The Host
While repealing the Affordable Care Act appears to have fallen off congressional Republicans’ to-do checklist for 2023, plans to chop Medicare and Medicaid are again. The GOP desires Democrats to agree to chop spending on each applications in change for a vote to forestall the federal government from defaulting on its money owed.
Meanwhile, the nation’s well being care staff — from nurses to medical doctors to pharmacists — are feeling the pressure of caring not only for the rising variety of insured sufferers searching for care, but in addition extra critically unwell sufferers who’re tough and typically even violent.
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 Victoria Knight of Axios.
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Conservative House Republicans are hoping to capitalize on their new legislative clout to slash authorities spending, because the battle over elevating the debt ceiling presents a preview of potential debates this yr over pricey federal entitlement applications like Medicare.
- House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stated Republicans will defend Medicare and Social Security, however the elevation of conservative firebrands — like the brand new chair of the highly effective House Ways and Means Committee — raises questions on what “protecting” these applications means to Republicans.
- Record numbers of Americans enrolled for insurance coverage protection this yr beneath the Affordable Care Act. Years after congressional Republicans final tried to repeal it, the as soon as extremely controversial program often known as Obamacare seems to be following the trajectory of different established federal entitlement applications: evolving, rising, and turning into much less controversial over time.
- Recent studies present that whereas Americans had much less hassle paying for well being care final yr, many nonetheless delayed care resulting from prices. The findings spotlight that being insured will not be sufficient to maintain care inexpensive for a lot of Americans.
- Health care staff are rising louder of their requires higher staffing, with a nursing strike in New York City and up to date studies about pharmacist burnout offering a number of the newest arguments for the way widespread staffing points could also be harming affected person care. There is bipartisan settlement in Congress for addressing the nursing scarcity, however what they might do is one other query.
Plus, for further credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week that they suppose you need to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: Roll Call’s “NIH Missing Top Leadership at Start of a Divided Congress,” by Ariel Cohen
Tami Luhby: CNN’s “ER on the Field: An Inside Look at How NFL Medical Teams Prepare for a Game Day Emergency,” by Nadia Kounang and Amanda Sealy
Joanne Kenen: The Atlantic’s “Don’t Fear the Handshake,” by Katherine J. Wu
Victoria Knight: The Washington Post’s “‘The Last of Us’ Zombie Fungus Is Real, and It’s Found in Health Supplements,” by Mike Hume
Also talked about on this week’s podcast:
The New York Times’ “As France Moves to Delay Retirement, Older Workers Are in a Quandary,” by Liz Alderman
Stat’s “Congressional Medicare Advisers Warn of Higher Drug Prices, Despite New Price Negotiation,” by John Wilkerson
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