go hand-in-hand, had insisted the bill could succeed without women senators’ input. “Nobody’s being excluded based upon gender,” he said. “Everybody’s at the table.” Sure, if your definition of everybody is “13 middle-aged guys in ill-fitting suits.” (Ann Friedman, 7/20)
The Washington Post: No Women, No Health Care Bill
After Senate Republicans’ second version of a health-care bill collapsed Monday under the weight of more than a dozen senators (male and female) who had concerns, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided to just vote on repealing Obamacare without a replacement... And it was Senate Republican women who killed it. (Amber Phillips, 7/19)
The New York Times: If Dr. Trump Were Your Surgeon ...
It’s a dark and stormy night, and the hospital corridor is eerily illuminated by lightning flashes as Dr. Trump and Dr. McConnell enter a patient’s room and approach the bed of a young woman, Janet. “We have the best health care plan ever for you!” Dr. Trump says exultantly, to a thunderclap outside. “Tremendous! I’m the best! I take care of everybody.” He uses his stethoscope to listen to Janet’s heart, and frowns slightly. “Er, doctor?” Janet says. “I think my heart is on my left side, not the right.” (Nicholas Kristof, 7/20)
The Hill: How Medicaid Brought Down TrumpCare
Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act have failed, largely because their legislation did so much more. In their hubris they sought to also dismantle the traditional Medicaid that predated the law by 45 years, something Speaker Paul Ryan had admitted was a dream since his fraternity kegger days. And it was the Medicaid cuts that forced Republicans into their worst public contortions. (Brendan Williams, 7/19)
