“The Trump administration is considering releasing its long-promised health-care plan in the fall as part of a campaign strategy to offer an alternative to Democratic candidates who back Medicare for All,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“White House officials are discussing unveiling the proposal during a September speech in which President Trump would seek to draw a contrast with Democrats while reassuring voters the administration is prepared if the courts abolish the Affordable Care Act.”

“White House officials stressed that the plans haven’t been completed, and some close to the president have privately expressed skepticism. One former White House official raised the possibility that the plan may not materialize this fall if Mr. Trump second-guesses the effort. The administration is also still weighing how specific the plan should be.”

HuffPost: “Harris on Monday morning released a plan to create a new, government-run insurance plan designed to cover all Americans and pay for nearly all their medical expenses.”

“It would eventually replace employer-sponsored plans, over the course of a decadelong transition, but it would allow private insurers to offer an alternative form of coverage, much as they do today for seniors on Medicare.”

Nate Silver: “Last week, I noted that Bernie Sanders is winning over Democratic primary voters on health care. Whether you love, hate or are indifferent toward his ‘Medicare for All’ plan, polls show Sanders leading when Democratic voters are asked which candidate they think is best able handle to health care.”

“The thing is, though — according to new polling from Marist College this week — Sanders’s plan isn’t actually the most popular idea in the field. Instead, that distinction belongs to what Marist calls ‘Medicare for all that want it,’ or what’s sometimes called a public option — something very similar to Joe Biden’s recently unveiled health care plan, which claims to give almost everyone ‘the choice to purchase a public health insurance option like Medicare.'”

“In the Marist poll, 90% of Democrats thought a plan that provided for a public option was a good idea, as compared to 64% who supported a Sanders-style Medicare for All plan that would replace private health insurance. The popularity of the public option also carries over to independent voters: 70% support it, as compared to 39% for Medicare for All.”

Axios: “Senate Republicans aren’t sweating the prospect of the courts striking down the entire Affordable Care Act, insisting they’d be able to act quickly to repair the damage — despite their inability to coalesce around a replacement plan at any point over the past decade.”

“Republicans have no real plan to establish a new health care system if the courts strike down the Affordable Care Act before the 2020 election. But plenty of them are rooting for its demise anyway — even if it means plunging the GOP into a debate that splits the party and leaves them politically vulnerable,” Politico reports.

“After a decade of trying to gut Obamacare, Republicans may finally get their wish thanks to a Trump administration-backed lawsuit. Its success would cause chaos not only in the insurance markets but on Capitol Hill. And Republican senators largely welcome it — even if they don’t know what comes next.”

“The Trump administration pulled one of its key proposals to lower drug prices that would have eliminated rebates to middlemen in Medicare, which President Trump’s top health official had touted as one of the most significant changes to curb medicine costs for consumers,” the Washington Post reports.

“The rule is the second major drug pricing effort to get blocked this week, complicating the administration’s efforts to make lowering prescription medicine costs a key 2020 presidential campaign issue.”

“A federal appeals court seemed likely on Tuesday to strike down what remains of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, but sent more mixed signals about its willingness to throw out the rest of the health care law along with it,” Axios reports.

“If a ruling striking down ACA comes to pass — like the one a lower court handed down last year — it would throw some 20 million people off their coverage, create ripple effects through almost every facet of the health care system and ignite an enormous political firestorm.”

“As they push a federal court to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Trump administration lawyers are arguing the law is no longer workable because Congress eliminated a penalty on people who don’t have health insurance,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“But for months, senior administration officials and lawyers have been making the exact opposite case in other settings, a review of government reports, court filings and public statements made by Trump appointees shows.”

“In fact administration officials, including White House economists, this year repeatedly have hailed the strength of insurance marketplaces created by the 2010 law. And in stark contrast to their claims in federal court in New Orleans, they have stressed that the 2017 legislation eliminating the so-called mandate penalty has had little to no impact on markets and consumers, let alone on the broader healthcare law, often called Obamacare or the ACA.”

USA Today: “Pop quiz: The Affordable Care Act became law in 2010, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012 and 2015, and has survived dozens of repeal efforts in Congress. So is it finally safe?”

“Answer: Not yet.”

“The latest threat looms in New Orleans, where a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear 90 minutes of oral argument Tuesday in a challenge that threatens the law’s key features – and possibly the entire 974-page statute.”

Politico: “In a surprise move that legal experts said added an unexpected threat to the 2010 health care law, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked both sides to file additional legal arguments about who — if anyone — has standing to appeal the December lower court ruling. The request suggests that the judges who will hear the case — the three-judge panel has not been made public — could toss out the appeal on procedural grounds. In that case, the lower court ruling would stand.”

“The implications of such a decision for the future of the Affordable Care Act are difficult to parse without more information, according to legal experts. But most suggested that it wouldn’t bode well for supporters of Obamacare.”