Perspectives: When It Comes To Health Care, Watch What Republicans Do Not What They Say

Editorial pages delve into the complexities of the health law, the marketplaces and what it all means for the elections.

USA Today: Fear Republicans On Health Care, Their Actions Show They'll Be A Threat

President Trump chose this paper to make his case that Republicans are the party to be trusted and the Democrats are to be feared when it comes to your health care. Polls suggest Americans don’t see it that way. If they’re smart, they will pay attention to votes, not quotes (or op-eds) from politicians and look at what’s likely to happen in health care after next month’s election. So let’s take a look at what is likely to happen based on who carries the midterms. (Andy Slavitt, 10/12)

The Washington Post: Democrats Are Lying On Health Care

In November of every even-numbered year since at least 1970, the biggest lie in American politics has been Democrats claiming that Republicans are going to take away your Social Security. Republicans learned to live in a defensive crouch and to try to avoid mentioning the words “Social Security.” Now the new lie is about health care, mostly that Republicans are going to take away coverage for preexisting conditions. As usual, the truth is very different. The Senate Republican Policy Committee explained in a May 2017 paper that under the Republican-backed alternative to Obamacare, the American Health Care Act, “no one will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.” Even if you are skeptical of Republican talking points, you don’t have to look very far to find objective confirmation. According to FactCheck.org, “Sen. [Charles E.] Schumer [D-N.Y.] … was wrong to say, as he did on the Senate floor April 28, that the bill goes ‘back to the day when insurance companies could deny coverage to those with preexisting conditions.’ ” (Ed Rogers, 10/11)

Des Moines Register: Iowa GOP Welcomed Unregulated Health Plans, But Buyers Beware

Iowans have now received what the Republican-controlled state Legislature and Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered: the option to buy unregulated health plans that can deny coverage, suddenly cancel plans, not pay medical bills and face no repercussions. The Iowa Farm Bureau last week unveiled details about its new health plans, which are supposed to offer an alternative to policies that must comply with requirements in the Affordable Care Act. These "health benefit plans" are not health insurance, not subject to basic coverage requirements and not regulated by any state or federal entity. (Des Moines Register, 10/10)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Premiums Are Looking Good. They'd Be Even Better If They Hadn't Been Sabotaged By The GOP

In baseball, the winning pitcher is the one who was on the mound just before his team took the lead for good — regardless of how well he pitched. So a reliever who gets hammered, turning a three-run lead into a two-run deficit, nevertheless will get credit for the win if his teammates retake the lead the next time they’re at bat. Keep that in mind whenever President Trump talks (or writes) about health insurance premiums for Obamacare policies, which are sold to people not covered by a large employer’s group plan. (Jon Healey, 10/11)

Axios: Narrow Health Insurance Networks Aren't Actually That Common

There's been a lot of discussion of narrow provider networks and how they reduce costs by limiting access to the highest priced providers. They're commonplace in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces where about 10 million people are enrolled, and in the individual market generally — but they are actually quite rare in the group market, where about 152 million Americans get coverage through their employers. (Drew Altman, 10/12)

The Wall Street Journal: First, Do No Harm (To ObamaCare)

By the narrowest of margins, the U.S. Senate rejected legislation Wednesday that would have subjected patients with expensive illnesses to soaring premiums, canceled coverage and medical bankruptcy. You might expect such legislation to have been introduced by Republicans and defeated by Democrats, but you’d be wrong. Democrats sought to deny care to the sick. Republicans stopped them. (Michael F. Cannon, 10/11)

The Hill: Better Health Outcomes At Lower Costs Is A Win That Everyone Can Get Behind

In Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood, investments spurred by federal tax credits are turning into windows and walls. Soon will come stoves, pots and pans; then lunches and dinners; then healthier people, fewer hospital visits, lower health-care costs and jobs. But for federal New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs), this trailblazing “food as medicine” project — and many other important projects nationwide — may never happen. (Antony Bugg-Levine and Daniel Nissenbaum, 10/11)

Detroit News: On Health Care, Dems Spinning Mess Into Gold

The most audacious play in the 2018 election cycle is that the party that destroyed the American health insurance market is positioning itself as the savior of health care.And the most mind boggling piece is that the pitch seems to be selling. Democrats are managing to dump the mess they made of Obamacare fully in the laps of Republicans. Nearly all Democratic candidates are accusing their GOP opponents of stripping vulnerable Americans of health insurance, and setting themselves up as the defenders of the very system they ravaged. (Nolan Finley, 10/10)

Orlando Sentinel/Tampa Bay Tribune: Health Care: All Floridians Deserve It

ince the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, the percentage of uninsured Americans has dropped. Today, more than 20 million of us have access to health care thanks to the ACA and Medicaid expansion. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, millions of Americans are still uninsured. Last year alone, more than 2.6 million Floridians did not have the safety net of health insurance at one time or another. That’s nearly 13 percent of our population, a rate that tops the national average and ranks as the fifth highest in the country. (Dick Batchelor, 10/9)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: If Hawley's Health Care Plan Is For Real, He Should Call For A Debate On It

Bernie Sanders, move over. Josh Hawley would like to get to your left on health care. Hawley, Missouri’s attorney general and Republican U.S. Senate candidate, would surely dispute that characterization. Yet Hawley’s latest explanation of how he would eliminate Obamacare while still covering people with pre-existing conditions sounds more like government-run health care than even what the socialist senator from Vermont has proposed. Hawley proposes to have the government collect people’s insurance premiums and pay their major medical costs once they’ve reached a certain threshold. (10/8)

East Bay Times: Medical Horror Story A Lesson On U.S. Health Care

On Jan. 8, my husband, Josiah “Si” Lewis went to Kaiser Oakland for a routine colonoscopy. During the procedure, the team lacerated his spleen without perforating his colon (it’s so rare for it to happen that it’s not listed on their Consent for Treatment form). They were unaware of the injury and sent him home with standard post-procedure instructions. By 5 p.m. Si was in such severe pain that I drove him to Kaiser’s emergency room. After several other tests, a CT scan showed bleeding from the spleen. (Alice Lewis, 10/11)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription