The Host
The Biden administration this week pleaded with states to sluggish the post-pandemic removing of beneficiaries from their Medicaid rolls, as authorities knowledge reveals greater than one million Individuals have misplaced protection since pandemic protections led to April. In the meantime, the Supreme Courtroom dominated Medicaid beneficiaries could sue over their care.
In an look on the U.S. Capitol, the outgoing chief of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, supplied no revelations as Home Republicans pressed her concerning the company’s response to the covid-19 pandemic. And senators are pushing for motion on drug pricing, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) vowing to carry up nominations to press the Biden administration for drug pricing reform.
This week’s panelists are Mary Agnes Carey of KFF Well being Information, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Name.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Asking states to sluggish the tempo of Medicaid disenrollment, Well being and Human Providers Secretary Xavier Becerra supplied choices supposed to scale back the variety of Individuals who lose protection because of bureaucratic hurdles, akin to by permitting neighborhood organizations to assist folks get protection reinstated. However these choices are solely steering for Medicaid applications throughout the nation, and nothing says that states — particularly conservative ones which have rushed to trim the variety of low-income and disabled folks counting on this system — will undertake the administration’s strategies.
- A deal within the Braidwood Administration v. Becerra court docket case will protect, for now, the mandate requiring insurance coverage protection of preventive providers for all however the litigants. The specter of a court docket order halting that protection mandate nationwide has contributed to rising issues concerning the overuse of injunctions permitting a single decide to convey down a complete program or regulation.
- The Supreme Courtroom dominated {that a} girl is entitled to sue over the nursing house care her husband obtained that was lined by Medicaid, setting a precedent that permits beneficiaries to pursue authorized motion over their care.
- This week, Home Republicans pressed CDC Director Walensky concerning the company’s response to the pandemic, however, producing few new particulars, the listening to largely proved an try by Republicans to relitigate issues over points like gain-of-function analysis funding. And Ashish Jha, the White Home’s covid coordinator, is getting ready to step down and not using a successor, providing extra fodder for the argument that the Biden administration is de-emphasizing covid coverage.
- Studies of threats towards an Alabama clinic that doesn’t present abortions illuminate the realities of the post-Dobbs period: Even the state legal professional common has taken concern with the clinic’s efforts to offer non-abortion maternal well being care — and 40% of Alabama counties already haven’t any entry to maternal care.
- And on Capitol Hill, Sanders — head of a key Senate well being committee — has mentioned he’ll maintain up reviewing nominations in an effort to stress the Biden administration to supply a complete drug pricing plan. In the meantime, one other key Senate committee releases its proposal to rein in charges charged by pharmacy profit managers.
Additionally this week, KFF Well being Information’ Julie Rovner interviews Dan Mendelson, chief government of Morgan Well being — the successor venture to Haven Healthcare, a three way partnership by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase that aimed in 2018 to disrupt how Individuals get well being protection however rapidly disbanded. Rovner and Mendelson talk about the function of employers in insuring American staff.
Plus, for “additional credit score,” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they assume it’s best to learn, too:
Mary Agnes Carey: The Washington Publish’s “I Misplaced 40 Kilos on Ozempic. However I’m Left With Even Extra Questions,” by Ruth Marcus.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Stat’s “AMA Asks Medical doctors to De-Emphasize Use of BMI in Gauging Well being and Weight problems,” by Brittany Trang and Elaine Chen.
Rachel Cohrs: Politico’s “1000’s Lose Medicaid in Arkansas: Is This America’s Future?” by Megan Messerly.
Sandhya Raman: The Markup’s “Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Web sites Ship Delicate Information to Fb,” by Colin Lecher and Jon Keegan.
Additionally talked about on this week’s episode:
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