Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Secrecy, Juicy Scandals And Money, Money, Money: Why Efforts Against GOP Health Bill Have Foundered
Politico: Obamacare Repeal: Why Democrats Can’t Break Through
Even before Senate Republicans released their Obamacare repeal plan last week, a call went out from liberal activists: Head to the airport and greet departing senators with a furious protest. About five dozen demonstrators showed up at Reagan National Airport, chanting loudly and hoisting signs that read “Don’t Take Away Our Health Care” and “Resist.” Organizers hailed the turnout given the short notice, but the contrast with the thousands of people who flocked to the last airport protests — against President Donald Trump’s travel ban — was inescapable. (Schor, 6/26)
The Wall Street Journal: What The Health-Care Vote Means For The Midterm Elections
This week’s expected Senate vote on the GOP health-care bill will showcase a sharp partisan divide on the issue in states where Democrats are poised to play defense in next year’s midterm elections. All Senate Democrats are expected this week to oppose Republican legislation that would dismantle and replace much of the Affordable Care Act. Many of their potential challengers in next year’s elections are House Republicans, who supported a similar bill when it passed their chamber in May. (Peterson, 6/26)
NPR: What The Man Who Ran Obamacare Thinks About The GOP Health Care Plan
Andy Slavitt understands the inner workings of the U.S. health care system better than most. From 2015 to 2017, he ran the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare, as head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Since leaving that post in January, he's been an outspoken critic of the Republican proposals to dismantle it. Yesterday, shortly after the release of the Senate bill, he tweeted, "It's the ugly step-sibling of the House bill." And this morning his message was, "We must start over. It's too important." (Deahl and Hsu, 6/23)
And Independent and Democratic senators are vowing to fight bill —
The Hill: Sanders Tries To Sway GOP Colleague On Obamacare Repeal
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was in Charleston, W.Va., Sunday for a Protect Our Health Care Rally where he urged GOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito to vote against what he called a “barbaric and immoral” bill, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. “It turns out that the legislation that is coming before the Senate in a few days, the so-called health care bill, will be the most devastating attack on the working class of this country in the modern history of the United States of America,” Sanders said to a crowd of about 2,000, according to the Gazette-Mail. (Master, 6/25)
Roll Call: Opponents, Led By Sanders, Mobilize To Fight Health Care Bill
Opponents of the GOP bill are calling on constituents to register disapproval with their Republican lawmakers as well, by calling and visiting offices, and holding organized protests like the one outside Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office Thursday. ... [Sen. Bernie] Sanders and MoveOn will host rallies in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to try and sway Republican Sens. Pat Toomey, Rob Portman, and Shelley Moore Capito, who are seen as possible holdouts on their party’s bill. (Breiner, 6/23)
Seattle Times: Sen. Maria Cantwell Vows To Use ‘Every Tool We Have’ To Stop GOP Health-Care Plan
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell joined doctors and patients at Virginia Mason Medical Center on Friday to blast the newly unveiled Senate Republican health-care bill’s steep cuts to Medicaid. The Senate plan, like the bill passed earlier this year by the U.S. House, would roll back the expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for poor and disabled people, while cutting taxes for the wealthy...In Washington state, 600,000 people have received medical coverage under the Medicaid expansion, as part of the 2009 Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare. The Senate Republican plan would end federal money to fund that expansion by 2020, leaving states to pick up the cost or end coverage for millions. (Brunner, 6/23)
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Casey Urges Action Against GOP Health-Care Plan
At a morning rally in the state Capitol, Sen. Bob Casey urged voters to help him and other Democrats defeat the Republican Senate plan to replace the Affordable Care Act...He spoke a day after Senate Republicans unveiled their long-awaited proposal to replace Obamacare, a bill their leaders hope to bring to a vote next week. With Republicans clinging to a two-seat majority in the chamber and Democrats unified against the plan, every vote will count. (Langley, 6/23)
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Parents, Stakeholders Tell Kaine They're Concerned About Potential Virginia Medicaid Cuts
U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., met with stakeholders in Richmond on Friday for a roundtable discussion on the potential effect of Medicaid cuts in Senate Republicans’ health care proposal... Kaine spent much of the hour listening to stories from Virginians who said that without Medicaid assistance they would not have the means to care for children who are seriously ill, or who deal with mental health problems or developmental disabilities. (Cain, 6/23)
