Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives On Trump's 'Medicare For All' Op-Ed: Sets 'New Standard' For Lies
The Washington Post: Trump And The Republicans Offer Ridiculous Lies About Medicare
President Trump lies so frequently that, as the cliche goes, if he says the sky is blue, it’s best to look out your window and confirm that fact. Glenn Kessler of The Post’s Fact Checker says Trump has averaged 8.3 lies per day since taking office. So it’s saying something that, even by Trumpian standards, the president’s op-ed in Wednesday’s USA Today attacking Medicare-for-all and claiming he’ll defend Medicare from the Democrats sets a new standard for mendacity. As Kessler himself points out, Trump’s op-ed is one where “almost every sentence contained a misleading statement or falsehood.” (Helaine Olen, 10/10)
USA Today: Trump Knows Nothing About Medicare, Health Care Or Democrats: Talker
President Donald Trump’s column attacking "Medicare for All" was filled with falsehoods to distract voters from the truth: He and his party are on a wildly unpopular mission to gut Medicare and protections for pre-existing conditions. This year, House Republicans proposed to cut Medicare spending by $537 billion over the next 10 years. For many years, they have proposed to radically privatize Medicare into a voucher system, shifting costs to beneficiaries. (10/10)
The Washington Post: Trump’s Op-Ed Confirms It: The Central Issue Of 2018 Is Health Care
At his numerous campaign rallies, President Trump frames the November midterm election in sweeping terms. The Democrats, he has said, want to erase the country’s borders and allow crime to flourish. If they take power, the country will “plunge … into gridlock, poverty and chaos.” What’s more, he claimed on Twitter last week, the fight over Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court was “having an incredible upward impact on voters.” Republicans not motivated by concerns about the apocalypse that would result from Democrats having slight majorities on Capitol Hill were instead motivated by the Democrats' efforts to block Kavanaugh’s confirmation. (Philip Bump, 10/10)
The Wall Street Journal: Is Trump Making Democrats Regret Their Bernie Sanders Crush?
For political professionals, one of the most bizarre aspects of this bizarre era is the speed at which Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders has gone from near irrelevance as the Senate’s resident kook to the most influential policy maker in one of America’s two major political parties. Now comes the moment when Democrats who have largely adopted Sanders positions may have to explain them to voters. (James Freeman, 10/10)
USA Today: Democratic House Agenda: More Jobs, Less Corruption, Lower Health Costs
In less than four weeks, Americans will go to the polls and choose who will lead us. This time, it’s not hyperbole to say that this is the most important election of our lifetimes. For the past two years, Republicans have had total control over the House, the Senate and the White House. What do they have to show for their leadership? A tax scam that pads the pockets of millionaires and billionaires at the expense of the middle class. (Cheri Bustos, Hakeem Jeffries and David Cicilline, 10/11)
