Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Parsing The Policies: What About Pre-Existing Conditions? Insurance Market Stability? Coverage For People With Disabilities?
The New York Times: If We Lose Our Health Care ...
Republicans have demonized the Affordable Care Act for so long that people may have forgotten that nearly one in five nonelderly Americans lacked health insurance before the law was passed. Many of them didn’t get the care they needed because they feared it would bankrupt their families. The A.C.A., or Obamacare, has not solved those problems completely, but it has extended health care coverage to 20 million people. (6/24)
Los Angeles Times: The GOP Says Its Healthcare Bill Will Protect Those With Preexisting Conditions. Um, No It Won't
Here’s the opening quote from a press release Thursday from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, about the Senate GOP leadership’s healthcare bill: “To begin with, the draft Senate healthcare bill makes no change in the law protecting people with preexisting conditions, no change in Medicare benefits, and increases Medicaid funding — that’s TennCare — at the rate of inflation.” (Jon Healey, 6/23)
Boston Globe: Health Reform Must Protect Patients With Preexisting Conditions
If the House or Senate version of the American Health Care Act becomes law, what will happen to Lauren and millions of other children and adults with preexisting conditions if they experience a gap in their health coverage? The suggestion that somehow those with illnesses have been irresponsible, or that they’ve invited bad health, is insulting and infuriating. (Jane Swift, 6/26)
The Washington Post: The Senate’s Health-Care Bill Could Be One Of The GOP’s Greatest Accomplishments
The Senate health-care legislative draft — officially titled the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 — will, if passed, represent the greatest policy achievement by a Republican Congress in generations. Given that Democrats have filled the airwaves with wild claims that the bill amounts to mass murder, it may feel jarring to think of the bill as a historic achievement. But it is. (Avik Roy, 6/24)
The New York Times: Where The Senate Health Care Bill Fails
Speaking at a rally for his wife’s presidential campaign last year, Bill Clinton called Obamacare “the craziest thing in the world.” As he put it, “The people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half.” Mr. Clinton was right, and it’s why Republicans have been pushing to repair the damage done by Obamacare for so long. Our priority should be to bring relief, and better, less expensive care, to millions of working men and women. (Sen. Ron Johnson, 6/26)
The Wichita Eagle: Not Much For Disabled In Trump’s Budget Plan
Marlee Matlin, the Oscar-winning actress who is deaf, is worried. She thinks the Trump White House and GOP-led Congress want budget cuts, particularly in Medicaid, that will harm the disabled. She’s right; they will. That’s the bad news and the main point I’m making. But I take comfort in Matlin’s concern. It shows the disability rights movement, composed of people with sensory, intellectual, physical and other forms of disabilities, is as strong as it was in 1990 when the movement got the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with little but guts and will and the clear fact we were morally, financially and politically right. (David Rundle, 6/25)
RealClear Health: 10 Stray Thoughts On The Senate GOP’s Health Care Bill
Senate Republicans have released a draft version of their bill to repeal and replace portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). Here are 10 stray thoughts as we all begin poring over the text. (Robert Graboyes, 6/26)
Indianapolis Star: Trumpcare Might Already Be Here
We don't yet know whether the U.S. Senate will pass its health reform bill during the coming week. But we know one thing: Obamacare already is being deconstructed. That became apparent in Indiana on Wednesday as Anthem Inc. and MDwise announced they will exit the state's individual health insurance marketplace. (James Briggs, 6/23)
The Health Care Blog: A Primer For Conservatives: Health Insurance Is Not Really Insurance
Is health insurance a plan to help healthy people mitigate against an unexpected illness, or an income subsidy to help the sick pay for medical care? Conservatives ought to have a clear answer to that question. Not long ago Congressman Morris Brooks from Alabama did not and found himself on the receiving end of liberal ridicule. (Michel Accad, 6/23)
