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The Host
Julie Rovner
KHN
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KHN’s weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Health?” A famous skilled on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference e book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third version.
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act could have stopped attempting to overturn the complete regulation in courtroom, however they haven’t stopped difficult items of it — and so they have discovered an ally in Fort Worth, Texas: U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor. In 2018, O’Connor held that the complete ACA was unconstitutional — a ruling ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court. Now the choose has discovered that a part of the regulation’s requirement for insurers to cowl preventive care with out copays violates a federal spiritual freedom regulation.
In a lift for the well being regulation, although, North Carolina has turn into the fortieth state to broaden the Medicaid program to lower-income individuals who have been beforehand ineligible. Even although the federal authorities pays 90% of the price of growth, a broad swath of states — principally within the South — have resisted widening eligibility for this system.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call.
Panelists
Rachel Cohrs
Stat News
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Sandhya Raman
CQ Roll Call
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Thursday’s determination out of Texas impacts well being plans nationwide and is predicted to disrupt the medical insurance market, which for years has offered preventive care with out price sharing beneath the ACA. Even if the choice survives a probable enchantment, insurers might proceed providing the favored, typically not-so-costly advantages, however they might not be required to take action.
- The determination, which discovered that the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force can’t mandate protection necessities, hinges on spiritual freedom objections to plans protecting PrEP, the HIV treatment, alongside different preventive care.
- Speaking of the ACA, this week North Carolina turned the newest state to broaden Medicaid protection beneath the well being regulation, which is able to render an estimated 600,000 residents newly eligible for this system. The improvement comes amid experiences about hospitals struggling to cowl uncompensated care, notably within the 10 states which have resisted increasing Medicaid.
- Pushback towards Medicaid growth has contributed over time to a yawning protection divide between politically “blue” and “red” states, with liberal-leaning states pushing to cowl extra providers and folks, whereas conservative-leaning states house in on insurance policies that restrict protection, like work necessities.
- On the abortion entrance, state attorneys basic are difficult the FDA’s authority on the abortion tablet — not solely in Texas, but additionally in Washington state, the place Democratic state officers are preventing the FDA’s present restrictions on prescribing and meting out the drug. The Biden administration has adopted an identical argument because it has within the Texas case difficult the company’s authentic approval of the abortion tablet: Let the FDA do its job and impose restrictions it deems acceptable, the administration says.
- The FDA is poised to make a long-awaited determination on an over-the-counter contraception tablet, an choice already accessible in different nations. One key unknown, although, is whether or not the company would impose age restrictions on entry to it.
- And as of this week, 160 Defense Department promotions have stalled over one Republican senator’s objections to a Pentagon coverage relating to federal funds to service members touring to acquire abortions.
Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you need to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: New York Magazine/The Cut’s “Abortion Wins Elections: The Fight to Make Reproductive Rights the Centerpiece of the Democratic Party’s 2024 Agenda,” by Rebecca Traister.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Stat’s “How the Drug Industry Uses Fear of Fentanyl to Extract More Profit From Naloxone,” by Lev Facher.
Rachel Cohrs: The Washington Post’s “These Women Survived Combat. Then They Had to Fight for Health Care,” by Hope Hodge Seck.
Sandhya Raman: Capital B’s “What the Covid-19 Pandemic and Mpox Outbreak Taught Us About Reducing Health Disparities,” by Margo Snipe and Kenya Hunter.
Also talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credits
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is likely one of the three main working packages at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit group offering info on well being points to the nation.
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