The Host

With Medicare and Social Safety apparently off the desk for federal finances cuts, the main target has turned to Medicaid, the federal-state well being program for these with low incomes. President Joe Biden has made it clear he desires to guard this system, together with the Reasonably priced Care Act, however Republicans will probably suggest cuts to each once they current a proposed finances within the subsequent a number of weeks.

In the meantime, confusion over abortion restrictions continues, notably on the FDA. One lawsuit in Texas requires a federal decide to briefly halt distribution of the abortion tablet mifepristone. A separate go well with, although, asks a special federal decide to briefly make the drug simpler to get, by eradicating a number of the FDA’s security restrictions.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Well being Information, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of STAT Information, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Submit.

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• States are working to evaluation Medicaid eligibility for thousands and thousands of individuals as pandemic-era protection guidelines lapse on the finish of March, amid fears that many Individuals kicked off Medicaid who’re eligible without spending a dime or near-free protection beneath the ACA received’t know their choices and can go uninsured.
• Biden promised this week to cease Republicans from “gutting” Medicaid and the ACA. However not all Republicans are on board with cuts to Medicaid. Between the celebration’s slim majority within the Home and the truth that Medicaid pays for nursing properties for a lot of seniors, slicing this system is a politically dicey transfer.
• A nationwide group that pushed the usage of ivermectin to deal with covid-19 is now hyping the drug as a remedy for flu and RSV — regardless of an absence of scientific proof to assist their claims that it’s efficient in opposition to any of these diseases. Nonetheless, there’s a motion of individuals, lots of them medical doctors, who imagine ivermectin works.
• In reproductive well being information, a federal decide just lately dominated {that a} Texas regulation can’t be used to prosecute teams that assist ladies journey out of state to acquire abortions. And the abortion problem has highlighted the function of attorneys normal across the nation — politicizing a previously nonpartisan state publish. –And Eli Lilly introduced plans to chop the worth of some insulin merchandise and cap out-of-pocket prices, although their causes will not be fully altruistic: An knowledgeable identified {that a} change to Medicaid rebates subsequent yr means drugmakers quickly must pay the federal government each time a affected person fills a prescription for insulin, which means Eli Lilly’s plan might save the corporate cash.

Plus, for “further credit score,” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it’s best to learn, too:

Julie Rovner: The New York Occasions’ “A Drug Firm Exploited a Security Requirement to Make Cash,” by Rebecca Robbins.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Occasions’ “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Youngsters Work Brutal Jobs Throughout the U.S.,” by Hannah Dreier.

Rachel Cohrs: STAT Information’ “Nonprofit Hospitals Are Failing Individuals. Their Boards Could Be a Motive Why,” by Sanjay Kishore and Suhas Gondi.

Lauren Weber: KHN and CBS Information’ “This Dental Gadget Was Offered to Repair Sufferers’ Jaws. Lawsuits Declare It Wrecked Their Tooth,” by Brett Kelman and Anna Werner.

Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:

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