Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: Pros, Cons Of Sanders', Warren's 'Medicare For All' Proposals: Better Care, Big Time Waits, Costs
The Washington Post: Bernie Sanders’s And Elizabeth Warren’s Health-Care Plans Sound Too Good To Be True. They Are.
Single-payer health care can work. Government-run systems operate in other industrialized countries and often achieve comparable or better overall results, for less money, than the health-care patchwork in the United States. So why aren’t Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) proposing something that resembles those systems? The two presidential candidates promise far more generous benefits than other countries offer. They pretend that the United States wouldn’t have to make any of the trade-offs other nations have had to make. They promise fantastically generous benefits, no premiums, co-payments or other cost-sharing, and a miraculously low price tag. It’s fiction. (11/6)
The Wall Street Journal: WarrenCare Will Make You Wait And Wait
Until now, Medicare for All proposals have been pleasantly vague. They plausibly allowed voters to imagine that more medical services would be covered, without premiums, out-of-pocket costs or the inconvenience of networks or claims reviews by insurers. But now Sen. Elizabeth Warren has sought to specify exactly how her overhaul of American health care would be paid for. The most remarkable feature of her proposal is the extent to which she proposes to rein in health-care spending simply by restricting the resources available to providers. (Chris Pope, 11/6)
Axios: Medicare For All's Popularity May Have Peaked - Axios
Public support for Medicare for All might have peaked, but it’s still a powerful idea among many Democrats. By the numbers: Support for the national health plan rose from around 40% in 2000 to a high of 59% in March of 2018, but had slipped back to 51% by October of this year.That's still a majority, but it’s narrow and headed in the wrong direction. And polling shows that support drops much further, and opposition rises, when people hear some of the most common arguments against Medicare for All. Between the lines: Critics, debate moderators and the media have focused largely on two unpopular tradeoffs in a Medicare for All plan: the large number of Americans who would have to give up their private coverage; and the likelihood of a middle class tax hike to finance the plan. (Drew Altman, 11/6)
The Hill: Democrats' Fantasies Will Kill Health Care
A new study by the prestigious National Academy of Sciences may expose “Medicare for All” as the fraud it is.The study found that between one-third and one-half of all American physicians experience burnout in their work and learning (residency/training) environments, because of inadequate capacity (supply of doctors), health financing and reporting chaos, and overbearing administrative systems. Medicare for All would exacerbate all of that and crater the system. Today, most doctors are massively over-worked, comparatively underpaid, and experience extreme stress. (Grady Means, 11/6)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pennsylvania Can Do Better On ‘Surprise Billing’ For Patients
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is considering how to address the issue of balance billing — the amount patients have to cover when their insurance company does not pay the full cost of their care. This is a common issue when, say, Pennsylvanians experience a medical emergency, have to go to a hospital out of their insurance network to address it, and end up staring down a huge medical bill.Emergency physicians applaud the legislature for tackling this issue, as no Pennsylvanian should worry about insurance at a time of crisis. (Richard Hamilton and Arvind Venkat, 11/7)
Richmond Times Dispatch: Welcome To The Blue Dominion
In a statement issued Tuesday night, Gov. Ralph Northam promised: “Since I took office two years ago, we have made historic progress as a commonwealth. Tonight, Virginians made it clear they want us to continue building on that progress. They want us to defend the rights of women, LGBTQ Virginians, immigrant communities and communities of color. They want us to increase access to a world-class education for every child, and make sure no one is forced to go bankrupt because they or a family member gets sick. They want us to invest in clean energy and take bold action to combat climate change. And they want us to finally pass commonsense gun safety legislation, so no one has to fear being hurt or killed while at school, at work or at their place of worship.” (11/7)
