Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Republican Candidates' Plans To Replace Obamacare Eclipsed By Other Campaign Issues
Has battling to kill Obamacare lost cachet for Republican presidential candidates? Two leading GOP contenders strode into their party鈥檚 most vexing policy fight last week, offering blueprints to replace the 5-year-old health law. The response? A collective yawn. A week later, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio鈥檚 Obamacare alternatives have all but disappeared from the campaign trail conversation, eclipsed by new twists in Trump鈥檚 GOP-leading candidacy and the fight he picked over birthright citizenship. (Cheney, 8/24)
Just before Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal revealed his plan to replace ObamaCare last year, he sat down with 15 of Washington鈥檚 top conservative healthcare wonks to discuss it. They didn鈥檛 approve. 鈥淣ear the end, they said, 鈥榊ou make a good point, but what you鈥檝e put forward, we just don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 politically viable,鈥欌 Jindal鈥檚 long-time adviser Curt Anderson recalled in an interview this week. To his surprise, he said the group agreed the next GOP nominee couldn鈥檛 entirely roll back ObamaCare for fear of losing votes from millions already with coverage. In other words, even ObamaCare鈥檚 toughest critics say that parts of the law are here to stay. (Ferris, 8/24)
