Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump, Sanders Win New Hampshire
Donald J. Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont harnessed working-class fury on Tuesday to surge to commanding victories in a New Hampshire primary that drew a huge turnout across the state. (Healy and Martin, 2/9)
For years, plenty of players in the American political system have quietly wished that the outsize role of two small and quirky states鈥擨owa and New Hampshire鈥攊n picking presidential nominees could be reduced. Maybe this is the year that has come true. (Seib, 2/10)
Donald Trump resoundingly won the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary Tuesday night, giving the billionaire mogul his first victory in an improbable and brash campaign that already has turned American politics upside down. On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders notched a decisive win over Hillary Clinton in a state she had won in 2008. (Rucker and Costa, 2/10)
There is no ignoring it now, the American electorate鈥檚 disregard for establishment politicians promising incremental change. If the country鈥檚 fatigue with the prospect of a Clinton-Bush presidential matchup has hovered above this 2016 race like a latent current of electricity, Tuesday鈥檚 New Hampshire results were the long-awaited lightning strike. (Stokols, 2/10)
In the run-up to today鈥檚 presidential primaries in New Hampshire, candidates, voters and the national media have focused attention on the state鈥檚 growing heroin and opiate problem. In USA Today, Manchester, N.H.鈥檚 police chief called the state鈥檚 heroin problem 鈥渁n apocalypse.鈥 NBC News billed the state鈥檚 鈥渉eroin crisis鈥 as a 鈥渉idden war.鈥 Fox Business labeled it an 鈥渆pidemic.鈥 (Bush, 2/9)
[Donald] Trump is essentially creating a political wing of his own, defined by his outlandish promises to singularly change American government with his leadership and business acumen and his ability to tap into the concerns many Americans have about illegal immigration, the threat of home-grown terrorism, the rising cost of health care and other threats to the middle class. [Sen. Bernie] Sanders has pushed well beyond the liberalism of past progressive candidates like Bill Bradley and Howard Dean, directly arguing America should be more like countries in Western Europe that have much larger safety nets and define themselves as socialist, not capitalist. (Bacon, Jr., 2/10)
Meanwhile, The Washington Post looks at veteran health care claims made by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and NARAL Pro-Choice America and the Susan B. Anthony List find something to agree on 鈥
During an exchange about veterans鈥 health care, moderator Rachel Maddow asked the two candidates: 鈥淗ow will you win the argument on that issue given the problems that have been exposed at the V.A. in the last few years? What鈥檚 your argument that the V.A. should still exist and should not be privatized?鈥 Maddow cited efforts to 鈥渁bolish鈥 or privatize large portions of the VA. Then, just days after the debate, Clinton was quoted referring to the plan to 鈥渁bolish the Veterans鈥 Administration.鈥 Such an effort is most closely associated with Concerned Veterans for America, a veterans advocacy group in the Koch brothers鈥 political network. What exactly is the group鈥檚 proposal to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs? (Ye Hee Lee, 2/10)
Anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List announced its support for pro-abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, on at least one thing. On Monday NARAL sent an email to supporters asking them to sign a petition requesting that the hosts of Thursday night鈥檚 Democratic debate in Milwaukee, PBS鈥 NewsHour's Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, ask the candidates about abortion rights. (Collins, 2/9)