Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Maybe Taxes On Health Care Wouldn't Be Such A Bad Thing; Private Care Offers People The Choice They Demand
The Washington Post: Our Health-Care Bills Are A Form Of Taxation Without Representation
There’s more than a small argument over whether Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan would raise the taxes of Americans. Moderators ask about it at presidential debates. Vice President Joe Biden uses the talking point to argue against the idea, as does Pete Buttigieg. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), on the other hand, is repeatedly taken to task by everyone from Democratic debate moderators to Stephen Colbert for refusing to give a straight answer on the topic. This tax issue is supposed to be a telling, damning point. I don’t think it is, but I get that the United States is a country with a long history of successfully portraying higher taxes — even when they would pay for such things as, say, your children’s education — as a boogeyman to be avoided at all costs. In that spirit, I am offering another, more helpful way to think about our nation’s out-of-control medical costs: They’re a form of taxation without representation. (Helaine Olen, 9/27)
USA Today: 2020 Moderates Like Joe Biden Would Expand Health Coverage And Choices
Among the many patients of mine who suffer from chronic illness, nearly all tell me they value choice above all else in their health care decisions. Some spend much of their day crippled by weakness, the side effects of medications and the resulting depression that can so easily take root. The last thing they want is to compromise on what they hope to retain some control over: choice of provider, the ability to seek a second opinion or to get an appointment within a desired time frame. The sickest crave simplicity, and while nothing is perfect in American life, the private health insurance industry gives people choices they otherwise would not have. (Vin Gupta, 9/30)
Stat: Is Amazon Care The Beginning Of A Strangler Fig For Health Care?
The news behind Amazon Care — the digital retail giant’s telehealth pilot program for its employees — is not the technology. The news is that Jeff Bezos’ company, and others like it, don’t need anyone’s permission to start building and paying for their own parallel health care systems, little by little. The trick will be whether Amazon can go beyond this pilot and build something that provides more of the things we need from health care without blowing everything up. (Vik Panda, 9/27)
The Hill: What The GM Strikers Teach Us About Government Subsidies
Now that GM is making record profits, workers are on strike to demand the company limit the number of lower-paid temporary workers, provide workers with affordable quality health care, and carry on production at four U.S. plants it has targeted for closure. The question is not whether the companies should get government help. The question is how cities and states hold corporations accountable and create high-quality jobs with good benefits that strengthen communities. (Alaa Milbes, 9/27)
