Viewpoints: Biden Successfully Defended His More Moderate Health Care Vision While Rebutting Attacks, But Has Tough Fight Ahead With Progressives

Editorial pages focus on health issues raised in the Democratic debates.

The Washington Post: Biden Performed Better In The Second Debate. CNN Didn’t.

In an extended line of questioning on health care, (Kamala) Harris and (Joe) Biden faced off politely and substantively on their respective plans. Biden argued that the cost of Harris’s plan “will require middle-class taxes to go up” and “what happens in the meantime?” Harris made the case against the status quo: “Your plan will keep and allow insurance companies to remain with status quo, doing business as usual, and that’s going to be about jacking up co-pays, jacking up deductibles.” On points, Biden won this round, sounding informed and passionate. (Jennifer Rubin, 7/31)

Fox News: Second Democratic Debate -- Two Big Winners, Two Big Losers And One Big, Unanswered Question

On health care, in particular, (Joe) Biden displaying his in-depth policy knowledge while also rebutting repeated attacks from (Kamala) Harris. Biden gave a strong defense of his pragmatic plan to strengthen ObamaCare, while the confusion and lack of clarity around Harris’ plan hindered her position. Biden also successfully took aim at what he has called Harris’ “have it every which way approach.”Health care “is the single most important issue facing the public,” Biden said to Harris. “To be very blunt ... you can't beat President Trump with doubletalk on this plan.” (Douglas E. Schoen, 7/31)

The Washington Post: The Democratic Debates Suffer From A Nasty Case Of Plan-Itis

This week’s Democratic debates have had a nasty case of Plan-itis, especially when it comes to health care. It’s important that candidates have plans for what to do about health-care costs and coverage. But we’re way too focused on the details of candidates’ policy plans, and it’s not serving the voters’ needs well. Every big health reform plan has tradeoffs and winners and losers — no exceptions. It’s not really a huge contribution to voters for debate moderators to find elements of the candidate’s plans they can nail them on. (Drew Altman, 8/1)

CNN: Joe Biden: After My Family's Car Accident, Health Care Became Personal For Me

A car accident that took the lives of my first wife and baby daughter just weeks after I was elected to the Senate for the first time badly injured my sons, Beau and Hunter, who were confined to hospital beds for weeks. At just 4 years old, Beau would turn to his brother in the hospital and say, "Hunt. Look at me, look at me. I love you." He was like that his entire life, up until his death in 2015, after a grueling battle with brain cancer. My family was fortunate enough to have health insurance. ...This is personal for me. This is why I fight. I believe deeply that health care is a right for all -- not a privilege for the few. (Former Vice President Joe Biden, 7/31)

The Washington Post: Someone Needs To Call Out Joe Biden On Medicare-For-All. Will Kamala Harris?

In the video introducing his health-care plan, former vice president Joe Biden said Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan “means getting rid of Obamacare.” And when Senator Kamala D. Harris unveiled her alternative Medicare-for-all proposal on Monday, one that allowed for a decade-long transition period and a continued role of private insurance in the system through Medicare Advantage, well, that wasn’t good enough for Biden either. It would, a spokesperson sniffed, “unravel the hard-won Affordable Care Act that the Trump Administration is trying to undo right now.” (Helaine Olen, 7/31)

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