The Host
Julie Rovner
KHN
Learn Julie’s tales.
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KHN’s weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Well being?” A famous professional on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference ebook “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
A number of states have begun the herculean process of redetermining what number of of an estimated 85 million People presently receiving well being protection via the Medicaid program are nonetheless eligible. To obtain federal covid-19 aid funds, states have been required to maintain enrollees lined through the pandemic. As many as 15 million folks might be struck from this system’s rolls — a lot of whom are nonetheless eligible, or are eligible for different applications and should be steered to them.
In the meantime, the trustees of the Medicare program report that its Hospital Insurance coverage Belief Fund ought to stay solvent till 2031, three years longer than it projected final yr. That enables lawmakers to proceed to place off what are more likely to be politically disagreeable choices, though they may finally must cope with Medicare’s underlying monetary woes (and people of Social Safety).
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Amy Goldstein of The Washington Publish, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Publish.
Panelists
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Learn Alice’s tales
Amy Goldstein
The Washington Publish
Learn Amy’s Tales
Rachel Roubein
The Washington Publish
Learn Rachel’s tales
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- The Medicaid “unwinding” is more likely to strip well being protection not simply from tens of millions of people who find themselves now not eligible for this system, but additionally from tens of millions of people that nonetheless are. States are alleged to take their time reevaluating eligibility, however some are dashing to disenroll folks.
- One other complication in an already difficult process is that many Medicaid staff employed through the pandemic have by no means truly redetermined Medicaid eligibility for anybody, as a result of states had been required to maintain individuals who certified on this system.
- Grimly, a number of the further years of solvency gained within the Medicare Hospital Insurance coverage Belief Fund are a results of pandemic deaths within the 65-and-older inhabitants.
- The Division of Well being and Human Providers has issued fee guidelines for Medicare Benefit Plans for 2024. The company ended up conceding at the least considerably to non-public plans that for years have been receiving greater than they need to have from the U.S. Treasury. The brand new guidelines will work to shrink these overpayments going ahead, however not attempt to recoup these from years previous.
- The scenario with “first-dollar protection” of preventive companies by business well being plans is turning into a bit clearer following final week’s determination in Texas that a part of the Inexpensive Care Act’s preventive companies mandate is unconstitutional. Choose Reed O’Connor (who in 2018 dominated the whole well being regulation unconstitutional) issued a nationwide keep on protection necessities from the U.S. Preventive Providers Process Pressure, saying it’s a volunteer group not topic to the oversight of the Well being and Human Providers secretary. The federal authorities is already interesting that ruling.
- However O’Connor’s determination shouldn’t be fairly as sweeping as first thought. He banned required protection solely of the duty drive’s suggestions made after March 23, 2010 — the day the ACA was signed into regulation. Earlier suggestions stand. O’Connor additionally didn’t strike preventive companies really useful by the Well being Assets and Providers Administration and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, since these companies are overseen by an official appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
- In abortion information, the liberal candidate for a Supreme Courtroom seat in Wisconsin, Janet Protasiewicz, defeated her conservative opponent to modify the bulk on the courtroom from 4-3 conservative to 4-3 liberal. That ideological shift is more likely to protect abortion rights within the state, and presumably stem the flexibility of the GOP legislature to proceed to attract maps that favor Republicans.
- In the meantime, states within the South are persevering with to tug again on abortion entry. The Florida legislature is shifting quickly on a invoice that may ban the process after six weeks of being pregnant, whereas in North Carolina, a single legislator’s swap from Democrat to Republican has given the latter a supermajority within the legislature massive sufficient to override any veto of the Democratic governor, Roy Cooper.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews Daniel Chang, who reported and wrote the most recent KHN-NPR “Invoice of the Month” function a couple of little one who had a medical invoice despatched to collections earlier than he began to be taught to learn. If in case you 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 recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: New York Journal’s “The Shared Anti-Trans and Anti-Abortion Playbook,” by Irin Carmon.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Los Angeles Instances’ “Horrifying Tales of Ladies Chased Down by the LAPD Abortion Squad Earlier than Roe vs. Wade,” by Brittny Mejia.
Rachel Roubein: KHN’s “‘Onerous to Get Sober Younger’: Inside One of many Nation’s Few Restoration Excessive Faculties,” by Stephanie Daniel of KUNC.
Amy Goldstein: The Washington Publish’s “After A long time Underneath a Virus’s Shadow, He Now Lives Freed from HIV,” by Mark Johnson.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credit
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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KHN (Kaiser Well being Information) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. Along with Coverage Evaluation and Polling, KHN is without doubt one of the three main working applications at KFF (Kaiser Household Basis). KFF is an endowed nonprofit group offering info on well being points to the nation.
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