Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Sanders Challenges Clinton On Paid Family Leave
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Bernie Sanders Aims To Put Hillary Clinton On Defensive On Family Leave
Sen. Bernie Sanders is trying to put rival Hillary Clinton on the defense over one of her signature issues: paid family leave. Mr. Sanders backs legislation in Congress that would create a federal fund to reimburse a portion of lost wages when workers take up to 12 weeks off after the birth or adoption of a child, to care for a family member’s serious health condition or for a serious health problem of their own. The proposal is funded by new payroll tax of two-tenths of a 1% paid by both employers and employees. ... Mrs. Clinton talks frequently about the need for paid family leave, but she has not put out a plan. On Friday, her campaign said she would not raise taxes on families earning less than $250,000 a year, a promise that rules out the pending legislation, known as the Family Act. (Meckler, 11/16)
The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Donald Trump Repeats Inaccurate Figure That ‘Over 300,000 Veterans Died Waiting For Care’
A reader pointed us to Trump’s proposal on his campaign Web site, which repeated an inaccurate figure The Fact Checker wrote about in September 2015. Carly Fiorina had inaccurately claimed twice during the GOP debate on CNN that 307,000 veterans had died waiting for health care. ... This is a widely misreported statistic that first began circulating after a Department of Veterans Affairs’ Office of Inspector General report released Sept. 2, 2015, and subsequent news coverage. Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative veterans advocacy group, cited an article quoting this figure in a political ad released this month. But the difference is that the group’s ad quotes a headline that says 307,000 “may” have died waiting for care, versus Trump’s statement (and Fiorina’s references, for that matter) that states the figure as a direct fact. (Lee, 11/17)
