Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: 'Blueprint' For A New VA Health Care System; The 'Food Cops'
The Washington Post: A Bold Blueprint For Transforming Veterans’ Health Care
Imagine how we would meet the service-related health-care needs of military veterans if we had a clean slate and were considering the question for the first time. The answer is obvious. Just as we do with veterans’ educational benefits, we would use the private sector. We would never create something like the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) that exists today. (Bill Frist and Jim Marshall, 2/26)
The Wall Street Journal: Government Food Cops Are Out To Lunch
The classic American sandwich is about to get a radical makeover. Forget about roast beef or cold cuts. Red meats and processed meats are out. A slice of cheese is permissible, provided it is low-fat and low-sodium. Skip the chips, even if they’re baked. Dinner needs an overhaul too: Less pizza, fewer cheeseburgers and casseroles, or change their recipes to make them healthier. At mealtime, water is the preferred beverage of choice—unless you are an adult, when moderate alcohol consumption is acceptable. (Cheryl Achterberg, 2/26)
The Washington Post: The Exquisite Hypocrisy Of GOP Medicaid Expansion Rhetoric
In the current fight over expanding health-care coverage to low-income people, Republican state leaders often deploy some version of this argument: States shouldn’t accept billions in federal money to expand their Medicaid programs because the debt-burdened federal government won’t keep its financial commitments. Responsible leaders shouldn’t structure their budgets on the fiction that the federal government will maintain the same level of support in the future, lest states be left with the expansion bill years down the road. (Stephen Stromberg, 2/27)
The New York Times' The Upshot: High Rate of Shopping and Switching in Obamacare Plans Is a Good Sign
For most customers returning to the Obamacare marketplaces this year, it really paid to shop around. New data shows that a large number of them did. That bodes well for those shoppers and the future offerings of the insurance marketplaces. More than half of people who bought insurance on HealthCare.gov last year explored their options before choosing a 2015 plan, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. Of those 2.2 million who shopped, more than half switched to a new health plan. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 2/26)
