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CAN 2020 DEMOCRATS TAKE THE FOCUS OFF EACH OTHER AND TURN IT TO TRUMP? Thursday’s Democratic debate in Los Angeles will test the 2020 candidates’ ability to put the focus back onto President Trump’s attacks on Obamacare and off the internal disputes they’ve been having thus far about “Medicare for all” and the public option.
Yesterday’s 5th Circuit Obamacare ruling complicates the Democratic case that Trump poses an immediate threat to voters’ healthcare: The court ruled Obamacare’s individual mandate was unconstitutional, yet sent the case back to the lower courts for further analysis.
In some sense, the 5th Circuit’s ruling will make 2020 Democrats’ task to unite behind defending Obamacare difficult. Had the judges ruled the law was unconstitutional and should be thrown out, then the threat to the law would be far more immediate because it would land at the Supreme Court just ahead of the election.
With the decision they issued, however, the whole question will just take longer to resolve, and probably won’t happen until 2021 at the earliest. This buys the Trump administration some time to avoid having to say what would come after Obamacare, particularly since Trump hasn’t released a backup plan for the law nor have Republicans in Congress united behind a replacement idea.
There’s one way we could see a decision sooner: Democratic states said they are going to appeal the 5th Circuit’s decision directly to the Supreme Court. It would be unexpected, but not impossible, for the high court to take the case before the district judge hammers out the details of his ruling.
Yet both sides face a difficult messaging hurdle on healthcare ahead of 2020: Both Trump and 2020 Democrats want to make massive changes to the status quo.
Democrats will play up that if Obamacare were to be struck down, then it would have reverberating effects across the healthcare system, most prominently by removing insurance rules that shield an estimated 133 million people with pre-existing conditions.
On the other hand, Republicans will focus on how the alternatives certain Democrats are offering, particularly “Medicare for all,” would take 180 milion off private insurance. Even “Medicare for all who want it,” as proposed by Pete Buttigieg, would bring about massive changes.
In the face of the Obamacare lawsuit, Republicans in Congress have been thrilled to run against “Medicare for all” and take the focus off the lawsuit.
“Instead of partisan impeachment theatrics or Medicare for All which cancels good healthcare plans for 180 million Americans, Congress should use this opportunity to work together to bring down the high costs of healthcare, something that Obamacare promised, but never delivered on,” GOP House leaders said.
Good morning and welcome to the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare! This newsletter is written by senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and healthcare reporter Cassidy Morrison (@CassMorrison94). You can reach us with tips, calendar items, or suggestions at [email protected]. If someone forwarded you this email and you’d like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe here.
‘NOT A HEALTHY GUY’: OBAMA FORMER DOCTOR WEIGHS IN ON BIDEN’S HEALTH: The former longtime doctor for Barack Obama said the medical records Joe Biden’s campaign disclosed this week were both concerning and incomplete. “He’s not a healthy guy,” Dr. David Scheiner, 81, concluded after reading the records. “He’s not in bad shape for his age but I wouldn’t say he’s in outstanding health. Could I guarantee he won’t have issues for the next four years? He has a lot of issues that are just sort of sitting there.”
Scheiner thinks all presidential candidates should be evaluated by independent medical panels and disclose far more of their medical history than they do now. The details from the letter Biden provided made Scheiner concerned about Biden’s potential for strokes, and he said he would want to see results from an MRI or CT scan, as well as a sleep study, because Biden used to have sleep apnea before getting surgery on his sinus and nasal passages. Here’s what he had to say about Trump and the other Democratic candidates.
ACLU FIGHTS TENNESSEE’S NEW ABORTION RESTRICTIONS: The ACLU of Tennessee brought suit against the town of Mt. Juliet in federal court over a new zoning ordinance that outlaws establishing centers for surgical abortions. When the city found out that carafem, a network of women’s healthcare providers, was planning to expand the network in Mt. Julient to provide surgical abortions in addition to their usual medication abortion services, municipal officials passed a new zoning ordinance pushing new centers out of city limits, thus obstructing people’s rights to access abortions. Thomas Castelli, legal director of the ACLU of Tennessee said: “No matter how someone feels about abortion, it is not their place to judge someone else’s decision to end their pregnancy. When a person has made that decision, they should be able to get the care they need without facing unnecessary obstacles.”
DELAURO WANTS ZANTAC PULLED OFF SHELVES: Democrat Rosa DeLauro told the Food and Drug Administration to pull the antacid drug Zantac after a pharmacy in her district detected a possible carcinogen in the medication. The Connecticut lawmaker said it was “incomprehensible” that the FDA hasn’t banned the drug while “Bangladesh, Canada, Egypt, and South Korea have banned all sales.”
MARIJUANA FUROR SPARKED BY COLLEGE STUDENT’S MURDER: Advocates for marijuana policy reform say a police union leader’s allegation that a Barnard College freshman Tessa Majors was buying marijuana when she was murdered in Morningside Park illustrates the case for legalizing weed. After Majors was fatally stabbed in the upper Manhattan park, Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins said on a radio show that she was “in the park to buy marijuana” when she was killed, but the NYPD said that was not the case. Legalization advocates are using Mullins’ point, regardless of its accuracy, to demonstrate that legalizing marijuana would help reduce crime. “Even if it was the case, how is that relevant?” said Maj. Mike Hilliard, a retired Baltimore police officer and member of the criminal justice reform-focused Law Enforcement Action Group. “If she was there to buy marijuana, if we had a situation that [marijuana] was legalized, regulated and controlled, she wouldn’t be put in that situation.”
FORMER INSURANCE EXECUTIVE-TURNED ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL’ BOOSTER SAYS YANG’S PLAN ISN’T ENOUGH: Former health insurance executive and “Medicare for all” advocate Wendell Potter criticized presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s healthcare plan, which he released Monday, as being “far too limited,” as reported by The Hill. “You’ve got to have someone in the White House who is really bold and will recognize what we need to do and lead the nation — not just follow the polls and say, ‘He’s what I think we might be able to pull off,” Potter said.
Yang’s plan includes lowering drug prices to match those set in foreign countries, allowing the government to negotiate prices with manufacturers, improving telehealth services, and limiting the influence of health industry lobbyists on the hill. Potter, however, said Yang’s plan to enact comprehensive reforms to the healthcare system comes up short: “The structure of the system is what needs to be changed … It’s not just tinkering around the edges, which is exactly what Yang’s plan seems to do.”
The Rundown
Politico 4 reasons why Trump’s drug importation bill won’t work
Kaiser Health News ‘An arm and a leg’: Reporter says ‘shame’ spurred hospital to cancel debt for thousands
The Wall Street Journal What to watch for in the last Democratic debate of 2019
Miami Herald Are overdose deaths from the opioid crisis fueling a rise in organ donations?
The New York Times The movement to bring death closer
Calendar
THURSDAY | Dec. 19
Congress in session.
8 p.m. Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Sixth Democratic debate, hosted with PBS NewsHour and Politico.
FRIDAY | Dec. 20
Deadline for spending bill.
