Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Clinton Critiques Sanders On Health Care As Lead Narrows
Facing new pressure from Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa, Hillary Clinton confronted him in direct terms on Monday, warning Iowans that if elected president, he would put their health insurance in the hands of Republican governors and raise taxes on the middle class. ... On health care, Mrs. Clinton said that she wanted to build upon the Affordable Care Act, while Mr. Sanders wanted to scrap it in favor of a universal health plan that would empower the states 鈥 and potentially Republican governors, who she has said cannot be trusted. (Rappeport, 1/11)
Hillary Clinton has spent much of her 2016 presidential campaign looking past Democratic rival Bernie Sanders, focusing instead on Republicans and the November general election. No longer. ... On Monday, she widened her health care critique to include Sanders, saying he would 鈥渞ip up鈥 the law and put power in the hands of states. Sanders said during a town hall meeting in Perry that large numbers of underinsured and sky-high deductibles demand a better health care system, which he would seek through his single-payer, Medicare-for-all system. Said Clinton: 鈥淚 sure don鈥檛 want to turn over health care to Republican governors, for heaven鈥檚 sake. I think it鈥檚 a risky deal.鈥 (Lerer and Thomas, 1/11)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is once again spreading the fiction that he was the lawmaker responsible for a provision in a spending bill that has wounded the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. He previously earned Four Pinocchios for making this claim. (Kessler, 1/11)