Monday, December 23, 2024
HomeChildren's HealthDebt deal leaves well being packages (largely) intact

Debt deal leaves well being packages (largely) intact


A closing deal reduce between President Joe Biden and Home Republicans extends the U.S. debt ceiling deadline to 2025 and reins in some spending. The invoice signed into legislation by the president will protect many packages at their present funding ranges, and Democrats had been in a position to forestall any adjustments to the Medicare and Medicaid packages.

Nonetheless, tens of millions of People are more likely to lose their Medicaid protection this yr as states are as soon as once more allowed to redetermine who’s eligible and who is just not; Medicaid rolls had been frozen for 3 years because of the pandemic. Information from states which have begun to disenroll individuals means that the overwhelming majority of these shedding insurance coverage usually are not those that are not eligible, however as an alternative individuals who failed to finish required paperwork — in the event that they obtained it within the first place.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being and Politico, Lauren Weber of The Washington Publish, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Name.

The host

Julie Rovner KFF Well being Information @jrovner

Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Well being Information’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Well being?” A famous knowledgeable on well being coverage points, Julie is the creator of the critically praised reference ebook “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.

Panelists

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

  • Lawmakers and White Home officers spared well being packages from substantial spending cuts in a last-minute settlement to lift the nation’s debt ceiling. And Biden named Mandy Cohen, a former North Carolina well being director who labored within the Obama administration, to be the following director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. Although she lacks tutorial credentials in infectious illnesses, Cohen enters the job with a repute as somebody who can pay attention and be listened to by each Democrats and Republicans.
  • The elimination of many People from the Medicaid program, post-public well being emergency, goes as anticipated: With a whole lot of 1000’s already stripped from the rolls, most have been deemed ineligible not as a result of they do not meet the standards, however as a result of they did not file the right paperwork in time. Almost 95 million individuals had been on Medicaid earlier than the unwinding started.
  • Jap and now southern components of america are experiencing hazardous air high quality situations as wildfire smoke drifts from Canada, elevating the urgency surrounding conversations in regards to the well being results of local weather change.
  • The drugmaker Merck & Co. sued the federal authorities this week, difficult its means to press drugmakers into negotiations over what Medicare can pay for among the costliest medicine. Specialists predict Merck’s coercion argument might fall flat as a result of drugmakers voluntarily select to take part in Medicare, although it’s unlikely this would be the final lawsuit over the difficulty.
  • In abortion information, some medical doctors are pushing again in opposition to the Indiana medical board’s resolution to reprimand and superb an OB-GYN who spoke out about offering an abortion to a 10-year-old rape sufferer from Ohio. The medical doctors argue the choice might set a foul precedent and suppress medical doctors’ efforts to speak with the general public about well being points.

Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information senior correspondent Sarah Jane Tribble, who reported the newest KFF Well being Information-NPR “Invoice of the Month” function, a few affected person with Swiss medical insurance who skilled the sticker shock of the U.S. well being care system after an emergency appendectomy. You probably have an outrageous or exorbitant medical invoice you need to share with us, you are able to do that right here.

Plus, for “further credit score,” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it’s best to learn, too:

Julie Rovner: The New York Instances’ “This Nonprofit Well being System Cuts Off Sufferers With Medical Debt,” by Sarah Kliff and Jessica Silver-Greenberg.

Jessie Hellmann: MLive’s “Through the Darkest Days of COVID, Some Michigan Hospitals Made 100s of Thousands and thousands,” by Matthew Miller and Danielle Salisbury.

Joanne Kenen: Politico Journal’s “Can Hospitals Flip Into Local weather Change Preventing Machines?” by Joanne Kenen.

Lauren Weber: The Washington Publish’s “Smoke Brings a Warning: There’s No Escaping Local weather’s Risk to Well being,” by Dan Diamond, Joshua Partlow, Brady Dennis, and Emmanuel Felton.

Additionally talked about on this week’s episode:

KFF Well being Information’ “As Medicaid Purge Begins, ‘Staggering Numbers’ of People Lose Protection,” by Hannah Recht.

Credit

Francis Ying Audio producer Emmarie Huetteman Editor





Kaiser Health NewsThis text was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Household Basis. Kaiser Well being Information, an editorially impartial information service, is a program of the Kaiser Household Basis, a nonpartisan well being care coverage analysis group unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.



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