Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Other Side Of The Story: Trump's Executive Order Is 'Modest Step' Forward; It's Not The 'Obamacare Apocalypse'
USA Today: Health Care Order Expands Insurance
For all the headlines about “dismantling Obamacare,” President Trump’s executive order will likely have less of an impact than its supporters hope or critics fear. Still, it represents a modest step toward giving consumers more choices and expanding millions of Americans’ access to lower cost insurance that better fits their individual needs. First, understand what this order is not. It neither takes anyone’s insurance away nor removes protections for people with pre-existing conditions. (MIchael D. Tanner, 10/15)
Forbes: Sorry Everbody, But Trump Hasn't Instigated The Obamacare Apocalypse
Given the President’s eagerness to wield his pen, you’d think that he would have a lot of options to push health care back in a more free-market direction. But he doesn’t. Eight years ago, much was made of the 2,000-plus page length of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, now simply abbreviated as the “ACA.” But the reason Obamacare weighed in at 2,000 pages is because the law passed by Democrats detailed, in highly specific language, how Washington would run the health care system from here on out. (Avik Roy, 10/ 14)
National Review: Trump Faithfully Executes Obamacare; Media, Democrats Go Nuts
In report after sky-is-falling report, the journalism wing of the media-Democrat complex castigates the president over his decision to — as the New York Times put it — “scrap subsidies to health insurance companies that help pay out of pocket costs of low-income people.” ... What Trump has actually done is end the illegal payoffs without which insurance companies have no rational choice but to jack up premiums or flee the Obamacare exchanges. The culprits here are the charlatans who gave us Obamacare. To portray Trump as the bad guy is not merely fake news. It’s an out-and-out lie. (Andrew C. McCarthy, 10/14)
The Wall Street Journal: The ObamaCare ‘Sabotage’ Meme
Mr. Trump continued the payments on the hope that Republican health-care reform would repeal ObamaCare and moot the subsidy dispute. That did not happen. Now the Administration has decided to follow the Constitution, and fidelity to the law should trump the policy merits or political risks. The left is accusing Mr. Trump of—this is a partial list—sabotaging the Affordable Care Act; conspiring to harm the poor; sending a wrecking ball into the American health-care system; killing people. One frequent citation is a Congressional Budget Office report from August that predicted premiums would increase if the subsidies ended, which is true. ... more uncertainty and turmoil could still drive some users from the exchanges, and the solution is straightforward: Congress can appropriate the money in a legal fashion. (10/13)
Bloomberg: Obamacare Was Built With The Flaws Trump Now Exploits
Like his predecessor, President Donald Trump has been frustrated by lack of action in Congress on Obamacare. Like his predecessor, he has resorted to executive fiat to get around that obstruction. Only instead of frantically trying to save the troubled program, he is yanking out the life-support cords installed by President Barack Obama. (Megan McArdle, 10/13)
