KHN: Kaiser Health News

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about political and policy-oriented health care developments.

The Washington Post: Medicare Working To Boost Obama In Swing States, Poll Finds
Voters in three critical swing states broadly oppose the far-reaching changes to Medicare -associated with the Republican presidential ticket and, by big margins, prefer President Obama to handle the issue, according to new state polls by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation. For seniors in Florida, Ohio and Virginia, Medicare rivals the economy as a top voting issue (Aizenman, Cohen and Craighill, 9/27).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: Looking Past Entitlements, Senior Voters Ask How They Will Fare In An Obama Or Romney Economy
Get in line, Medicare and Social Security. Seniors, like just about everyone else, have money on their minds. Who wins the trust of seniors … will be a deciding factor in the presidential election. That should be good news for Mitt Romney, because those 65 and older have backed the Republican candidate in both of the last two presidential elections. But President Barack Obama has been pounding Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, on their plan for Medicare. Those attacks are starting to bear fruit for Obama, who is gaining ground among seniors in two key battlegrounds: Florida and Ohio. Still, Romney has the edge nationally among seniors — in no small part thanks to seniors’ concerns about Obama’s handling of the economy (9/27).

For more headlines … (more…)

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about how the health law and Medicare are buzz words in public opinion polls and on the campaign trail.

Los Angeles Times: Romney Cites His Healthcare Law As Proof Of His Compassion
Mitt Romney, while campaigning in Ohio on Wednesday, highlighted the healthcare law that he passed while governor of Massachusetts as proof of his empathy for people. … The healthcare law is controversial among conservatives because it included a mandate that nearly every state resident purchase the insurance or be fined; it served as the model of the federal healthcare law that is Obama’s signature act as president, and that is an anathema to many Republicans (Mehta, 9/26).

Politico: Romney Hits ‘Obamacare’ In Ohio
Facing falling poll numbers in Ohio, Mitt Romney reconfigured his stump speech here, ratcheting up his attack on President Barack Obama’s health care law and returning to his once-abandoned talking points about the Founding Fathers and the debt clock. … Instead of simply vowing to repeal the health care overhaul, Romney spoke more about the danger it poses to American freedoms (Gibson, 9/26).

For more headlines … (more…)

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organiations, including reports about a round of new polls sizing up the status of the presidential campaign as well as one from The Associated Press measuring public opinion about the implementation of the health law.

The New York Times: Test For Obama As Deficit Stays Over $1 Trillion
Mr. Romney is proposing to reduce the deficit and encourage economic growth by substantially shrinking the government — unrealistically so, in the judgment of many budget experts — while further cutting taxes and increasing spending on the military. He would inject more private sector competition into Medicare to rein in the quickly growing costs of health insurance for older people and would limit Medicaid payments to fixed amounts to the states. Mr. Obama wants to combine spending cuts and tax increases on upper-income households to close the fiscal hole without fundamentally reducing the role of government or altering the government guarantees at the heart of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those programs account for 40 percent of federal spending, and they will grow to half in a decade as more baby boomers claim benefits (Calmes, 9/25).

The Associated Press/Washington Post: AP-GfK Poll: Most Say Obama’s Health Care Law Will Be Implemented; But 7 In 10 Expect Changes
They may not like it, but they don’t see it going away. About 7 in 10 Americans think President Barack Obama’s health care law will go fully into effect with some changes, ranging from minor to major alterations, an Associated Press-GfK poll finds. Just 12 percent say they expect the Affordable Care Act — “Obamacare” to dismissive opponents — to be repealed completely (9/26).

For more headlines … (more…)

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about a new study that details accelerating health care spending.

Los Angeles Times: Presidential Debate Questions Sync Up With Voter Concerns
A new Pew Research Center polling analysis, released Monday, finds that the economy is voters’ dominant concern in this fall’s presidential election. An overwhelming proportion 87% said the economy would be “very important” to their vote (the same percentage as in the 2008 presidential contest). The jobs issue was a close second. … Other topics — healthcare and the size and scope of government — will occupy most of the remainder of the initial debate, along with questions about governing. … On healthcare, a matter of greater importance for women than for men, recent polling by the Pew Center found that Obama holds an advantage over Romney when voters were asked which candidate would do a better job of dealing with the issue. The same goes for Medicare, which ranked sixth in importance for swing voters (West, 9/24).

NPR: Romney Medicaid Remarks Raise Eyebrows
It’s not so much what Mitt Romney said about whether the government should guarantee people health care in his interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday that has health care policy types buzzing. It’s how that compares to what he has said before (Rovner, 9/25).

For more headlines … (more…)

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including reports about the latest health politics and policy news.

The New York Times: Obama And Romney Offer A Possible Preview Of Their First Debate
Mr. Romney said he would consider means-testing for Social Security benefits for future retirees, and he put some distance between his plans for reshaping Medicare as a voluntary voucher program and the proposal by his running mate, Representative Paul D. Ryan, to reduce payments to the health care program by some $700 billion. … Mr. Obama took a fairly combative tone in his interview, defending the administration’s actions on financial bailouts, health care legislation and efforts to help homeowners and job seekers (Broder, 9/23).

Politico: ‘Obamacare’ Foes Fear GOP Losses
If Mitt Romney doesn’t win the White House in November, and the Republicans don’t win the Senate, the GOP might not get another chance to repeal “Obamacare.” That’s the reality of the 2012 election, and even the staunchest opponents of the Democrats’ health care reform law acknowledge it. By the time the 2014 election comes up, all of the law’s major changes will be in place. So if the Republicans don’t win control of the White House and Congress to repeal it before then, the goal of wiping away the law will probably be out of their reach (Haberkorn, 9/22).

For more headlines … (more…)