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Alabama is the newest in a rising record of states passing bans on abortion in an try and get the Supreme Court to weaken or overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. Unlike many of the different state legal guidelines which have handed this 12 months, nevertheless, the Alabama legislation would utterly ban abortion besides when the girl’s life was at risk from the being pregnant.
On Capitol Hill, separate bipartisan teams within the House and Senate unveiled draft proposals to deal with “surprise” medical payments that sufferers get after they inadvertently obtain care exterior their insurance coverage community. The payments take completely different approaches, nevertheless, so it’s not clear the place a compromise may lie.
And in Washington state, the legislature has authorised a brand new “public option” medical health insurance plan — to be run by personal insurers — that may grow to be accessible for shoppers who buy their very own insurance coverage.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner from Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
The excessive court docket’s justices can decide and select which circumstances they take, and plenty of observers suppose that they’re extra inclined to cope with abortion on an incremental foundation slightly than via a radical change like Alabama’s legislation. A legislation from Indiana that bans abortions for explicit causes, together with gender choice and incapacity, has been earlier than the court docket for months. It’s not but clear if the present spate of state payments will have an effect on the presidential election in 2020, however they might play a job in Senate races in Alabama, Georgia and Maine, amongst different states. As the hassle on shock medical payments works its means ahead, regulate Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who chairs the committee that handles these measures. He has advised that he can have one other invoice to supply on the topic. House Democrats have packed some common payments to battle rising drug costs with measures to bolster the Affordable Care Act, and Republicans are crying foul. Once once more, Sen. Alexander could also be a essential participant, as a result of he’s making an attempt to tug collectively a measure that offers with drug pricing, shock medical payments, the price of well being care and the Obamacare marketplaces. Washington has grow to be the primary state to embrace a public possibility insurance coverage plan for its ACA market. But the plan can be run by insurance coverage firms and it’s unclear how that may result in decrease premium costs for shoppers.
Plus, for additional credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week they suppose it is best to learn too:
Julie Rovner: The Atlantic’s “Why the Government Pays Billions to People Who Claim Injury by Vaccines,” by James Hamblin
Margot Sanger-Katz: Journal of the American Medical Association’s “Association of a Beverage Tax on Sugar-Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverages With Changes in Beverage Prices and Sales at Chain Retailers in a Large Urban Setting,” by Christina A. Roberto, Hannah G. Lawman, Michael T. LeVasseur and others
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Times’ “Why Politics Should Be Kept Out of Miscarriages,” by Aaron E. Carroll
Anna Edney: Kaiser Health News’ “No Mercy: Dealing With Hospital Closure, Pioneer Kansas Town Asks: What Comes Next?” by Sarah Jane Tribble
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