Summary of the week’s healthcare reform news.
May 5, 2019
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Medicare for All Goes Mainstream
On Tuesday, April 30, the House Rules Committee held the first congressional hearing ever on single-payer.
A Big Hearing for Medicare for All – In A Small Room (Kaiser Health News)
The first-ever Medicare for All hearing was strangely collegial (The Intercept)
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The CBO jumps into the ring
The Congressional Budget Office jumped into the single-payer ring with a report that highlighted the extreme complexity involved in pricing such a program. Questions about coverage benefits, whether or not to include long-term care or cost sharing, and more must be answered before costs can be estimated.
CBO’s Report On Single-Payer Health Care Holds More Questions Than Answers (Kaiser Health News)
‘Medicare for All’ Gets Much-Awaited Report. Both Sides Can Claim Victory. (New York Times)
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Health insurance industry reaction
Predictably, the industry issued strongly worded warnings of “disruption” if Medicare for All is adopted, and re-directed the narrative to “universal insurance coverage” and “Medicare Advantage.”
Insurers’ message on ‘Medicare for All’: We’re part of the answer (Healthcare Dive)
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