March Medicaid Madness | Kaiser Health News

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With Medicare and Social Safety apparently off the desk for federal funds cuts, the main target has turned to Medicaid, the federal-state well being program for these with low incomes. President Joe Biden has made it clear he needs to guard this system, together with the Reasonably priced Care Act, however Republicans will probably suggest cuts to each after they current a proposed funds within the subsequent a number of weeks.

In the meantime, confusion over abortion restrictions continues, notably on the FDA. One lawsuit in Texas requires a federal choose to briefly halt distribution of the abortion tablet mifepristone. A separate go well with, although, asks a special federal choose to briefly make the drug simpler to get, by eradicating a few of the FDA’s security restrictions.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Well being Information, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of STAT Information, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Put up.

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• States are working to assessment Medicaid eligibility for tens of millions of individuals as pandemic-era protection guidelines lapse on the finish of March, amid fears that many People kicked off Medicaid who’re eligible without spending a dime or near-free protection beneath the ACA received’t know their choices and can go uninsured.
• Biden promised this week to cease Republicans from “gutting” Medicaid and the ACA. However not all Republicans are on board with cuts to Medicaid. Between the social gathering’s slim majority within the Home and the truth that Medicaid pays for nursing properties for a lot of seniors, chopping this system is a politically dicey transfer.
• A nationwide group that pushed the usage of ivermectin to deal with covid-19 is now hyping the drug as a remedy for flu and RSV — regardless of an absence of medical proof to help their claims that it’s efficient in opposition to any of these sicknesses. Nonetheless, there’s a motion of individuals, lots of them medical doctors, who consider ivermectin works.
• In reproductive well being information, a federal choose lately dominated {that a} Texas regulation can’t be used to prosecute teams that assist ladies journey out of state to acquire abortions. And the abortion challenge has highlighted the function of attorneys normal across the nation — politicizing a previously nonpartisan state submit. –And Eli Lilly introduced plans to chop the value of some insulin merchandise and cap out-of-pocket prices, although their causes is probably not fully altruistic: An knowledgeable identified {that a} change to Medicaid rebates subsequent yr means drugmakers quickly must pay the federal government each time a affected person fills a prescription for insulin, that means Eli Lilly’s plan may save the corporate cash.

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

Julie Rovner: The New York Instances’ “A Drug Firm Exploited a Security Requirement to Make Cash,” by Rebecca Robbins.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Instances’ “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Kids Work Brutal Jobs Throughout the U.S.,” by Hannah Dreier.

Rachel Cohrs: STAT Information’ “Nonprofit Hospitals Are Failing People. Their Boards Could Be a Purpose Why,” by Sanjay Kishore and Suhas Gondi.

Lauren Weber: KHN and CBS Information’ “This Dental Gadget Was Bought to Repair Sufferers’ Jaws. Lawsuits Declare It Wrecked Their Tooth,” by Brett Kelman and Anna Werner.

Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:

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