Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Setting The Scene For The GOP Replacement Plan
The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare 2.0
House Republicans have finally rolled out their new health-care proposal, and it’s receiving heated criticism from both left and right—and not because it’s so good. Yet it does represent a better dog’s breakfast than the incoherent Obama scheme it would replace. Let’s start from the top. “Repeal” is a meaningless political gesture: New laws supersede or amend existing laws, so if Republicans have a health-care plan, they could just enact it. (Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., 3/7)
USA Today: Our Health Care Plan For America: Paul Ryan
When I took the speaker’s gavel, I told my colleagues that it’s no longer good enough to just say what we’re against. We had to show what we’re for. That’s why last year we released a complete policy agenda — tracking closely with ideas from our presidential nominee, Donald Trump — to tackle all of the big challenges facing this country. The truth is, we have solutions to all of the many problems that Barack Obama left behind. (House Speaker Paul Ryan, 3/7)
USA Today: What's The Rush On Health Care?: Our View
Consideration of the measure is set to begin Wednesday in two House committees. If Republican leaders don’t pull the bill in the face of considerable internal opposition, the full House could vote on it within the next few weeks. In contrast, Obamacare was the subject of lengthy public hearings and private negotiations during the winter, spring and summer of 2009. The first House committee action came that July, after the CBO came out with its estimates of the cost and the number of people who'd gain insurance. (3/7)
The Wall Street Journal: A Historic Health-Care Moment
The American Health Care Act would be the most consequential GOP social-policy reform since the welfare overhaul of 1996. Not only does the bill repair the failures of the Affordable Care Act, it starts to correct many of the government-created dysfunctions that have bedeviled U.S. health care for decades. Opening this critical legislative campaign is a test of how well Republicans can manage political and economic reality. (3/7)
RealClear Health: The GOP’s Forced March On Health Care Begins
House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have begun a forced march of their members toward what they hope will be the enactment of legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Ryan and the chairman of the key committees in the House released their initial pieces of the legislation last evening (the plan is currently broken into two parts, reflecting the jurisdiction of the two main committees, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce). It is clear from a quick review of the plan, and from initial reactions to it from others, that the task before them remains daunting. (James C. Capretta, 3/8)
Chicago Tribune: As Obamacare Teeters: Evaluating A GOP Fix
House Republicans delivered a long-promised Obamacare replacement Monday night. It's a strong bid to replace an increasingly feeble law. President Donald Trump tweeted his support for the "wonderful new" bill. Some other Republicans are in open revolt. Let's slow down here. There are some huge blanks still to be filled in: Will people lose coverage because they won't be able to afford it as premium subsidies shrink, as critics claim? Will the plan cost the federal government more or less than an increasingly shaky Obamacare would? Health economists are busy at their calculators, so answers to those and other key questions should be forthcoming soon. (3/7)
