Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democrats Using Report Of Devastating Job Losses From 'Repeal' To Put Heat On GOP
In leading the debate on the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care law one day last month, Democrat John Yarmuth of Kentucky confronted Republicans by citing the potential losses in jobs, gross state product, business output, as well as state and local tax revenues if the law were to be repealed.  The numbers, from a study by the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, sounded devastating on the House floor, but the authors acknowledged that they didn’t take into account any replacement for the law that Republicans might enact. (Rosen, 2/13)
Associations for doctors are mainly sitting on the fence on Republicans’ plans to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law, neither endorsing nor condemning the GOP strategy, even though many have forcefully defended the law in the past. That approach could help them maintain their leverage to lobby on the GOP plans going forward. But there are some outliers, like the American College of Physicians, the trade group for internists, which has spoken out directly in opposition.The positions taken by the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics are more typical. (Kelly, 2/13)
Premiums for Obamacare plans sold by New Mexico Health Connections could rise as little as 7 percent next year, says Martin Hickey, the insurance company’s CEO. Or they might soar as much as 40 percent, he said. It all depends on what happens in Washington. Such is the vast uncertainty about how the Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress are approaching their promises to repeal, repair and replace the Affordable Care Act. (Hancock, 2/9)
Meanwhile, former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius weighs in on repeal and the Trump administration begins deleting some language about the Affordable Care Act from government sites —
Republicans in Congress made repealing the Affordable Care Act a priority during the first days of the new administration. But President Trump now says it may take until next year to repeal the law better known as "Obamacare." One of the architects of the ACA, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, says Republicans risk destroying the health insurance marketplace if they move too fast to gut the law without an adequate replacement on hand. (Hobson, 2/9)
The Trump administration has started removing language praising the Affordable Care Act from federal websites. It has made several changes to the online pages of the Health & Human Services Department, which oversees the law. Visitors to the federal Obamacare exchange, healthcare.gov, can still click on a link titled "About the Affordable Care Act." (Luhby, 2/9)
