Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Voters In Trump Country Are Staggeringly Unhealthy, But They Don't Expect An Easy Fix
This is an unhealthy place. Its residents die younger than all but a few other counties in this important swing state. The suicide rate is well above the national average. Brown County saw a 50 percent increase in drug overdose deaths over two years. In one barn at this year鈥檚 fair, people stop to learn how to administer Narcan, the opioid overdose medication. On a wet September afternoon, the booth still had visitors. About 130 miles west of here, not far from Indiana Governor Mike Pence鈥檚 office, nearly 200 people in a town of 4,000 have been diagnosed with HIV, acquired while they injected heroin and liquefied prescription painkillers. (Scott, 10/11)
Hillary Clinton calls the scourge of heroin and opioid addiction a "quiet epidemic." Donald Trump marvels that overdoses are a problem in picturesque American communities. "How does heroin work with these beautiful lakes and trees?" he said recently in New Hampshire. "It doesn't." Both presidential candidates agree drug addiction is a major problem in America, but only Clinton has offered a detailed plan to tackle it as part of her campaign. (Ronayne, 10/10)
After Donald Trump brought up MIT economist Jonathan Gruber in Sunday night鈥檚 debate, Gruber struck back, calling Trump鈥檚 health policy plans 鈥済arbage salad.鈥 Gruber helped write the Affordable Care Act, which Trump railed against during the debate. 鈥淢y only comment is that last night showed the difference between a candidate with a strong and coherent health care agenda (Clinton) and one with a garbage salad of right wing talking points (Trump),鈥 Gruber wrote in an email to the Boston Business Journal. (Owens, 10/10)
Jonathan Gruber is firing back at Donald Trump after the Republican presidential nominee called him out for comments about ObamaCare.聽鈥淢y only comment is that last night showed the difference between a candidate with a strong and coherent health care agenda (Clinton) and one with a garbage salad of right wing talking points (Trump),鈥 Gruber, a professor at MIT, wrote in a statement, as first reported by Boston Business Journal. (Sullivan, 10/10)
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump once again touted the idea of allowing health insurance to be sold across state lines at the second general election debate Sunday, despite multiple analyses that show such a policy could substantially damage the individual market and roll back protections that consumers have come to rely on. Trump has not provided details for how selling insurance across state lines would be regulated. (Muchmore, 10/10)
For more on selling across state lines, check out KHN's video:聽.
Health care finally came up as an issue in the second presidential debate in St. Louis Sunday night. But the discussion may have confused more than clarified the issue for many voters. During the brief exchange about the potential fate of the Affordable Care Act, Republican Donald Trump said this:聽鈥淥bamacare is a disaster. You know it. We all know it. It鈥檚 going up at numbers that nobody鈥檚 ever seen worldwide. Nobody鈥檚 ever seen numbers like this for health care. (Rovner, 10/10)