Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Health Care Job Boom Helped Revive Economy, But GOP Plan Could Put That Growth In Danger
From Akron to Youngstown and Canton to Cleveland, as in cities and towns across the country, workers who once walked out of factories at the end of each shift now stream out of hospitals. While manufacturing employment has fallen nearly 40 percent in northeastern Ohio since 2000, the number of health care jobs in the region has jumped more than 30 percent over the same period. In Akron, the onetime rubber capital of the world, only one of the city’s 10 largest employers still makes tires. Three are hospitals. (Schwartz and Abelson, 5/6)
As they take their victory lap for passing a bill that would repeal and replace much of the Affordable Care Act, President Trump and congressional Republicans have been largely silent about one of the most remarkable aspects of what their legislation would do: take a step toward dismantling a vast government entitlement program, something that has never been accomplished in the modern era. (Peters, 5/7)
By guaranteeing maternity care and making coverage available for people with pre-existing conditions, Obamacare largely did away with the markup on women's health insurance. Critics groused that this shifted the burden unfairly to men and women who didn't plan to have children; in March, for instance, Illinois Representative John Shimkus, a Republican, said one of his primary objections to Obamacare was "men having to purchase prenatal care." This could all change if the American Health Care Act passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday becomes law. (Suddath, 5/5)
The health care bill that Republicans in the House of Representatives passed this week could strip 7 million veterans of tax credits and place many of them in high-risk pools by classifying post-traumatic stress disorder as a pre-existing condition. Democrats seized on those possible effects to slam Republicans, saying they had voted for a bill that would, if it became law, end up punishing millions of veterans, a group that President Donald Trump fervently vowed to support during his campaign. (Bergengruen, 5/5)
Thursday's vote by most U.S. House Republicans to rewrite the Affordable Care Act demonstrated two things. One is that, on health care, Gov. John Kasich is among the few Republican adults in the room. The bill, he said in a Tweet posted after the congressional vote, "remains woefully short on the necessary resources to maintain health care for our nation's most vulnerable citizens." (Suddes, 5/6)
And in other news —
Statements from Massachusetts health care leaders denouncing the House GOP's health care bill began pouring in minutes after it narrowly passed, 217-213. The Massachusetts Hospital Association said "members are distressed." The state's largest health care union, 1199SEIU, called the vote "reckless." (Bebinger, 5/5)
The GOP measure would allow states to opt out of requirements for insurance companies that were put in place by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including the prohibition on annual and lifetime caps for essential benefits like hospitalizations, and the ban on charging sick people more than healthy people. If a state were to seek such a waiver, insurance companies selling plans in that state would no longer have to comply with those rules. (Ho, 5/6)
