Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Heard In Congress: 'What About Men Having To Purchase Prenatal Care?'; Some Poor 'Just Don鈥檛 Want Health Care'
In the 27 hours the House Energy and Commerce Committee spent debating Republicans鈥 Obamacare revision plan, a handful of moments stand out. This is one of them. At the start, Democratic Rep. Mike Doyle (Pa.) was talking with Republican Rep. John Shimkus (Ill.) about Shimkus鈥檚聽objections to the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 requirements for health-insurance plans. ... 鈥淲hat about men having to purchase prenatal care?鈥 Shimkus said. At that point, one could hear the room start to stir. 鈥淚鈥檓 just ... is that not correct?鈥 Shimkus said. 鈥淎nd should they?鈥 (Viebeck, 3/9)
A first-term congressman who spent three decades as a physician聽鈥 and is now part of a group of Republican doctors who have a major聽role in replacing Obamacare 鈥 is facing backlash after saying that poor people 鈥渏ust don鈥檛 want health care and aren鈥檛 going to take care of themselves.鈥 Rep. Roger Marshall, (R-Kan.), a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus, said comments he made to STAT聽were not meant to suggest that poor people take health care for granted. The comments were published in a story last week about his burgeoning role in the fight to replace the Affordable Care Act. (Phillips, 3/9)
Many of California鈥檚 congressional Republicans represent districts with a large number of people who have insurance under Obamacare, and they鈥檙e taking a cautious approach to the House Republican plan to replace the healthcare law. A proposed replacement for Obamacare released earlier this week has drawn a firestorm of criticism on the left and the right. By Thursday, most of the 14 Republicans in the California delegation, including some of the seven who represent districts that backed Democrat Hillary Clinton for president, had said only that they were still assessing the proposed law. (Wire, 3/9)
As lawmakers get their talking points out to constituents, KHN teams up with ProPublica, Stat and Vox to fact-check聽those claims聽鈥
That led ProPublica to wonder about the accuracy of responses sent to constituents by other members of the House and Senate on the Affordable Care Act and its future. Today, ProPublica is teaming with journalists at Kaiser Health News, Stat and Vox to gather those missives from our readers. On Monday, House Republican leaders unveiled their official proposal to repeal and replace the law. As the legislative debate begins in earnest, we plan to look at the representations made by elected officials from both parties and share what we find. (Ornstein, 3/10)