Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Unlikely Trump Can Deliver Seniors Promised $200 Drug Discounts By Election, If At All
AP: Trump's Election-Eve Drug Discounts For Seniors Get Snagged
President Donald Trump’s plan to mail millions of seniors a $200 prescription savings card has hit legal and budget roadblocks, making it unlikely the government can carry it out before Election Day. Democratic lawmakers have raised questions about whether the administration has the authority to order on its own billions of dollars in Medicare spending for what the Democrats say are political reasons. Administration and congressional officials say such questions have bogged down review of the plan by agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the White House Office of Management and Budget. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/16)
The Washington Post: President Trump’s Medicare Drug Discount Cards Face Uncertain Path
Three weeks after President Trump announced the government would send tens of millions of older Americans $200 to help pay for medicine, the election-season idea is mired in uncertainty over whether such drug discount cards are legal, proper or will ever exist. Since the last-minute inclusion of the cards in a presidential speech, Trump’s aides and Medicare officials have been hastily drafting and revising a proposal to build scaffolding under the president’s promise. This account of those efforts draws on interviews and information from five individuals familiar with the work, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal matters. (Goldstein, 10/15)
Miami Herald: Here’s Where Trump And Biden Stand On Fixing Medicare
President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, his Democratic challenger, have widely divergent views on healthcare, including their takes on Medicare — the federal program that insures more than 62.3 million Americans. With the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund on a path toward insolvency by 2024, the financial health of the Medicare program is a challenge that whoever occupies the White House in January will face. But a president can’t fix it alone. (Whitefield, 10/15)
In other news on the Trump campaign and 2020 elections —
Politico: Schwarzenegger: California Republicans 'Off The Rails' With 'Fake' Ballot Boxes
Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday night that the state Republican Party is "off the rails" and doing a "stupid thing" by placing unauthorized ballot boxes in counties with battleground congressional districts. Schwarzenegger, the state's last Republican governor, was asked during a CNN interview to respond to the California Republican Party placing unauthorized ballot boxes in at least three counties. Republicans have defended the move as no different than Democrats going door-to-door to collect ballots from sympathetic voters, but state officials have ordered the party to remove the boxes because, they said, only counties are allowed to establish them. (10/15)
NBC News: Will Trump Win Again? Watch Florida's Sumter County For First Election Night Clue.
The Villages is one of the most staunchly Republican enclaves in the Sunshine State.But The Villages isn't just worth watching for its warring buggies and flags. From a data standpoint, it could be the best early indicator on Election Night of a "gray revolt" against President Donald Trump — and who's on track to win Florida. ... But amid COVID-19, Trump has struggled to replicate his 2016 success with older voters, and there's mounting evidence even more seniors are bailing on him. (Wasserman, 10/15)
NPR: Feminists Weigh Their Wins And Losses After Nearly Four Years Of Trump
Women who were part of the recent feminist resurgence have felt that shift from hopeful defiance to anxiety. After four years of protest against Trump, the stakes of the election for this movement are enormous. The next round of marches is set for Saturday, focused on protesting the filling of Ginsburg's seat, but many participants will also hope it's their last mass protest against Trump. (Kurtzleben, 10/16)
