America's present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration.
- Warren G. Harding
UNDERESTIMATING THE UNDERCARD?: The first and only VP debate tonight pits IN Governor Mike Pence against VA Senator Tim Kaine, and it doesn’t quite have the feel of a Mike Tyson/Tim Bradley bout. If history is a guide, the VP debates won’t sway voter opinion enough to really matter. However, given the flawed candidates at the top of the ticket, we expect many people will tune in to gauge the performance of Pence and Kaine and will end up wondering why the tickets couldn’t be flipped...If the first presidential debate is any indicator of what we’ll see in the next two presidential debates, tonight’s matchup may be the only time we get to witness a substantive policy discussion.
SEPARATION ANXIETY: As the campaign for control of the Senate continues, Republicans can find some solace in a pair of races in two battleground states. Incumbent Senators Marco Rubio (FL) and Rob Portman (OH) are pulling away from their Democrat counterparts. Rubio now has a seven-point lead over challenger Rep. Patrick Murphy and Portman has built up a double digit lead over rival and former Gov Ted Strickland - and boosting Trump’s stock in the Buckeye state as well. These races are pivotal to the Republican playbook as it will force the Democrats to win three of the four neck and neck races in NV, NH, PA and IN to take back the Senate
MAY THE TALKS BEGIN: British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled her plans for Britain to exit the EU in the Spring of 2019. May is planning for what is known as a “hard Brexit” or clean break from the EU and the plan puts immigration at the center of her strategy. May wants to negotiate-free trade deals with the different countries in the European bloc, but it’s clear that limiting immigration will be the focus of her negotiations. May is faced with the near-term threat to economic stability as companies doing business in Britain are likely to leave investment decisions on hold until they know the outcome of trade negotiations.
AVOIDING THE REAL ISSUE: During last week’s debate Clinton attacked Trump for not releasing his income tax returns, and over the weekend the first smoking gun was revealed by the NYT. Trump declared almost a billion dollar loss in 1995 which allowed him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years. Having just moved on from the Miss Universe controversy, Trump was hoping to spend time discussing his agent for change message and the release of the docs derailed those plans and he and his lieutenants ended up spinning the loss and avoidance as genius. At this stage of the race with some trends showing a break towards Clinton, Trump’s allies were hoping he'd spend more time focusing on how he’s best suited to change the tax code and less time patting himself on the back.
END OF ANNUAL CMS PAYMENT UPDATES FOR SERVICES DRAWS NEAR: Our Health Policy Analyst Emily Evans discussed The pending final rules for ESRD, Outpatient Services, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Home Health Agencies and DMEPOS are being reviewed by the White House. Proposed changes are mostly uneventful with the exception of increased reimbursement for home dialysis and the possibility total knee replacements move to the outpatient setting sometime soon.The full article is here
