Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Perspectives: What If Single-Payer Could Actually Boost Fortunes For The Middle Class?; GOP Gets Credit For Popularity Of The Health Law
The New York Times: Universal Health Care Might Cost You Less Than You Think
As the national debate about health care kicks off ahead of the 2020 presidential election, we’re going to be hearing a lot about the costs of increasingly popular progressive proposals to provide universal health care, like Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All plan. One common refrain on the right and the center-left alike: Since the rich can’t foot the bill alone, are middle- and working-class supporters of a more socialized health care system really ready to pay as much for it as people do in some of the high-tax nations that have one? The problem is, we already do, and we often pay more. (Matt Bruenig, 4/29)
The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare Is Popular Because It Failed
ObamaCare is finally popular with the American people according to a variety of polls, and it’s instructive to understand why. The doing is Donald Trump’s and the Republicans’, and not in a way that made ObamaCare a sensible program. Thanks to their effective repeal of the individual mandate, nobody is forced any longer to buy ObamaCare or pay a tax penalty. ObamaCare’s user cohort now consists almost entirely of willing “buyers” who receive their coverage entirely or largely at taxpayer expense. It also consists of certain users who take advantage of the coverage for pre-existing conditions and stop paying once their condition has been treated. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., 4/26)
The Hill: Direct Care Plans Could Alleviate Problem Of High Deductible Plans — If Congress Would Fix The Law
Often, the most effective way to make a point is to tell a story. And that’s what NPR does in its new report on high-deductible health policies (HDHPs) that are keeping too many Americans out of their doctors’ offices. Susan, who carries a gene that makes her predisposed to breast cancer, has one of those policies. The deductible of $6,000 meant that when she got her first MRI and a mammogram to screen for breast cancer, she paid $3,800 out of her own pocket. It cost so much in 2017 that she was forced to delay her screening in 2018. (David Balat, 4/27)
