Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'We Are Not Going Back': Repeal Threat Galvanizes Health Law Supporters Across Country
The New York Times: Fear Spurs Support For Health Law As Republicans Work To Repeal It
President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans appear to have accomplished a feat that President Obama, with all the power at his disposal, could not in the past seven years: They have galvanized outspoken support for the Affordable Care Act. People who benefit from the law are flooding Congress with testimonials. Angry consumers are confronting Republican lawmakers. And Democrats who saw the law as a political liability in recent elections have suddenly found their voice, proudly defending the law now that it is in trouble. (Pear, 1/17)
The Associated Press: Thousands Rally To Resist Republican Health Law Repeal Drive
Thousands of people showed up in freezing temperatures on Sunday in Michigan to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders denounce Republican efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, one of dozens of rallies Democrats staged across the country to highlight opposition. (Williams, 1/15)
The Washington Post: A Cross-Country Bus Tour Aims To Help Save The Endangered Affordable Care Act
Liberal groups are launching a two-month bus tour starting from Washington on Tuesday, an effort to muster public support for the Affordable Care Act even as Republicans begin to undo it. The “Save My Care” tour — which plans to travel to as many as 20 states, from Maine and New York to Arizona and Nevada — will be accompanied by a multistate digital and print advertising campaign in “the high six figures,” according to one of the organizers. The Alliance for Healthcare Security, a coalition of groups that include Doctors for America and the Service Employees International Union, is leading the effort. (Eilperin, 1/15)
The Wall Street Journal: Rallies Held Across The Country To Support Affordable Care Act
More than 6,000 people packed into a community-college parking lot here for a rally with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) designed to help protect the Affordable Care Act against Republican assault. ... The rally, one of more than 40 taking place across the country Sunday, showcases an important pillar of Democrats’ strategy as they fight to stave off a repeal of President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law. They hope to pressure Republicans to scale back their plans by generating displays of public support, including from those who might lose insurance. (Hackman, 1/16)
Detroit Free Press: Bernie Sanders Draws Thousands To Warren For Health Care Rally
"If you want to improve the Affordable Care Act, let's work together. But if you think you're simply going to throw millions off of health insurance, you've got another guess coming," Sanders said at the rally outside Macomb Community College. "You're going to have to worry about millions of people who are standing up, who are fighting back and who demand the day when health care will be a right of all people, not just a privilege." (Guillen, 1/15)
The Washington Post Fact Checker: Bernie Sanders’s Claim That ‘36,000 People Will Die Yearly’ If Obamacare Is Repealed
For context, more than 2.6 million people died in the United States in 2015, or nearly 7,200 per day. So Sanders is suggesting repeal of the law would increase the number of deaths by 1.4 percent. Sanders obtained the figure of 36,000 from a calculation by ThinkProgress, a left-leaning website, according to his aides. Essentially, ThinkProgress assumed that repeal will result in 29.8 million people losing their insurance and that one person will die for every 830 people who lose their insurance. That yields a number of 35,903. (Kessler, 1/14)
Denver Post: Diana DeGette, Dems Urge Supporters To Fight Repeal Of Obamacare
U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette and other Democratic state and federal lawmakers rallied Obamacare supporters Sunday, urging them to fight against repeal of the law and promising to protect it from Republicans bent on scrapping it. Repealing the law could strip health care from previously uninsured people who benefited from the 2014 launch of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, DeGette said. Republicans in Congress are preparing to repeal the law but so far have presented no plan to replace it. (McGhee, 1/15)
Los Angeles Times: 'We Are Not Going Back': California Democrats Protest GOP Efforts To Dismantle Obamacare
Democratic leaders on Monday urged Californians to fight GOP efforts to dismantle Obamacare, saying lives and jobs were at stake. “We are not going back. Understand that,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said of Republican efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s healthcare overhaul law. “They want to go from affordable care to chaos. They want to make America sick again. We are not going to let that happen.” (Mehta, 1/16)
Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Advocates To Rally In L.A. To Protect Affordable Care Act
Hundreds of nurses, other healthcare workers and patients are expected to turn out at a noon rally to protest the national effort by Republican lawmakers to rescind the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Kamala Harris, a California Democrat who opposes the repeal, is scheduled to appear with healthcare activists outside Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center in Boyle Heights. Organizers of the rally, which includes Service Employees International Union and other labor groups, warn that a repeal of the law without a replacement will strip coverage from 5 million Californians and throw the healthcare system into chaos. (Zahniser, 1/15)
