Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
GOP Health Policy Experts Despair Over Trump Plan, See Chance Of Reshaping Landscape Slipping Away
The rise of Donald Trump has been disappointing for establishment Republicans — and downright excruciating for conservatives involved in health care policy. Even after the release of his health care plan Wednesday, Trump strikes many of them as barely familiar with the most basic conservative health care ideas in their life’s work. In interviews, some of the most influential Republican experts on the issue told STAT they’re dismayed by what they consider the GOP front-runner’s lack of understanding of health care, his inconsistent statements about what he really believes, and his embrace of populist ideas for lowering drug prices that are straight out of the Democratic playbook. (Nather, 3/4)
There may finally be one thing Republicans hate more than ObamaCare: TrumpCare. The GOP front-runner, after weeks of talking in vague terms about his plans for the health care system, put out a seven-point proposal Wednesday night. But within hours, Republican opinion leaders in health care were already piling on. “It has the look and feel of something that a 22-year-old congressional staffer would write for a backbencher based on a cursory review of Wikipedia,” wrote Avik Roy, the opinion editor at Forbes who has advised several GOP presidential candidates on health policy, including Mitt Romney in 2012. (Rovner, 3/4)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who issued a few more details to his healthcare reform plan, would give states “block grants” to manage health insurance for poor Americans because “state governments know their people best,” his proposal updated this week says. But giving states flexibility to administer Medicaid isn’t a new idea because administrations from Obama through both Bushes to Reagan have granted waivers of all kinds. And an unprecedented number of states are also handing off administration of benefits to private health insurers like Aetna, Centene, Anthem, Molina and UnitedHealth Group as a way to save money or bring private technology and claims administration to a government program. (Japsen, 3/4)
