Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'We Use A Scalpel Rather Than A Bulldozer': Why Justices Might Keep Obamacare
Roll Call: Why Obamacare Might Survive The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court might not be as ready to wipe out the full 2010 health care law as its ideological balance would suggest, even if a new conservative justice fills the seat of the reliably liberal late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Trump administration and a coalition of Republican-led states have asked the Supreme Court to strike down President Barack Obama’s signature law that expanded insurance coverage to more than 20 million people, including popular provisions such as required coverage of preexisting medical conditions. (Ruger, 9/24)
NBC News: Senate Democrats Promise 'Major Focus' On Obamacare In Supreme Court Fight
With President Donald Trump on the verge of announcing a Supreme Court nominee, Democrats are coalescing around a focus on health care — and the prospect that millions could lose it during a pandemic — ahead of an ugly confirmation battle, key senators and aides said. The strategy aims for the sweet spot: It's a political winner for Joe Biden and Democratic candidates among liberals and swing voters across the country. And it has urgency, with the law headed back to the Supreme Court one week after Election Day as the country's coronavirus death toll has topped 200,000. (Kapur and Przybyla, 9/24)
Politico: Trump Walks Abortion Tightrope On SCOTUS Pick
In 2016, Trump vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who would “automatically” overturn Roe v. Wade. Now the White House is insisting there is no such abortion litmus test for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s replacement. The change in tone reflects the tightrope Trump is currently walking on abortion with conservatives — and especially religious conservatives — ahead of the November election. Trump needs to both nod to concerns of powerful religious groups that have spent years trying to overturn Roe, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that cemented legal abortion, while not turning off the sizable faction of more moderate religious voters and Republicans who support legal abortion. (McGraw and Cook, 9/25)
