Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Some Democratic Senators Not Swayed By Calls For Public Option From Obama And Clinton
Centrist Democrats appear reluctant to join their party鈥檚 embrace of a public option for ObamaCare. The idea of adding a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers is making a comeback in the Democratic Party, with President Obama endorsing the idea Monday, two days after presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton emphasized a public option as part of an effort to win over Bernie Sanders and his supporters after a contentious primary. (Sullivan, 7/14)
President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton over the past week have both called for a new government-run insurance option. But the "public option"鈥 which some Democrats have been trying to enact since health law negotiations in 2009 鈥 isn't a panacea for the problems plaguing Obamacare, Harvard expert Katherine Baicker tells POLITICO's "Pulse Check" podcast. (Diamond, 7/14)
All 23 of the ACA CO-OPs will likely fail, the chairman of a House subcommittee said July 13. 鈥淢y guess is every single one of these is going to fail,鈥 Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said at a hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, which he chairs. (Hansard, 7/14)
Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect in 2014, the number of Americans who have health insurance has grown to 88.3 percent. A new study from 24/7 Wall St. did a deeper dive into the numbers to see how many Americans have health insurance by major metropolitan area, and communities in Iowa fared well. (Stapleton, 7/14)
At least 2 million Hispanics in Texas remain uninsured even though nearly half of those residents are eligible for coverage, a local health care report has found. The findings by Houston's Episcopal Health Foundation and Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy were released Thursday as part of an ongoing series measuring the effectiveness in Texas of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. (Deam, 7/14)
The percentage of Hispanics in Texas without health insurance has dropped by 30 percent since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) went into effect, but almost one-third of Hispanic Texans ages 18 to 64 remain uninsured. That's one of the conclusions of a new report released today by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation. (Tallet, 7/14)
