Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Issues And Impacts: What If The House GOP Health Plan Were To Become Law
USA Today: The House Health Care Battle: What's At Stake?
The bill, as it stands, would replace swaths of the Affordable Care Act, a signature legacy achievement of President Barack Obama. It would eliminate requirements that individuals maintain health insurance at all times and that larger companies provide it to employees, while keeping provisions allowing children to stay on their parents' plans until age 26 and prohibiting insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. But it would also reduce tax credits for individuals buying private insurance, as well as the amount of money provided to states for Medicaid. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted last week that it would also increase the number of uninsured Americans by as many as 24 million over the next 10 years. (Korte and Slack, 3/22)
Morning Consult: Biden Blasts GOP Health Care Bill As A $1 Trillion Tax Cut For The Wealthy
Former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday joined congressional Democrats on the Capitol steps to defend Obamacare and deride Republicans’ proposal to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law as a tax cut for the richest Americans. In his first appearance on the Hill since leaving office, Biden said “the costs are enormous” if the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature policy achievement, is repealed. He said the GOP plan amounts to a “transfer of about a trillion dollars” to wealthy Americans in the form of tax benefits. (Yokely, 3/22)
The Associated Press: Republican Health Bill Would Widen America's Big Wealth Gap
House Republicans' health care bill provides massive tax cuts to the wealthy while increasing taxes for many lower income families, adding to America's big income gap between the rich and everyone else. Over the past quarter century, only one group of people has seen significant increases in income — those at the very top. Families in the middle or at the bottom of the economic ladder have seen little or no increase in wages. (Ohlemacher, 3/23)
Stat: GOP Bill Doubles Down On Loathed Part Of Obamacare
In letter after letter, Republican lawmakers have reminded their constituents: Obamacare cut Medicare. Implied, and sometimes stated outright, was that the GOP’s own plan should instead bolster the program...“Obamacare took $500 million from Medicare to pay for its infrastructure,” Poe continued. “That was wrong, and Medicare must be strengthened so that it is still there for future generations.” But the bill now working its way through Congress does not reverse those cuts. Instead, Republicans for now appear committed to keeping this reviled part of the law. (Scott, 3/22)
The Washington Post: There’s Yet Another Tax Benefit For The Wealthy Buried In The Republican Health Plan
The Republican health plan would allow Americans to put a larger slice of their paycheck into tax-exempt accounts for paying their health-care bills, but while the plan's authors are celebrating the change as a victory for consumer choice, health policy experts and Treasury Department data suggest the benefits will land mainly in the laps of the wealthy. Under the GOP plan, the cap on these “Health Savings Accounts” would nearly double, from the current family limit of $6,750 to a proposed $13,100. (Johnson, 3/22)
The Associated Press: Retirement Dreams Fizzle For Some With 'Obamacare' Repeal
Workers dreaming of early retirement are getting the jitters as Washington debates replacing the Obama-era health care law with a system that could be a lot more expensive for many older Americans. The uncertainty over the cost of coverage in the individual market has caused some in their 50s and early 60s to put plans on hold. Others who already left jobs with health benefits before reaching Medicare age are second-guessing their move to self-employment. (Johnson, 3/22)
Politico: Is Trumpcare Already Here?
No matter what happens to the Republicans’ troubled health bill in Congress, Trumpcare is here to stay. The Trump administration has already begun to transform the health insurance market, wielding executive power to rewrite coverage rules, slash Obamacare’s marketing budget and signal an all-out assault on his predecessor’s health care law. And Republicans have high expectations the administration will take additional measures to unwind Obamacare, such as targeting its contraception coverage requirement at the center of two recent religious liberty cases at the Supreme Court. (Diamond, 3/23)
The Washington Post: How Is A Ban On Preexisting Conditions Preserved In The GOP Replacement Bill?
One of the most popular features of the Affordable Care Act is a provision that prohibits insurance companies from denying coverage or raising premiums based on a preexisting condition. Among health-care wonks, this is known as “guaranteed issue.” In 2010, one of the key intellectual architects of the ACA, MIT Prof. Jonathan Gruber, described guaranteed issue as one of the three legs of the “stool” holding up the law. The two other legs were the requirements that everyone buy insurance (the widely disliked individual mandate) and tax subsidies that make insurance affordable. (Kessler, 3/23)
Los Angeles Times: What Would Stay And What Would Go In The House Republican Plan To Roll Back Obamacare
If the bill passes the House, it must still go through the Senate, where many changes are expected to be made. But if the American Heath Care Act were to become law, it would mean big changes for millions of Americans. Here is a rundown of what would change and what wouldn’t under the House plan. (Levey, 3/23)
The Washington Post: Will Repealing Obamacare Really Kill 60,000 People?
Is repealing Obamacare going to kill people? If you're one of the millions projected to lose your health insurance under the health care law's proposed repeal, that's the big question. And Washington has plenty of politicians, partisans and wonks ready to answer it for you. (Johnson, 3/22)
Roll Call: John Dingell Tweets A First-Person History Of Health Care Reform
Former Dean of the House of Representatives John Dingell took to his and President Donald Trump’s favorite medium — Twitter — to tell the story of health care reform and what will happen if the 2010 health care law is repealed. Dingell started his tweetstorm by paraphrasing Trump, who was derided when he told a gathering of governors earlier this month that “nobody knew health care could be so complicated” before telling the story of how his father, former Rep. John Dingell Sr., proposed the first attempt to increase health care coverage for Americans in the 1940s. (Garcia, 3/22)