San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Rally To Save Obamacare Draws Joan Baez, Political Leaders
Almost 2,000 people, including such notables as recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Joan Baez, rallied Sunday afternoon in Civic Center Plaza behind the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. The demonstration was among several coordinated nationwide, from Los Angeles to Detroit, to fend off a Republican-led dismantling of the 2010 law, one of outgoing President Obama’s signature achievements. (Alexander, 1/15)
Richmond Times Dispatch: Democrats Rally In Richmond For Affordable Care Act
Hawkins joined Democratic officials including Sen. Tim Kaine and Gov. Terry McAuliffe to rally for what is an uphill battle to preserve the 2010 federal health law that was a signature initiative of the Obama administration. The Division of Capitol Police estimated the rally at 600 to 700 people. GOP congressional leaders and Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as president on Friday, say they will repeal and replace the law. (Wilson, 1/15)
Chicago Sun Times: Illinois Democrats Denounce GOP Plan To Repeal Obamacare
Heavy hitters from the state’s Democratic Party gathered Sunday on the South Side to denounce Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare — adding to a rallying cry that echoed across the country on Sunday.“Welcome to the resistance!” Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., shouted to hundreds who had gathered at the headquarters of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, 2229 S. Halsted. Hundreds more endured frigid weather to watch the rally on a video screen set up in a nearby parking lot. (Dudek, 1/15)
Boston Globe: Thousands Protest Health Care Repeal At Faneuil Hall
Thousands of people gathered outside Faneuil Hall on Sunday in protest of an effort by the president-elect and congressional Republicans to revoke President Obama’s signature health care law... Warren and other members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation joined Mayor Martin J. Walsh at the event, which drew a crowd estimated by city officials at more than 6,000. (Fox, 1/15)
WBUR: Mass. Politicians, Obamacare Supporters Rally At Faneuil Hall
Ahead of the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation are promising to fight both Congressional Republicans and Trump himself as they attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act. On Sunday, Walsh and almost the entire Massachusetts delegation participated in a rally at Faneuil Hall in support of President Obama's signature health care law as similar rallies throughout the country. (Khan, 1/15)
Seattle Times: With Outrage And Resolve, Seattle Rally Backs Saving, Improving Obamacare
Demanding to maintain and even expand health care for all, hundreds rallied in Westlake Park on Sunday as part of a national call to defend and improve Obamacare. The event was one of many rallies around the country Sunday for health care organized by Sen. Bernie Sanders supporters and Our First Stand. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on repealing the Affordable Care Act, and members of Congress already have taken steps toward repeal. (Mapes, 1/16)
The Oregonian: Thousands Rally In Portland Against Republican Efforts To Repeal Obamacare
Democratic members of Oregon's congressional delegation, local officials, activists and thousands of residents held a rally Sunday to oppose Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley were joined for the rally at a northeast Portland gymnasium by U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici, Kurt Schrader and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. "We're taking the gloves off," Wyden said, warning Republicans that a "titanic battle of a lifetime" would ensue over the health care law's future. Wyden criticized Republican moves to repeal the law, which he characterized as "a Trojan horse" to give a tax break to the wealthy and put health care regulations in the hands of insurance companies. (Friedman, 1/15)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Hundreds In Milwaukee Rally For Obamacare
Hundreds of people, some with signs that said "Obamacare Saves Lives," packed a south side banquet hall Sunday to voice support for the Affordable Care Act. The rally, one of many held nationwide, comes just days after Congress took initial steps to repeal and replace the health care program. (Stephenson, 1/15)
The Washington Post: Cancer Survivor Who Once Opposed Federal Health Law Challenges Ryan On Its Repeal
The distance between health-policy ideology and life-or-death health care narrowed to a few feet at a nationally televised town hall meeting this week when a small-business man from Arizona stood up and faced House Speaker Paul D. Ryan. “Just like you, I was a Republican,” Jeff Jeans began. Standing on the stage, the Wisconsin congressman broke into a grin as Jeans said he had volunteered in two Republican presidential campaigns and opposed the Affordable Care Act so much that he'd told his wife he would close their business before complying with the health-care law. But that, he said, was before he was diagnosed with a “very curable cancer” and told that, if left untreated, he had perhaps six weeks to live. Only because of an early Affordable Care Act program that offered coverage to people with preexisting medical problems, Jeans said, “I am standing here today alive.” (Goldstein, 1/14)
