Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'For Us This Is Not A Game': Americans Have Whiplash From Watching Health Debate Play Out
The New York Times: ‘I Am Totally Burned Out’: Patients Watch Health Care Debate With Dread
Ever since the November election, when the fate of her family’s health coverage was suddenly up for grabs, Meghan Borland has been consumed by each twitch and turn of the political debate. She has gone to protests, met with her congressman, lost sleep, shed tears. “My emotions are like a Ping-Pong ball being bounced back and forth between the players,” said Mrs. Borland, who, with her husband, owns a karate school in Pleasant Valley, N.Y., and whose younger daughter, Amelia, 2, is receiving chemotherapy for leukemia. (Hoffman, 7/27)
Bloomberg: Health-Care Mess Makes Farming Even Riskier
As lawmakers debate the future of the Affordable Care Act, farmers across the country are worried about their own futures, with health insurance a top concern. Three out of four U.S. farmers and ranchers said health insurance was an important or very important risk management strategy for their businesses in a recent survey led by the University of Vermont. (Shanker, 7/28)
Bloomberg: With Or Without Obamacare, Health-Care Costs Are Battering The Middle Class
Whatever happens to Obamacare in Washington, the rest of America will be left with a problem it’s had for decades: Health-care spending is growing at an unsustainable rate. Insurance and medical costs are draining the incomes of the middle class—tens of millions of people who earn too much to qualify for government-subsidized coverage, but not so much that they don’t feel the bite of medical bills—and nothing on Congress’s agenda is likely to fix that. (Tozzi, 7/27)
California Healthline: Leap Of Faith: Will Health Care Ministries Cover Your Costs?
Martin Estacio was shelling out $800 per month for a health plan that didn’t fit his two-state lifestyle. The retired San Bernardino firefighter lives between Oklahoma and California. But his health insurance policy, purchased in Oklahoma, didn’t cover non-emergency care outside the state. (Bazar, 7/28)
