Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
On Campaign Trail, Clinton Expresses Outrage About Delays In VA Health System
Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said Monday she is "outraged" by chronic delays for veterans seeking medical care or struggling to have their disability claims processed. But Clinton opposes privatizing the system and intends to lay out a plan next month to make further changes. (10/26)
Some veterans groups are firing back after a comment Hillary Clinton made about the Department of Veterans Affairs scandal. The former secretary of state suggested in an interview late last week that the controversy which shook the VA last year was overblown, and Republicans used it to serve their own agenda. (Devine and Griffin, 10/26)
News outlets also report on public statements and policy positions offered by Republican candidates Ben Carson and Jeb Bush -
Ben Carson has long prided himself as a political outsider who delivers unvarnished truths, whether it’s his assertion that Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery, that Muslims should not be allowed to serve as president or that Jews could have stopped the Nazis if only they had been armed. But as his GOP presidential campaign is beginning to pick up steam and he surges ahead of Donald Trump in Iowa, Carson is beginning to look more like a traditional, cautious politician. On Sunday, he disavowed his highly controversial proposal to replace Obamacare and Medicare with health savings accounts to cover the lion’s share of Americans’ annual health care needs. (Pianin, 10/26)
This statement by former Florida governor Jeb Bush is a particularly instructive example. It started with a misleading claim by then-Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning for the presidency in 2008. It then has morphed into a recurring GOP claim that has been repeatedly been proven false by The Fact Checker, FactCheck.org, and PolitiFact. And yet here it is again. We’re not going to give up. Time for a refresher course! (Kessler, 10/27)