Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Powerful Nevada Union Chastises Sanders Supporters For 'Vicious Attacks' Provoked By Its 'Medicare For All' Warnings
Reuters: Democrat Sanders, Nevada Union In Escalating Feud Ahead Of State Nominating Contest
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who bills himself as a champion of organized labor, found himself in an escalating feud with Nevada's Culinary Workers Union on Wednesday, 10 days before the state holds the party's third nominating contest. Tensions have been simmering for months between the powerful 60,000-member union and the 77-year-old U.S. senator, who comes to Nevada after a strong showing in Iowa and victory in New Hampshire on Tuesday. The union, which criticized Sanders' universal healthcare plan in a flyer to its members on Tuesday, said on Wednesday his supporters responded by "viciously" attacking the organization via Twitter, text, voicemails and direct messaging. (Reid, 2/12)
Politico: Nevada Culinary Union Lays Into Sanders Supporters After Health Care Backlash
The flier’s circulation also coincides with heightened fears among the party establishment about putting a self-declared democratic socialist and Medicare for All proponent atop the ticket. But the group, which boasts 60,000 members from the hospitality industry in Las Vegas and Reno and bills itself as the one of the state’s largest health care consumers, doubled down on its criticism amid the outcry from supporters of the senator. “Our union believes that everyone has the right to good health care and that health care should be a right, not a privilege,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, the group’s secretary-treasurer, adding that the union had already negotiated its own health care plan for “what working people need.” (Oprysko, 2/12)
The Hill: Powerful Nevada Union Warns Against Sanders Health Plan
The flyer also notes that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) would “replace Culinary Healthcare after 3-year transition,” given that she also proposes Medicare for All, but not right away. An earlier flyer from the Union, also reported by the Independent, issued a broader warning about Medicare for All. (Sullivan, 2/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Candidates Set For Long Haul Following Sanders’s New Hampshire Win
Mr. Sanders aims to maintain his momentum in Nevada, but he faces an immediate obstacle to winning there, with the state’s powerful Culinary Union telling its 60,000 members that their union-negotiated health-care plans would be put at risk by a Medicare-for-All single-payer system that is a signature Mr. Sanders’s campaign policy. The union hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the race. Mr. Buttigieg on Wednesday morning made a move for the union’s support, saying in a television interview that he supported the union’s desire to keep their health benefits. Mr. Buttigieg is ramping up his staffing in Nevada to capitalize on his recent success, with immediate plans to double the campaign’s head count there to around 100. He’ll also soon be up on Nevada airwaves with a health care-focused ad. (Parti, Rubin and Day, 2/12)
HuffPost: Why A Powerful Nevada Union Is Undermining Bernie Sanders On Medicare For All
On paper, the Culinary Workers Union and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) look like a perfect match. The powerful Las Vegas-based local of Unite Here represents service workers throughout the city, making it one of the few places in the U.S. where housekeepers, busboys and cocktail waitresses can lead middle-class lives. Sanders is arguably the most pro-labor presidential candidate to wage a viable campaign in generations. The way the Culinary’s organizing muscle has lifted up the Strip’s most vulnerable workers could make for an entire Sanders stump speech. But the Culinary has been making Sanders seem a little scary. According to the Nevada Independent, the union recently posted flyers inside employee areas of casinos and hotels warning that Sanders would end the Culinary’s health care program if elected, through his Medicare for All proposal. (Jamieson, 2/12)
Bloomberg: Health Insurers Rally After Bernie Sanders Wins New Hampshire
Managed care is leading gains in the health-care sector after Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary for the Democratic nomination for president. It may seem counter-intuitive, but investors have been shaking off worries about the self-avowed democratic socialist and his progressive politics and are becoming increasingly convinced that Donald Trump will be able to beat Sanders. (Flanagan, 2/12)
In other news from the election trail —
The Hill: Flight Attendants Union Head Blasts Buttigieg For Saying Union Members 'Fought Hard' For Private Insurance Plans
Association of Flight Attendants President Sara Nelson criticized former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg Wednesday for a tweet defending private health insurance, that appeared to characterize the employer-provided health benefits as gains won by union workers. Buttigieg defended his proposed “Medicare for All Who Want It” plan, saying 14 million union members have “fought hard for strong employer-provided health benefits” in a tweet Wednesday morning. (Budryk, 2/12)
The Hill: American Medical Association President Warns Against 'One-Size-Fits-All' Single-Payer System
The president of the American Medical Association (AMA) criticized "Medicare for All" as a “one-size-fits-all solution” on Wednesday, but acknowledged that some doctors, particularly younger ones, support the idea. “We just don't think a one-size-fits-all solution works,” Dr. Patrice Harris told The Hill when asked about a Medicare for All, single-payer system. (Sullivan, 2/12)
