Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes: Pros And Cons Of Kamala Harris' New Take On 'Medicare For All'
Los Angeles Times: Kamala Harris Joins The Club With A Solid 'Medicare For All' Proposal
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), an aspirant for the presidential nomination, jumped with both feet into the healthcare reform pool Monday with a proposal to cover all Americans via an expansion of Medicare. Harris’ plan is effectively a series of tweaks to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for all” proposal, which she earlier had endorsed. More on that in a moment. The tweaks are important, in part because they may simplify the political messaging to build support for universal healthcare. And in this electoral season, political messaging is the ball game. (Michael Hiltzik, 7/29)
Washington Examiner: Kamala Harris' Deeply Unserious Healthcare Plan
Sen. Kamala Harris on Monday unveiled her own healthcare plan intended to free her up from being attached to the Sen. Bernie Sanders plan she has endorsed. But the new plan would still eliminate people's current private insurance plans that cover about 180 million people.In addition, her plan would raise taxes on employers that will inevitably fall on the middle class, as well as put a strain on the healthcare system that will lead to trade-offs of higher costs and reduced access to care. And she has no realistic plan to pay for it all. (Philip Klein, 7/29)
The Washington Post: Kamala Harris Finds A Third Way With Her Health-Care Plan
Are you looking for some Democratic infighting over relatively modest disagreements in health-care policy? Well, today is your lucky day. Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) has now unveiled her health-care plan, and after some uncertain answers to questions about what place private insurance would have in her vision, she has put together something that seems to take a path between Bernie Sanders’s fully single-payer idea and Joe Biden’s plan. (Paul Waldman, 7/29)
Miami Herald: Medicaid, At 54, Could Cover More Uninsured Americans
While Florida’s Senate has twice passed Medicaid expansion bills, the state House of Representatives has blocked it. Worse, this year they passed into law a measure that will make it even harder to achieve Medicaid expansion through a ballot initiative. When voters are given a chance to decide, expansion has been approved — even in conservative states such as Idaho, Utah and Nebraska. Most Americans intrinsically understand that illness and injury can strike anyone at any time and believe that healthcare is a human right, regardless of age or status. (Miriam Harmatz, 7/29)
