Congress is on the precipice of shutting down the federal government, except lawmakers can shortly agree on one other short-term spending invoice. And this time, the Children’s Health Insurance Program is caught within the crosshairs. Republicans are providing six years of funding for CHIP as an enticement for Democratic votes on the spending invoice, however Democrats are nonetheless balking as a result of they need the invoice to incorporate protections for undocumented people delivered to the U.S. by their dad and mom once they have been kids.
Meanwhile, with the assistance of the Trump administration, states are different methods to vary the Medicaid program in addition to work necessities.
And Tom Scully, former head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services below President George W. Bush, affords his predictions for what may occur this yr in well being coverage. His quick reply: not a lot.
Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News (left), Sarah Kliff of Vox.com, Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post and Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo communicate at a dwell taping of this week’s “What The Health?” podcast. (Lynne Shallcross/KHN)
This week’s “What The Health?” panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Sarah Kliff of Vox.com, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post.
In the podcast’s first dwell taping earlier than an viewers, the panelists focus on these subjects in addition to whether or not states will cross their very own particular person insurance coverage necessities now that the penalty for the federal “individual mandate” has been repealed, how the lack of that penalty will change the person marketplaces and whether or not anybody will handle the excessive value of prescribed drugs.
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Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
Although CHIP has lengthy loved a status as having bipartisan assist, it seems that House Republicans are much less dedicated to this system than in previous years. The addition of a piece requirement gained most of the headlines within the Trump administration’s Medicaid waiver for Kentucky, however different essential adjustments got a inexperienced gentle, too. They embrace jettisoning the long-standing follow of giving enrollees retroactive protection in the event that they have been eligible for it at the moment, charging premiums, and locking individuals out of protection in the event that they fail to offer required premiums or paperwork. Maryland officers are weighing the choice of organising a state-based requirement that individuals get insurance coverage for the reason that federal authorities has repealed the Affordable Care Act’s penalties for not having insurance coverage. If it passes, different states might comply with swimsuit. Scully says one of many largest points going through policymakers is attempting to repair the gross inequities in Medicaid as totally different states use it for various populations and applications.
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Related Topics Health Industry Insurance Medicaid Multimedia States The Health Law Children’s Health Drug Costs Podcast U.S. Congress
