Health care is a giant political concern, however no place greater than in California. In San Francisco final week, voters overwhelmingly accredited a poll measure upholding a ban on flavored tobacco merchandise — over the vehement objections of the tobacco business.
And the state’s activist lawyer common, Xavier Becerra, is main a gaggle of Democratic officers from greater than a dozen states defending the Affordable Care Act in a case filed in Texas. That is necessary provided that the Trump administration’s Justice Department determined to not defend the regulation in full from expenses that modifications made by Congress in final 12 months’s tax regulation invalidates the well being regulation.
This week’s panelists for KHN’s “What the Health?” are: Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Maria Barry-Jester of FiveThirtyEight.com, Carrie Feibel of KQED San Francisco and Joanne Kenen of Politico.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
Republicans and Democrats had been gearing up for a midterm election debate on who’s liable for increased medical health insurance prices. But that shifted final week to an argument over whether or not shoppers with preexisting circumstances must be assured protection following the Justice Department’s temporary saying modifications to the ACA invalidated these protections. In California, there’s widespread help amongst Democrats for a single-payer well being system. But the time period is considerably amorphous. For some officers, it’s a catch-all phrase that appears to counsel robust efforts with present applications to get the uninsured charge right down to zero, whereas nonetheless holding a lot of the present insurance coverage system in place. Becerra has filed a swimsuit in opposition to Sutter Health, a large within the hospital business in Northern California, alleging that consolidation has resulted in anti-competitive pricing practices. San Francisco’s adoption of a referendum to ban flavored tobacco merchandise may lead different native governments to comply with swimsuit. The measure included not solely merchandise with flavors allegedly geared to younger folks, but additionally menthol cigarettes, which make up about 30 p.c of the market.
Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest their favourite well being tales of the week they assume you need to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The New York Times, “Elizabeth Warren And A Scholarly Debate Over Bankruptcy That Won’t Go Away,” by Margot Sanger-Katz.
Anna Maria Barry-Jester: The Atlantic, “Being Black In America Can Be Hazardous To Your Health,” by Olga Khazan.
Carrie Feibel: KQED, “In The Land Of Legal Weed, Drug Education Moves From ‘Don’t’ To ‘Delay,’” by Carrie Feibel.
Joanne Kenen: The Miami Herald, “She Dreamed Of Getting Plastic Surgery In Miami. Three Days Later, She Was Dead,” by Sarah Blaskey, Sonia Osorio, and Daniel Chang.
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Related Topics Courts Health Care Costs Health Chat Insurance Multimedia States The Health Law Podcast
