Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Different Takes On GOP Strategies For The Health Law
The New York Times: Republicans Have Lost The Plot On Their Obamacare Repeal
President Trump and Republican lawmakers have never been able to explain how they would improve on the Affordable Care Act, which they’ve promised to quickly repeal and replace with something better. Now, it’s increasingly evident that they have no workable plan and might never come up with one. (2/8)
The Washington Post: What Republicans Must Decide On Obamacare
We don’t often see eye-to-eye with the right-wing Heritage Action, but in this case we agree with Dan Holler, vice president of communications and government relations, who is quoted as saying, “I think the longer this drags on, the more people are starting to understand the chance of a repeal is slipping away. Certainly it’s becoming harder and harder with each passing day.” (Jennifer Rubin, 2/7)
Arizona Republic: Obamacare Repeal Must Also Restore Medicare Funding
In Arizona, there are more than 80,000 people who get up each morning to do work that’s unquestionably worth doing — providing high-quality patient care and running our state’s hospitals in communities regardless of patient’s ability to pay. Unfortunately, hospitals in the United States are set to lose more than $400 billion in funding from 2018 to 2026 if the anticipated Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) repeal does not include changes to Medicare hospital payments. When the ACA was passed, hospital Medicare payments essential for ensuring treatment of Medicare patients were cut heavily to defray the costs of other parts of the law. (Jim Lane and Doug Nicholls, 2/7)
The New York Times: One-Third Don’t Know Obamacare And Affordable Care Act Are The Same
A sizable minority of Americans don’t understand that Obamacare is just another name for the Affordable Care Act. This finding, from a poll by Morning Consult, illustrates the extent of public confusion over a health law that President Trump and Republicans in Congress hope to repeal. In the survey, 35 percent of respondents said either they thought Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act were different policies (17 percent) or didn’t know if they were the same or different (18 percent). (Kyle Dropp and Brendan Nyhan, 2/7)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Replace Health Care Law With An Already Proven Model
The Affordable Care Act forces millions of Americans to pay more than they should for health insurance policies that include mandated coverage they don’t want or need to see a doctor they don’t know. It needs [to be] replaced. It is critical that the replacement to the ACA, unlike the ACA itself, is passed with bipartisan support. The best way to do that is to build on a model that is already working: the Federal Employee Health Benefits program, which enables 8 million Americans (4 million government employees and their families) to secure health insurance coverage by choosing from 250 competitive plans offered by insurance companies, employee associations, and labor unions. (George White, 2/7)
