Sunday's health stories


Trump pre-Super Bowl interview; picks Pats by 8
Here are the key parts of Trump's interview with Bill O'Reilly during the Super Bowl pre-game show:
- Relationship with Russia: "I say it's better to get along with Russia than not... And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world -- that's a good thing... Will I get along with him? I have no idea."
- Pressed about Putin's history of violence: "There are a lot of killers. We've got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country's so innocent?"
- Millions of illegal votes: "Forget about that." Trump said there were many problems with registration rolls; dead people, people registered in more than one state, non-citizens
- Is Mexico corrupt? Trump didn't go as far to label them as corrupt, but he did admit that "they have problems controlling aspects of their country." He added that "the drugs and cartels are number one."
- When will see tax reform kick in? Americans can expect a tax cut by the end of 2017
- On whether new healthcare law will be rolled out this year: "We're in the process" of replacing Obamacare now, he said. But it might take until next year. "It's very complicated," he added.
Final question from O'Reilly: "You get 4 hours of sleep... when you head into the pillow do you ever say to yourself "'I cant believe I'm president of the United States?'"
- Trump: "I must tell you, the other day i walked into the main entrance of the White House and I thought to myself, this is amazing... "It's sort of surreal, but you have to get over it because there's so much work to do."
One fun thing: Who's going to win the Super Bowl?

Now it's the Republicans who are facing angry Obamacare town halls
Republicans are starting to face angry crowds at town halls as people protest their Obamacare repeal plans — a mirror image of the furious protests Democrats faced at their own town halls in 2009 from people who didn't want them to pass Obamacare.

Why more waivers could help GOP expand health coverage
Surgeon/author Atul Gawande makes an interesting prediction in a New Yorker podcast: Even if Republicans are deadlocked on how to replace Obamacare, the Trump administration may be able to expand coverage just by granting more waivers from Obamacare:
You could ironically be in a situation where … there is an increase in coverage because conservative governors start opening the gates to let people have coverage, paid for by the federal government.
Why it matters: At a minimum, President Trump's top health care officials, including Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price, have signaled that they want to use their authority to grant more waivers — for Medicaid and for Obamacare itself. That's a factor that many have overlooked in all of the focus on repeal.
Yes, but: Even if Republican governors do expand coverage that way, there will be a lot of debate over what counts as adequate coverage. And if repeal does go forward, the Trump administration and Congress still have to keep insurers from pulling out of the markets in the meantime — an event that could cause huge coverage losses.

