Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The GOP Plan Is Designed To Keep Voters Happy Until After Elections
NPR: How The Senate GOP Health Care Bill Could Affect The Midterms And Beyond
One provision of the Senate's health care bill stands to be quite popular: the Better Care Reconciliation Act would eliminate the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. That would be repealed immediately. Another would likely please the Republican base: defunding Planned Parenthood for a year. Those funds would disappear right away, too. (Kurtzleben, 6/29)
Arizona Republic: Uproar Over Senate Health Bill Puts Flake's Re-Election In Focus
U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake has not signaled how he would vote on the now-struggling Better Care Reconciliation Act, although he supports repealing former President Barack Obama's signature health-care law, which he and other Republicans dubbed "Obamacare." The political turmoil of the Trump presidency has the left fired up, which could make for unpredictable midterm elections — even in a usually Republican-friendly state such as Arizona. (Nowicki, 6/29)
San Jose Mercury News: What Senate Health Care Delay Means For House Republicans
The Republican health care bill would have a dramatic effect in California because of its steep cuts to Medicaid – particularly in the Central Valley... All of the state’s 14 Republican members of Congress voted for the House’s version of the bill, in part due to pressure from House leaders and a desire to keep their promises on the campaign trail to repeal “Obamacare.” (Tolan, 6/29)
Meanwhile, protesters are out in force against the bill —
The Washington Post: 40 Arrested As Health-Care Bill Protesters Swarm Capitol Hill This Week
It seems everyone at the various health-care protests in Washington this week brought a story. The Pennsylvania man who relied on the Affordable Care Act for his dialysis and was willing to get arrested so his senator understood the legislation was life and death. The D.C. woman who feared that her 27-year-old, nonverbal, autistic brother would be forced into an institution without Medicaid. And the Arlington father, Rick Hodges, who wondered if the Republican-proposed health-care bill would afford his teenage daughter with Down syndrome the opportunity to live a semi-independent life as an adult. (Stein, 6/29)
Denver Post: Cory Gardner Office Protest: Disabled Advocates Arrested
Ten protesters — most with disabilities — were arrested in U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s Denver office Thursday, two days after they began a sit-in to demand that the Republican senator pledge to oppose the GOP’s plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. “Rather go to jail than to die without Medicaid!” protesters, some in wheelchairs or lying on the floor, chanted while Denver police stood in the doorway of Gardner’s downtown office and ordered them to leave. The demonstrators live-streamed their own arrests on Facebook while the chanting continued. Police also used video cameras to record the arrests. (Worthington, 6/29)
