Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Association Health Plans Are Good For Small Businesses; People Who Need Comprehensive Insurance Will Suffer
The Washington Post: Health Care Is About To Get Way Easier For Small Businesses And Self-Employed Americans
Today, if you’re a self-employed plumber or a farmer or a waitress at a small restaurant, you likely don’t have access to the same kind of lower-cost health insurance, tax breaks and patient protections that employees of bigger companies, such as IBM or Microsoft, enjoy. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and the Trump administration have come up with a potential solution within existing law. (Sen. Lamar Alexander, 6/19)
The Wall Street Journal: Exit From ObamaCare
One perverse effect of the Affordable Care Act is that corporate America escaped some of the onerous mandates that hurt small enterprises. The Trump Administration is now trying to mitigate that inequity with a rule on association health plans, or AHPs, and perhaps the result will be a durable and popular alternative to ObamaCare coverage. (6/19)
Los Angeles Times: The Latest Trump Healthcare Fix Is Better Than Most. But That Doesn't Mean It's Good
The Trump administration on Tuesday released the details of its latest effort to cut some Americans’ insurance premiums — and undermine Obamacare in the process. The surprise is that, unlike every other initiative from this crew, it may well help some people obtain real coverage at a lower price. What’s not surprising is that the move will make the state Obamacare exchanges more expensive and less stable than they are today. (Jon Healey, 6/19)
The New York Times: An Obamacare Case So Wrong It Has Provoked A Bipartisan Outcry
The legal and policy battles over the Affordable Care Act have divided the nation along predictable partisan lines. As legal academics, we were on opposite sides when the Supreme Court considered constitutional challenges to the so-called individual mandate and again when the court considered whether tax credits would be available in federally created health insurance exchanges. The latest A.C.A. challenge, however, has brought us together — an unholy alliance that conveys an enormous amount about the weakness and dangerousness of the newest legal challenge to a statute that continues to be a political and legal flash point. (Jonathan H. Adler and Abbe R. Gluck, 6/19)
The Wall Street Journal: Health Savings Accounts For Everyone
Despite failing to repeal and replace ObamaCare fully, health-care reform is progressing under President Trump. The individual mandate is nullified. The administration has permitted more low-cost “limited duration” insurance plans, and more small businesses now have access to association health plans. The next step should be to expand and improve health savings accounts. (Scott W. Atlas, 6/19)
Bloomberg: Trump’s Bring-The-Pain Politics Aren’t Working
President Donald Trump’s failure to understand that he represents all Americans, not just his strongest supporters, might explain why he has the lowest approval rating of any president at this point in a first term. And it might be the reason he has repeatedly attempted a bargaining gambit that failed each time. The maneuvers he tried to pull off for health care, the Dreamers and family separation aim to cause harm. The logic seems to be: If I can hurt you, you will be forced to make concessions. (Jonathan Bernstein, 6/19)
