Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Health Law's Unlikely Defenders: Republicans
The Hill: Reversal: Some Republicans Now Defending Parts Of ObamaCare
The House’s debate over repealing ObamaCare has had an unintended effect: Republicans are now defending key elements of President Obama’s health law. Many House Republicans are now defending ObamaCare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions, in the face of an effort by the conservative House Freedom Caucus to repeal them. (Sullivan, 4/9)
The Associated Press: Move Over 'Obamacare,' Trump Plan Is Now The Focus
Something new is happening in a health care debate dominated for seven years by the twists and turns of Barack Obama's signature law. The focus has shifted to ideas from President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers in Congress, and most people don't like what they see. With Republicans in command, their health care proposals as currently formulated have generated far more concern than enthusiasm. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Swanson, 4/10)
Politico: TV Ads Slam Republicans Over Would-Be Obamacare Repeal
Moderate House Republicans who flirted with supporting the GOP's now-stalled Obamacare replacement will face attack ads in their districts this week for doing so. Save My Care, a coalition of left-leaning health care advocacy groups fighting to preserve Obamacare, is launching a seven-figure TV ad buy in seven competitive House districts across the country. (Cheney, 4/10)
Bloomberg: GOP Health Plan Relies On Cutting Payments To Doctors, Hospitals
A Republican health-care plan to lower insurance premiums would need to cut payments to hospitals and doctors to the same level as federally-set Medicare rates and would require billions of dollars in extra government spending to meet its goals, according to an independent analysis of the policy. (Tracer, 4/7)
McClatchy: GOP Proposal Could Shrink Coverage For People With Pre-Existing Conditions
A White House push to let states waive mandatory coverage and rate requirements under the Affordable Care Act could jeopardize health insurance gains for millions of adults with pre-existing medical conditions who went largely without coverage before the health law passed. This week, the White House tried to get Republicans in the House of Representatives to amend their Obamacare replacement bill with language that lets states opt out of two popular ACA provisions, including one that requires individual health plans to cover 10 so-called essential health benefits. (Pugh, 4/7)
Houston Chronicle: Health Experts, Advocates Still Tense About Health Reform
After the collapse of the planned repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, local experts and advocates are both relieved that the law is intact and worried a shakeup is still on the horizon. “I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this,” said Angela Mattie, professor and chair of health care management and organizational leadership for Quinnipiac University. (Cuda, 4/7)
The New York Times: The Trump Resistance Found Early Success. Can It Also Find Momentum?
Political reporters were calling, crediting them with helping to bring down Republican legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Rachel Maddow made them the stars of a segment on her show, chronicling how they had grown into a “legitimate political movement” that pushed their congressman, the chairman of the influential Appropriations Committee, to come out against the bill hours before his party’s leadership decided to pull it without a vote. (Zernike, 4/9)
