Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Signs Border Aid Bill And Trades Jabs With Calif. Governor Over Health Care For Undocumented Immigrants
President Donald Trump signed a $4.6 billion aid package on Monday to help the federal government cope with the surge of Central American immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many Democratic lawmakers were hoping for more. They wanted to provide stronger protections for how migrants are treated at holding facilities and to make it easier for lawmakers to make snap visits. (Freking, 7/1)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi鈥檚 (D-Calif.) relationship with Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) is being put to the test in the aftermath of an emergency border supplemental spending bill that divided congressional Democrats.聽The rare disunity from two leaders who have regularly issued joint statements and stood firm together during the Trump presidency raises questions about how Pelosi, Schumer and Senate Democrats will tackle other high-stakes negotiations facing them in the coming weeks and months. (Bolton and Lillis, 7/2)
California's governor vowed on Monday to continue expanding taxpayer funded health benefits to adults living in the country illegally next year, ensuring the volatile issue will get top billing in the 2020 presidential election as Democrats vying for the nomination woo voters in the country's most populous state. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a $214.8 billion operating budget last week that includes spending to make low-income adults 25 and younger living in the country illegally eligible for the state's Medicaid program. (Beam, 7/1)
鈥淭o my friends at Fox News, I know we鈥檙e keeping you in business and getting your advertising rates and clicks going, but we believe in universal healthcare 鈥 universal healthcare is a right,鈥 Newsom said during a budget rally in Sacramento on Monday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e delivering it regardless of immigration status to everyone up to the age of 26,鈥 Newsom added, saying the goal of universal coverage is 鈥渢he right thing to do and it鈥檚 the fiscally responsible thing to do.鈥 (White, 7/1)
鈥淵ou look at what they鈥檙e doing in California, how they鈥檙e treating people. They don鈥檛 treat their people as well as they treat illegal immigrants,鈥 the Republican president told reporters in the White House on Monday. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very unfair to our citizens and we鈥檙e going to stop it, but we may need an election to stop it.鈥 Trump did not elaborate about how he intends to stop California from expanding health care options for undocumented immigrants. (Bollag, 7/1)
And in other news 鈥
A Trump administration proposal to increase the odds that immigrants will be deemed 鈥減ublic charges鈥 ineligible for government health benefits may result in millions of kids becoming uninsured, a study suggests. The proposed changes are expected to cause many immigrants to disenroll their children from safety-net programs like Medicaid and the Children鈥檚 Health Insurance Program (CHIP) out of fear and confusion, even among families to whom the rule would not apply. (Rapaport, 7/1)
The Department of Health and Human Services is dramatically expanding its network of child shelters across the country in order to avoid the scandal in Clint, Texas, where scores of immigrant children were warehoused together. "There are too many kids in Border Patrol stations right now, and we're working to get them out of those stations and into HHS care," says Mark Weber, HHS deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. (Burnett, 7/2)
The U.S. government has started detaining immigrant youth at an emergency facility in South Texas. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Mark Weber said Monday that the facility at Carrizo Springs, Texas, now has around 200 boys and girls but that number could expand to up to 1300 children. The Carrizo Springs facility is at the site of a former camp for oilfield workers. Crews were working last week to remove mold spots and make repairs. (7/1)