Can’t see the audio participant? Click right here to hear on Acast. You may also hear on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you hearken to podcasts.
It’s open enrollment time for Affordable Care Act well being protection. And for the primary time, individuals are enrolling with comparatively little controversy, as most Republicans have moved on from attempting to repeal the regulation.
On the marketing campaign path, in the meantime, Democrats are charging that if Republicans win majorities within the U.S. House or Senate, they’ll attempt to reduce Social Security and Medicare.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Julie Appleby of KHN.
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
- There are some massive adjustments to the ACA from years previous. The Biden administration used its authority to shut the “family glitch” that had prevented many households of low- and moderate-income staff from getting subsidies to buy insurance coverage on healthcare.gov or state marketplaces.
- Also new this 12 months, states are required to supply “standardized” plans with the identical advantages so customers can higher examine them.
- Another essential change: For the primary time, folks with low incomes (beneath 150 % of the federal poverty stage) can enroll in ACA plans anytime, as an alternative of solely throughout open enrollment. This may turn out to be notably essential in 2023, as many individuals are more likely to lose their Medicaid protection when the Biden administration ends the covid-related public well being emergency.
- Health total has not been as massive a marketing campaign challenge as standard. With just a few exceptions, most Republicans on the marketing campaign path appear to have moved on from vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
- Abortion was anticipated to be the highest voter concern on this 12 months’s elections, but it surely appears to have been trumped usually by inflation and the state of the financial system. At least one Democratic candidate, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, is attempting to mix the problems. She is claiming that if voters in her state approve a constitutional modification defending the correct to abortion, companies in states with abortion bans shall be extra more likely to transfer there. It’s unclear whether or not this can occur, although.
- The Justice Department this week had its first-ever win in a felony case alleging that labor antitrust guidelines had been violated. A Nevada staffing company that provides faculty nurses had an settlement with the same company in an adjoining county to not rent nurses throughout the county line, in an effort to stop the nurses from looking for larger wages.
Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Arthur Allen, who wrote the newest KNH-NPR Bill of the Month, about an outdated however nonetheless very costly most cancers drug. Do you’ve an exorbitant or baffling medical invoice you’d prefer to share with us? You can try this right here.
Plus, for additional credit score, the panelists advocate their favourite well being coverage tales of the week they suppose it’s best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: Modern Healthcare’s “Elon Musk Bought Twitter. Should Healthcare Professionals Be Worried?” by Caroline Hudson
Joanne Kenen: Mountain State Spotlight’s “Stigmatize, Blame, Then Restrict: How This West Virginia City Responded to the Opioid Epidemic,” by Ellie Heffernan
Tami Luhby: The Washington Post’s “A Psychiatry Wait List Had 880 patients; a Hospital Couldn’t Keep Up,” by Rachel Zimmerman
Julie Appleby: KHN’s “‘Fourth Trimester’ Focus Is Pushed to Prevent Maternal Deaths,” by April Dembosky
Also talked about on this week’s episode:
Politico’s “Michigan Democrats’ Pitch to Voters: Abortion Bans Are Bad for Business,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein
Bloomberg Law’s “DOJ Notches First No-Poach Win With Staffing Firm’s Sentencing,” by Dan Papscun
To hear all our podcasts, click on right here.
And subscribe to KHN’s What the Health? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you hearken to podcasts.