We've spent so much time watching the Affordable Care Act fights that it's easy to forget the success of an earlier health coverage expansion. The Children's Health Insurance Program was created in 1997 as a bipartisan compromise after the failure of more sweeping health care plans.
Why it matters: CHIP's authorization expires on Saturday — because Congress was too busy fighting over the ACA. (They're working on renewing it — later.)
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
America's mental health care system is in dire need of an overhaul, but the any real specifics are largely missing from the 2020 debate about health care.
Why it matters: Suicide and drug overdose rates continue to rise, and the U.S. faces a shortage of mental health providers and a lack of access to treatment.
Photo: Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Congress is expected to soon announce a deal to repeal the Affordable Care Act's health insurance, medical device and "Cadillac" employer health plan taxes — and to raise the smoking age to 21, according to a senior House Democratic aide familiar with talks.
Why it matters: The decision is a colossal win for the health care industry.
The cost of private health insurance is out of control, compared to Medicare and Medicaid. You see that clearly if you take a long-term view of recently released federal data on health spending.
Why it matters: This is why the health care industry — not just insurers, but also hospitals and drug companies — is so opposed to proposals that would expand the government's purchasing power. And it’s why some progressives are so determined to curb, or even eliminate, private coverage.