Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Flexibility At Core Of Republicans' Latest Repeal-And-Replace Efforts
The latest Republican proposal to undo the Affordable Care Act would grant states much greater flexibility and all but guarantee much greater uncertainty for tens of millions of people. The legislation, proposed by two Senate Republicans, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, would not only reduce the amount of federal funding for coverage over the next decade, but also give states wide latitude to determine whom to cover and how. The result is a law that would be as disruptive as many of the Republicans鈥 previous proposals, but whose precise impact is the hardest to predict. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 9/20)
Graham-Cassidy essentially deconstructs all of the major programs created by the Affordable Care Act, gathers up the money and hands it over to states to run their own health care programs. It gets rid of both the subsidies that help people buy individual health insurance policies and the reimbursements to insurance companies for offering price breaks on copayments and deductibles to the lowest-income customers. It rolls back the Obamacare Medicaid expansion that was adopted by 31 states and Washington, D.C., and it eliminates the Basic Health Program that was created under the ACA and implemented in New York and Minnesota. (Kodjak, 9/19)
The GOP health care overhaul barreling toward a possible Senate vote this month would restrict abortion coverage for some people as early as next year. Most of the major changes included in the package, from Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, wouldn鈥檛 take effect until 2020. That鈥檚 when the legislation would end the subsidies currently available to consumers who don鈥檛 get their health insurance through their job or a government program. It鈥檚 also when the legislation would overhaul 鈥 and cut 鈥 government contributions to state Medicaid programs. (Mershon, 9/20)
Graham-Cassidy, the GOP鈥檚 health care Hail Mary to repeal Obamacare. We鈥檒l dive into the bill and look at the high stakes -- for the politicians and for you. (Clayson, 9/21)
The new health care bill, sponsored by Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Bill Cassidy, would bring sweeping changes to the current system. Lisa Desjardins and Sarah Kliff of Vox join John Yang to explain the policy and politics behind the bill. (Yang, 9/20)
Sen. Rob Portman has privately urged Senate Republican leaders to include billions of federal dollars to treat opioid addiction as part of a controversial health-care bill that could reach the Senate floor next week. (Torry, 9/20)
Republican efforts to 鈥渞epeal and replace鈥 the Affordable Care Act are back, in a big way. And the 鈥淲hat the Health?鈥 podcast is focused on Capitol Hill鈥檚 debate on the new bill by Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). (9/20)