The Host
The way forward for the Medicaid medical insurance program for these with low incomes is unsure, as Congress works on a finances plan calling for main cuts whereas President Donald Trump each guarantees to help that plan in addition to to guard this system.
In the meantime, hundreds of staff on the Division of Well being and Human Companies have been fired over the vacation weekend, whereas states with abortion bans face off in opposition to states with legal guidelines defending medical doctors who use telemedicine to prescribe abortion tablets to residents of the previous.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins College Bloomberg College of Public Well being and Politico Journal, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Medicaid cuts of the magnitude the Home is contemplating would decimate this system. And, because the Republican Social gathering has realigned, slicing it might affect their base. Smaller adjustments across the edges — ideas like work necessities — could also be extra attainable, despite the fact that they haven’t proved efficient in previous experiments.
- Most of the firings at HHS have a very random really feel. In some instances, entire places of work, a few of which have been put in place to pursue Trump priorities akin to synthetic intelligence — have been left with none staff as a result of all their staff have been “new.” In different instances, extremely recruited scientists have been let go. What’s rising as a long-term difficulty from these federal firings is how businesses just like the Nationwide Institutes of Well being will recruit future scientists. Job candidates are extremely educated individuals who can discover extra profitable employment within the personal sector. The lack of brainpower, mixed with diminished federal help for analysis, could have penalties. Areas akin to fundamental analysis, which isn’t a moneymaker, might undergo.
- Texas and Louisiana are every in search of to prosecute a New York physician who prescribes abortion remedy by way of telemedicine. The governor of New York has vowed to guard such medical doctors underneath the state’s “defend legislation.” However the final choice of which state legislation prevails will seemingly be made by the Supreme Courtroom.
Plus, for “additional credit score,” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it is best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: KFF Well being Information’ “Ache Clinics Made Hundreds of thousands From ‘Pointless’ Injections Into ‘Human Pin Cushions’” by Brett Kelman.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Washington Put up’s “U.S. Reverses Plan To Shut Down Free Covid Check Program,” by Lena H. Solar and Carolyn Y. Johnson.
Joanne Kenen: Wired’s “The Ketamine-Fueled ‘Psychedelic Slumber Events’ That Get Tech Execs Again on Observe,” by Elana Klein.
Sarah Karlin-Smith: Fortune’s “The Dietary Dietary supplements You Assume Are Enhancing Your Well being Might Be Damaging Your Liver, Analysis Warns,” by Lindsey Leake.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
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