Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Under Senate Plan, Millionaires Would Get $52,000 In Tax Cuts While Middle-Income Families Would Get $260
The Associated Press: GOP Health Bill: Big Tax Cuts For Rich, Not Much For Others
Millionaires would get tax cuts averaging $52,000 a year from the Senate Republicans' health bill while middle-income families would get about $260, according to a new analysis of the foundering bill. The analysis was done by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. It found that half of the tax cuts would go to families making more than $500,000 a year. (Ohlemacher, 6/27)
The Wall Street Journal: As Health Bill Proceeds, Insurers Regret Loss Of Individual Mandate
Senate Republican leaders on Monday unveiled a new provision in their health bill designed to prod people to maintain their insurance coverage, a tweak made after insurers had complained an initial version of the legislation threatened to undermine the individual insurance market.But industry officials say it isn’t clear how much the new clause would stabilize the markets or draw in the young, healthy enrollees insurers crave. (Wilde Mathews, 6/27)
The Wall Street Journal: Provision In Senate Health Bill Could Be A Boon To Insurers
Buried in the Senate Republican health bill is a possible boon for insurers: an end to the Affordable Care Act rule that forced them to spend the lion’s share of premiums on health care for enrollees. Under the ACA, the federal government requires insurers to spend 80% of premiums revenue, received for individual and small-business plans, on health costs. For large employer plans, the share is 85%. If an insurer doesn’t hit the required ratio, it has to rebate the extra money to customers. (Wilde Mathews, 6/28)
The New York Times: How Health Costs Would Soar For Older Americans Under The Senate Plan
In its analysis of the Republican health care bill, the Congressional Budget Office said something confusing: The bill would lower the price of the average health plan, but health insurance would still cost much more for many people, especially for older Americans. (Park and Sanger-Katz, 6/27)
The Washington Post: GOP Health-Care Bill Could Strip Public Schools Of Billions For Special Education
School superintendents across the country are raising alarms about the possibility that Republican health care legislation would curtail billions of dollars in annual funding they count on to help students with disabilities and poor children. (Brown, 6/28)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Proposed GOP Healthcare Legislation May Jeopardize Schools
In Wisconsin, more than $187 million is spent on school-based medical services annually, and Medicaid currently provides a little more than $107 million, or 57% of the total cost, according to figures from Disability Rights Wisconsin. If the federal contribution is capped, and the state can't — or won't — pick up the additional portion, then the districts would have to pick up more of the costs. Wauwatosa's Ertl called that an unfunded mandate. (Oxenden, 6/27)
The New York Times: When Cutting Access To Health Care, There’s A Price To Pay
Senators, the United States is a sick country. Four years ago, a panel of experts convened by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council set out to assess the nation’s health compared with that of 16 other rich nations. Americans, they found, had the second-highest mortality from noncommunicable conditions — like diabetes, heart disease or violence — and the fourth highest from infectious disease. In terms of infant and maternal mortality, Americans are the worst off. (Porter, 6/27)
Los Angeles Times: Senate GOP Healthcare Bill Would Be 'Devastating' For L.A. County, Officials Warn
Los Angeles County officials gathered Tuesday morning to warn of the impact the Senate healthcare bill could have on the county, which is home to one out of every 20 of the nation’s Medicaid recipients. The Obamacare repeal bill unveiled last week would eliminate the mandate that all Americans have health insurance, alter the subsidies provided to people who buy insurance through the exchanges and undo several taxes on high-income Americans that are used to fund the Affordable Care Act. (Karlamangla, 6/27)
NPR: The GOP Senate's Health Bill: Your Questions Answered
Since Senate Republicans released the draft of their bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act last week, many people have been wondering how the proposed changes will affect their own coverage, and their family's: Will my pre-existing condition be covered? Will my premiums go up or down? (Kodjak, 6/27)
San Francisco Chronicle: GOP Health Bill Would Cut Majority Of Planned Parenthood Budget In California
Planned Parenthood of California, which operates more of the organization’s health centers than any other state in the nation, would lose 73 percent of its operating budget under the health care bills that Republicans are pushing to replace the Affordable Care Act, its leaders said Tuesday. Planned Parenthood of Northern California, which operates 20 health centers San Francisco, Marin, Contra Costa and other counties between the Bay Area and the Oregon border, would face budget reductions of similar proportions. (Ho, 6/27)
Kaiser Health News: For Millennials, Both Good And Bad News In Senate’s GOP Health Bill
Darlin Kpangbah receives free health insurance through Medicaid and is grateful for the coverage in case of accidents, such as when she tore a ligament in her leg a few years ago. “I feel like I’m injury-prone,” said Kpangbah, 20, who lives in Sacramento, Calif. Without insurance, she said, the injury “would’ve been huge to pay for.” Young adults like Kpangbah were among the biggest beneficiaries of Obamacare, which helped reduce the rates of uninsured millennials to record lows and provided millions of Americans with access to free or low-cost insurance as well as maternity care, mental health treatment and other services. (Gorman and Browning, 6/28)
