Health coverage performed a surprisingly strong position in President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union deal with.
The president laid out an formidable set of well being objectives in his speech Tuesday to Congress and the nation, together with reining in drug costs, ending the transmission of HIV within the U.S. through the subsequent decade and dedicating extra sources to preventing childhood most cancers.
Meanwhile, in Utah and Idaho, two of the states the place voters final fall accepted growth of the Medicaid well being program, Republican legislatures try to cut back these plans.
This week’s panelists for KHN’s “What the Health?” are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Alice Ollstein of Politico.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
The Trump administration is proposing to alter the drug rebates in Medicare so that customers buying the medicines get extra of the financial savings and the middlemen negotiating the offers get much less. But that effort might result in elevated insurance coverage premiums — a consequence that might have vital political repercussions. Trump’s pledge to finish HIV transmissions in 10 years was a little bit of a shock because the illness had not been a lot of a precedence in earlier strikes by the administration. The efforts to limit Medicaid growth accepted by voters in Utah and Idaho present the constraints of referendums and will influence a transfer to get a Medicaid growth query on the Florida poll. An intriguing research this week confirmed that drugs to deal with cardiac issues saved Medicare cash. The outcomes have been stunning as a result of typically public well being officers counsel that prevention is vital to enhance well being however doesn’t essentially lower your expenses.
Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN senior correspondent Phil Galewitz, who investigated and wrote the newest “Bill of the Month” function for Kaiser Health News and NPR. It’s a few man with a minor drawback — fainting after a flu shot — and a serious invoice. You can learn the story here.
If you might have a medical invoice you desire to NPR and KHN to research, you’ll be able to submit it here.
Plus, for additional credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week they suppose you must learn too:
Julie Rovner: NPR’s “Texans Can Appeal Surprise Medical Bills, But the Process Can Be Draining,” by Ashley Lopez
Margot Sanger-Katz: The Los Angeles Times’ “In Rush to Revamp Medicaid, Trump Officials Bend Rules That Protect Patients,” by Noam N. Levey
Anna Edney: Bloomberg News’ “Ketamine Could Be the Key to Reversing America’s Rising Suicide Rate,” by Cynthia Koons and Robert Langreth
Alice Ollstein: The Washington Post’s “’It Will Take Off Like a Wildfire’: The Unique Dangers of the Washington State Measles Outbreak,” by Lena H. Sun and Maureen O’Hagan
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