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As Democratic presidential candidates take aim at the health-insurance industry, companies are striking a delicate balance, trying to fight the plans without attracting the political spotlight or sparking investor alarm. The health insurers are deploying a two-pronged approach. Collectively, a number of insurers are putting their might into a coalition mounting an aggressive campaign against Democratic health-care proposals billed as “Medicare for All.” Television ads began running during Tuesday night’s presidential debate. But individual companies are mostly staying out of the public fray. (Wilde Mathews and Armour, 7/31)

Candidates repeatedly castigated insurance companies tonight for profiting off Americans’ health problems and contributing to high health care costs. Health insurance companies’ role in the health care system does contribute heavily to the nation’s health care costs. For example, the U.S. has much higher administrative costs than other countries, in part because of the complex coordination required between providers and multiple private insurance companies, each of them with multiple insurance plans. In addition — and perhaps intuitively — high prices are a big contributor to high costs. And insurers play a part in that. (Kurtzleben, 7/31)

On Wednesday, Seema Verma, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, scrutinized the Democratic health care plans at an event in Washington. The Heritage Foundation had invited her and other conservative policymakers to make the case against Medicare for All. Under her leadership, the Trump administration has encouraged states to develop Medicaid work requirements that recipients must meet to earn care or lose their coverage. Federal judges have hamstrung many of these state proposals that could cut thousands of people from Medicaid, most recently in New Hampshire. (Santhanam, 7/31)