Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Parsing The Policies: What's To Become Of Medicaid And Medicare?
Daily Beast: Medicaid Delivers As Obamacare Survives
Medicaid got a reprieve from the budget axe with the GOP’s failure so far to repeal, let alone replace, Obamacare. Suddenly, the program for the poor that began in 1965 seems less like a scapegoat for politicians looking to score rhetorical points and to shore up state budgets, and like it may join Medicare and Social Security on the third rail in American politics—touch it and you die. (Eleanor Clift, 7/24)
RealClear Health: Republicans Are Tackling Medicaid Wrongly
The high decibel fight in the Senate over Medicaid is one more example--did we need more?--of why lasting changes in social programs require thoughtful legislative deliberation leading to bipartisan consensus. There should be hearings to gather input from all sides and serious debate in committees as well as on the floor. If one party rams through big changes in any program as important as Medicaid, the other party will demonize the result. In the case of Medicaid cuts, arousing public outrage won't be hard. Individuals and families, state governments, rural hospitals and other health providers will all be vocal about their plight. One wonders why either party would seek such opprobrium when they could be working together on sensible Medicaid reform. (Alice M. Rivlin, 7/24)
Morning Consult: Governors: Avoid Harmful Insurance Practices In Medicaid Waivers
While our nation’s governors recently gathered in Rhode Island for the summer meeting of the National Governors Association, most of the country’s political attention remained focused on the debate in Washington, D.C. over the fate of the Affordable Care Act. Less noticed, but also critically important, is that fact that each governor holds in their hands today the ability to radically reshape Medicaid for their state’s most vulnerable citizens regardless of the outcome of that debate. (Donna Christensen, Scott Mulhauser and Jason Resendez, 7/24)
CBS News: Medicare Funding: Problems And Solutions
Medicare's funding problems often get overlooked when the Social Security trustees issue their annual report on the funded status of the Social Security and Medicare programs. Yet together they form the twin pillars of financial security for retirees. That's why it's important to understand Medicare's financial situation, so you can be an informed health care planner -- and voter. (Steve Vernon, 7/24)
