Three and a half months after funding expired for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CHIP is lastly refinanced, this time for six years. That was considered one of a number of well being insurance policies hooked up to the short-term spending invoice Congress handed Monday, which reopened the federal authorities after a weekend shutdown.
The spending invoice additionally delayed — once more — a number of unpopular well being care taxes which might be meant to assist fund the Affordable Care Act, together with the “Cadillac tax” on very beneficiant well being plans.
This week’s “What The Health?” panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post.
In addition to these matters, they focus on new management on the Department of Health and Human Services, after the Senate confirmed Alex Azar to steer the company, and efforts by non secular conservatives at HHS to make it simpler for well being staff to say no to take part in abortions, physician-assisted dying or different controversial well being procedures.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
Now that Congress has funded the Children’s Health Insurance Program, well being care advocates are lining as much as push for funding for group well being facilities, which serve about 1 in 12 Americans and ran out of federal funding on Oct. 1. At the identical time, the bipartisan effort within the Senate to cross laws to stabilize the ACA’s marketplaces appears to be dropping steam. The new HHS rule that protects staff who’ve conscientious objections to companies — similar to offering contraception, treating transgender sufferers or performing abortions — duplicates protections that have been already contained in state and federal legal guidelines. Email Sign-Up
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Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest their favourite well being tales of the week they suppose you need to learn, too.
Julie Rovner: Politico’s “The religious activists on the rise inside Trump’s health department,” by Dan Diamond.
Joanne Kenen: Dallas News’ “Bishop Lynch High School having online school Thursday and Friday due to flu outbreak,” by Dana Branham.
Alice Ollstein: The Washington Post’s “Trump’s 24-year-old drug policy appointee to step down by month’s end,” by Robert O’Harrow Jr.
Paige Winfield Cunningham: The Texas Tribune, “Dangerous Deliveries: Is Texas doing enough to stop moms from dying?” by Marissa Evans and Chris Essig.
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Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nationwide well being coverage information service. It is an editorially impartial program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which isn’t affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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