Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Majority Of People Say It's Important To Keep Health Law's Pre-Exisiting Conditions Protections, Poll Finds
The majority of people in a聽new poll say it鈥檚 important to them that ObamaCare鈥檚 protections for people with pre-existing conditions aren鈥檛 endangered. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation鈥檚 latest tracking poll, majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents聽surveyed said it is 鈥渧ery important鈥 to them that ObamaCare鈥檚 provisions protecting those with preexisting conditions remain law. (Weixel, 6/27)
Kaiser Health News: ACA Protections For Sick Patients Still Popular Despite GOP鈥檚 Efforts To End Them聽
As the 2018 congressional elections near, Democratic and independent voters identify health care as 鈥渢he most important issue鈥 for candidates to discuss. Support for the provision is especially strong among households where someone has a preexisting condition. But it remains a second-tier priority for Republican voters, according to the poll, nearly tied with immigration and behind the economy and jobs. Nearly 6 in 10 Republican voters place a priority on a candidate鈥檚 support for repealing the health law. (Rau, 6/27)
Kaiser Health News: 鈥榊ou Can鈥檛 Have Perfection鈥: Lawmakers Who Forged ACA Look Back
Former Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and former Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) and retiring Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) led the five key committees that pushed the Affordable Care Act toward its passage in 2010. They joined Kaiser Health News鈥 Julie Rovner during a session at the annual Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado to discuss the partisan battles over the ACA, how their efforts in Congress differed from an earlier effort by the Clinton administration to revamp health care, and the problems that arose because they couldn鈥檛 get a bill through Congress to make corrections to the ACA. (6/27)
Students at the University of Notre Dame on Tuesday sued the Indiana school and the Trump administration over a move this year to drop coverage for some forms of birth control from the university's health insurance plan, citing religious objections. The suit touches on two hot-button issues that have been key parts of President Donald Trump's agenda - scaling back the 2010 U.S. healthcare reform law known as Obamacare and promoting the rights of organizations with religious affiliations. Notre Dame was founded by a Roman Catholic religious order, and Catholic teaching prohibits most forms of birth control. (Cherelus, 6/26)
And in Kansas聽鈥
Insurance customers in Kansas City will have an additional option on the Affordable Care Act marketplace starting in 2019. Medica, an insurance company based in Minneapolis, announced Monday it will sell individual plans on the exchange to customers in Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri. It began selling insurance plans on the exchange last year to Kansas customers in Johnson and Wyandotte counties.聽The insurer's coverage is mainly limited to providers in the Saint Luke's Health System. (Smith, 6/26)
鈥淲e鈥檙e really excited to be able to expand our service area and expand that partnership with St. Luke鈥檚," said Geoff Bartsh, Medica's vice president and general manager of individual and family business. "We think we鈥檙e going to have a competitive product out there and our goal is to get to know the folks in Missouri and begin building trust with them.鈥 (Marso, 6/26)
