Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
In The Midst Of The Impeachment Brouhaha, What Will Become Of The Congressional Health Care To-Do List?
The New York Times: Democrats’ 2020 Campaign Message: Not Impeachment, They Insist
[Speak Nancy] Pelosi has already advised the newest members of her caucus — the ones who secured the majority last year — that they will have to execute a careful balancing act in the coming weeks, to show voters in their districts that they can continue to pass important legislation. She is said to be particularly focused on a proposal to lower prescription drug prices that she unveiled last week, before the Ukraine saga began. But even before impeachment, House Democrats were gaining little traction with policy bills that withered in the Republican-controlled Senate. Polls have shown their proposals to be popular, but they have been routinely overshadowed in the news by Mr. Trump. (Burns and Corasaniti, 9/28)
The Associated Press: Can Washington Deliver On Drug Costs Amid Impeachment Probe?
Major legislation to reduce prescription drug costs for millions of people may get sidelined now that House Democrats have begun an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Proposals had been moving in Congress, but there are more ways for the process to break down than to succeed. Still, nobody says they’re giving up. Some questions and answers about the legislation and its uncertain prospects. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 9/29)
The New York Times: At The Border, Lawmakers See A Broken System And Little Common Ground
In the past six months, dozens of members of Congress and their aides have descended upon the southwestern border in an effort to see what is happening there. To witness the visits is to understand the nub of the deep divide over how to repair the nation’s broken immigration system. The fact-finding tours, detailed in interviews with more than two dozen lawmakers and aides, are sometimes sanitized for the V.I.P.s who take them, as the Trump administration works to put the best face on an often inhumane situation. But they have yielded moments of raw emotion and glimpses of human suffering that have prompted passionate testimony, viral videos of lawmakers on their tours, new legislative proposals and, in one case, a book. (Cochrane, 9/28)
And on the politics front -
PBS NewsHour: Americans Need More Convincing On Medicare For All, Poll Says
Americans need to know more before they can make up their minds about proposed overhauls to the nation’s health care system, according to a survey released Thursday. When asked if they wanted to wipe out private health insurance for a so-called Medicare for All public insurance program, 40 percent of U.S. adults between the ages of 19 to 64 said they did not know enough to offer an opinion. (Santhanam, 9/27)
