Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democratic Leaders Walk Tightrope To Avoid Political Fallout As 'Medicare For All' Plan Invigorates Progressives
House Democratic leaders gave their liberal lawmakers what they wanted on health care. Now they鈥檙e fighting to keep 鈥淢edicare for All鈥 from devouring the party. Progressives emboldened by this week's bill rollout are vowing to turn up the pressure on fellow Democrats to back the single-payer blueprint and build momentum ahead of the 2020 election. That鈥檚 already creating headaches for top Democrats who fear the political blowback of the plan鈥檚 most liberal elements, including abortion funding and the elimination of most private health insurance. (Cancryn, 2/28)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expresses some skepticism about single-payer health insurance in a new interview, asking how the trillions of dollars in new spending would be paid for. 鈥淭hat is, administratively, the simplest thing to do, but to convert to it? Thirty trillion dollars. Now, how do you pay for that?鈥 Pelosi said of single-payer in an interview with Rolling Stone. (Sullivan, 2/28)
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) is expressing skepticism about a new "Medicare for all" bill introduced this week, although he has supported similar measures in the past. Yarmuth, who has supported Medicare for all bills since arriving in the House in 2006, says a new version introduced this week by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) goes far beyond what he considers to be Medicare for all. (Hellmann, 2/28)
Kaiser Health News: Podcast: KHN鈥檚 鈥榃hat The Health?鈥 鈥楳edicare-For-All鈥 Debate: Who鈥檚 Going To Pay
House Democrats, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), have formally introduced their 鈥淢edicare-for-all鈥 legislation. The bill, which would ensure coverage for almost every medical service most people need, did not come with any suggestions for financing. But it will likely reflect the far-left end of the Democratic debate in progress. (2/28)
Meanwhile, a man shares his experience with another country's socialized medicine 鈥
The Facebook post was illustrated with an image of an IV. 鈥淲ent to the ER in Taiwan,鈥 it began. Kevin Bozeat, a 25-year-old student, wrote about coming down with severe gastrointestinal symptoms while studying in Taiwan: stomach cramps, bouts of vomiting that would not abate and perhaps worst of all, he couldn鈥檛 keep any fluids down. Around 3 a.m., he decided it was time to go to the hospital for treatment, not knowing what to expect having never been to a hospital in Taiwan 鈥 a country that has a national health care system, or as Bozeat wrote, 鈥渟ocialized medicine.鈥 (Rosenberg, 2/28)