Different Takes: Instead Of Focusing On The Caravan, Worry About Losing Health Law Protections; Remember The Progress The GOP Brings To Health Care

Editorial pages focus on how health care will be impacted by the midterm elections.

USA Today: Vote Democratic To End Trump Assaults On Truth, Ethics, Families

This is the most important election of our lifetime. Voters face a choice between a Republican Party marching in lockstep behind President Donald Trump and a Democratic Party that will fight for affordable health care; protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; stand up for working families, hold Trump accountable; and restore sanity to our politics. (Tom Perez, 11/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Health-Care Progress

Americans say health care is a leading concern in Tuesday’s election, and voters say they trust Democrats over Republicans by double-digit margins. Yet the Trump Administration has put together an impressive suite of reforms that allow consumers more freedom and personal choice, not that you’ll read about it anywhere else. Last month the Trump Administration rolled out a rule on health-reimbursement arrangements that would allow employers to offer workers tax-exempt dollars to buy insurance in the individual market. The Obama Administration banned this via regulation as part of the Affordable Care Act. (11/4)

USA Today: Vote Your Fears On Health Care, Not Caravan 'Crisis' Hyped By Trump And Republicans

President Donald Trump and his allies would like the midterms to be a vote you cast based upon dread and anxiety. All his energy and much of the Republican Party's message have centered on playing to what GOP consultants see as your worst fears: A caravan of lepers coming to invade. Innocent men branded as sexual harassers. The government taking away your health care. (Andy Slavitt, 11/5)

Axios: Health Care Gives Democrats A Modest Edge With Senior Voters

The Democrats' emphasis on health care may give them a modest, but not a decisive, advantage with seniors in Tuesday's elections.Why it matters: Older voters are the one group that always turns out to vote in midterm elections. They vote at higher rates than younger adults in all elections, but especially in midterms. In 2014, for example, turnout was 55% among the 60-plus population compared to about 16% among 18-29 year-olds. (Drew Altman, 11/5)

The Hill: Healthcare Is A Big Winner For Dems

The results are in! No, not the outcome of tomorrow’s midterm elections. I’m talking about the winner of 2018 when it comes to political advertising, stump speeches and social media campaigns. On every platform for political messaging, the number one issue driving voters is healthcare. Talk about a comeback. In 2010, Tea Party opposition to ObamaCare led the GOP to pick up 63 seats in the House and expand their Senate majority by six seats. At that time, polls showed the Affordable Care Act was viewed unfavorably by a plurality of Americans. (Juan Williams, 11/5)

Los Angeles Times: Red States Could Be Coming Around On Obamacare

What a difference eight years make. On the eve of the midterm elections of 2010, career-ending defeat loomed over dozens of Democratic congressman who’d voted for the Affordable Care Act, derisively branded “Obamacare” at the time. In 2018, Republicans, the current target of voter rage, are scrambling to reassure constituents that they’ll save — even extend — key features of the ACA. For example, last week Idaho’s right-wing Republican Gov. Butch Otter endorsed a ballot measure that would extend Medicaid coverage to more than 60,000 of his state’s low-income residents. The federally funded expansion of Medicaid, let us recall, was one of the ACA’s most contentious components. And, in the end, every single Republican congressman and senator voted against the final bill. Now a Republican governor in Idaho is all for it. (Harold Meyerson, 11/5)

The Hill: You Don’t Need ObamaCare To Help People With Pre-Existing Conditions

Over the past several months, Democratic candidates have vowed to defend ObamaCare regulations on pre-existing conditions if they regain control of Congress. They argue these rules protect patients suffering from costly illnesses like cancer, diabetes and multiple sclerosis. They say Republicans and other supporters of consumer-driven health care want to heartlessly rip these protections away. However, contrary to these Democratic talking points, ObamaCare caused far more problems than it solved for many vulnerable people. (Charlie Katebi, 11/2)

USA Today: I Voted For Democrats To Protect Health Care Coverage

On Halloween, the Trump administration’s administrator of Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Seema Verma, made a joke on Twitter that the scariest Halloween costume would be “Medicare for All.” As a Miami resident and a former longtime Republican, I’m not laughing. I’m voting, and I’m voting only for those who make solving our health care crisis a priority. (Montel Williams, 11/4)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Has Managed To Survive, But Can It Thrive?

November is here, and in most U.S. states that means the start of open enrollment, the sign-up period for obtaining insurance via the U.S. Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. It also means we’re a few days away from an election where health care has taken center stage. One thing that’s likely to be strengthened, rather than put in existential peril for once, is this key part of President Obama’s signature law. Enrollment is likely to decline modestly for the third year in a row after a GOP tax bill zeroed out the individual mandate, eliminating the financial penalty for those who didn’t sign up for insurance. But if you look beyond the headline numbers, the individual market is increasingly stable, and, depending on how the midterm elections go, may only become more so under a friendlier Congress. (Max Nisen, 11/4)

USA Today: Republican Friends Hailed Me Adopting My Kids, But Not Protecting Them

House Republicans proposed a budget in June with cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicaid, to balance spending. Our daughter is kept alive and flourishing because of a Medicaid waiver program for medically complex children. The president fired his entire HIV advisory council in December. One of my children has HIV. People with U.S. birth certificates — citizens — have been denied passports in Texas; people across the country may have their legal status in jeopardy if they use government benefits. We’ve used public assistance in the form of reduced lunch and early intervention services, and four of my children are immigrants. (Shannon Dingle, 11/5)

Charlotte Observer: Midterm Elections: The Truth About Republicans And Preexisting Conditions

Trump administration lawyers told a Texas court in June that they will no longer defend protections for preexisting conditions; that judge is expected to rule soon on whether the Affordable Care Act and its protections are constitutional. Thus far, all the substitute GOP health care plans and proposals have fallen short of what Obamacare offers to people who’ve had health issues. That includes the American Health Care Act, which would have allowed for people with preexisting conditions to be charged thousands or tens of thousands of more dollars per year. That also includes a bill sponsored by NC Sen. Thom Tillis that Republicans have touted this fall, called Ensuring Coverage for Patients with Preexisting Conditions, which experts say has loopholes that could allow insurers to deny some coverage, as well as charge higher premiums to people in less healthy communities and occupations. Republicans, as they did last May, believe that’s still enough to claim they are protecting Americans with preexisting conditions. It’s not. Voters should remember that Tuesday. (11/2)

Sacramento Bee: CA Election: Why California’s Next Governor Must Focus On Seniors

On Tuesday, California will choose a new governor, but one issue that has not received nearly enough attention during the campaign is our state’s aging population and its associated challenges, such as health care, long-term care, supportive services and housing. The Public Policy Institute of California estimates that by the year 2030 the over 65 population will increase by 4 million. (Eric Dowdy, 11/2)

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