Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Young People Would Get Some Relief From High Premiums Under GOP's Plan
The Wall Street Journal: GOP Health Bill Will Lower Premiums For Young People, CBO Says
A federal analysis of a Republican health plan that shows it would leave millions more uninsured has a silver lining for GOP leaders: In general, premiums under their proposal would eventually come down for younger people. The report, which came out late Monday and was swiftly pounced on by Democrats as proof Republicans want to tear away health coverage from Americans, gives the clearest picture yet of the trade-offs in the GOP strategy to topple parts of the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a new plan. (Armour, 3/14)
Bloomberg: Trump Health Plan Helps Young Middle Class At Cost Of Old, Poor: CBO
Among the biggest beneficiaries of President Donald Trump’s health care overhaul would be young, middle-class Americans. People over 50 and lower-income people would be the hardest hit, according to a Congressional Budget Office report issued Monday. Trump and House Republican leaders’ plan to repeal and replace Obamacare would change subsidies for health insurance under the law, basing the assistance on age rather than income. Changes in the structure of the program also would push up insurance premiums for older beneficiaries. (Pettypiece, 3/14)
The Hill: Five Key Findings From The CBO's Healthcare Score
The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) analysis of the Republican plan to replace ObamaCare is sending shockwaves through Washington. Democrats have seized on the report, while Republicans have been split over whether to attack the CBO’s conclusions or focus on the more positive aspects of the analysis. (Sullivan, 3/14)
The Washington Post: The GOP Health Bill Would Create More Insurance Plans That Trump Called ‘Practically Useless’
President Trump doesn't like high deductibles, and he's not alone. High deductibles, provisions of health insurance plans that leave people on the hook for thousands of dollars of medical costs before insurance coverage truly kicks in, are an unpopular part of health insurance. But if Republicans' health care bill becomes law, more people would land in insurance plans with high deductibles, according to the Congressional Budget Office analysis. (Johnson, 3/14)
Sacramento Bee: Californians’ Tax Subsidies Likely To Shrink With Obamacare Replacement Plan
The Republican plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would dramatically reduce tax credits for many Californians purchasing health insurance through public exchanges and make coverage unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of people, according to data released Tuesday by the state’s health exchange program, Covered California. Under the American Health Care Act, authored by House Speaker Paul Ryan and released last week, many of the 1.3 million Californians enrolled in plans through the exchange, especially older people, will struggle to afford health insurance if the proposal becomes law, said Covered California director Peter Lee Tuesday. (Caiola, 3/14)
California Healthline: What Does The House Health Care Bill Mean For California?
As the most populous state with the largest economy in the country, California stands to be dramatically affected by changes to the nation’s health law. About 1.5 million people buy health insurance through the state’s exchange, Covered California, and most get federal subsidies. About 4 million receive Medicaid (called Medi-Cal here) through the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Altogether, Medi-Cal covers 14 million people in the state, roughly a third of its population. (3/14)
Los Angeles Times: Health Premiums Would Leap For Many Californians Under GOP Plan
Health insurance premiums would leap substantially for many Californians, especially lower-income people living in high-cost cities, under the House Republican plan to replace Obamacare, according to an analysis released Tuesday. Californians purchasing insurance through the state’s Obamacare program known as Covered California received $4.2 billion in subsidies in 2016 to help them buy coverage. (Petersen, 3/14)
Cleveland Plain-Dealer: 24M More Uninsured Due To Republican Health Plan Could Crowd ERs, Force Hospitals To Slash Programs
Increasing the number of uninsured Ohioans will have a profound impact on hospitals and patients as well as on the quality and cost of care we all receive, local hospital systems and healthcare providers warn. A Congressional Budget Office report on the impact of the Republican's American Health Care Act estimates an extra 24 million people will be without insurance in the next decade. (Zeltner, 3/15)
St. Louis Public Radio: Cost Estimates Are Out For GOP’s Health Care Plan. How Does Missouri Fare?
The Republican plan to replace major tenets of the Affordable Care Act would reduce the federal deficit by $337 billion over 10 years, according to new numbers from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In that scenario, 24 million people would lose their health insurance, bringing the uninsured rate back up to nearly what it was before the Affordable Care Act. The White House has disputed these numbers. (Bouscaren, 3/14)
KQED: What Happens To San Francisco’s Medical Safety Net Under The Republican Bill?
Like many Californians in the health industry, Chen is struggling to understand the implications of the Republican health care bill, introduced last week in Congress and followed this week by sobering analyses of its effects: one from the national Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and another from Covered California, the state’s health care marketplace. Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee expressed immediate concern. (Klivans, 3/14)
Miami Herald: Miami Republican Opposes Health Plan That Leaves ‘Too Many’ Uninsured
Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen plans to vote against the House GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, becoming the first Florida Republican to reject the legislation outright... Ros-Lehtinen's 27th district, which includes Southeast Miami-Dade County, had the largest number of Obamacare enrollees in the country —about 96,300 — as of January, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Mazzei, 3/14)
Miami Herald: In Florida, Republican Healthcare Plan Would Raise Uninsured Rate
Florida’s healthcare future will look a lot like its past — with one of the nation’s highest uninsured rates and an underfunded safety net system — if the Congressional Budget Office’s projections for the American Health Care Act prove accurate, economists and industry experts said this week. (Chang, 3/14)
Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader: 5 Ways The House GOP Obamacare Bill Would Affect Missourians
With more Missourians uninsured, hospital officials fear they would have to provide more uncompensated care. Hospitals are required to serve patients who have no ability to pay their bills, but those costs have diminished under Obamacare, as fewer uninsured patients arrived at their doorstep. The GOP plan is not all bad news for hospitals, since it would restore payments to certain hospitals that serve a large number of Medicaid and uninsured patients. But the Missouri Hospital Association estimates that the Republican plan could cost the state’s hospitals $5.5 billion over the next decade. (Shesgreen, 3/14)
