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President Donald Trump has been promising to disclose a brand new well being plan since early this yr. That hasn’t occurred but. Now, there’s a debate about whether or not having a plan for Democrats to criticize would assist or damage the president’s marketing campaign.
Meanwhile, among the many Democrats vying to tackle Trump subsequent November, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is proposing a plan to forgive billions of dollars of medical debt owed by sufferers.
Other drama taking part in out this fall: What will occur to the federal household planning program now that Planned Parenthood has dropped out over Trump administration guidelines it says violate medical ethics, and what’s going to a multimillion-dollar verdict towards opioid producer Johnson & Johnson imply for the funding of applications to assist these with habit?
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
We are nonetheless ready to see what a Trump well being care plan would possibly appear to be. Conventional knowledge suggests it should probably take the type of a group of objectives and concepts — a lot of which have already been introduced or launched, such because the administration’s efforts on well being worth transparency. The rollout of a legislative package deal is more and more unlikely. One variable that might change that: Incentives for Republicans and the administration is likely to be completely different if the lower-court ruling invalidating the Affordable Care Act is upheld on enchantment. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has teased out a plan to cancel an estimated $81 billion value of medical debt. There’s no discuss how this idea can be funded. One level that might create a number of curiosity amongst voters: Medical debt would not have an effect on customers’ credit score scores. Planned Parenthood has, for now, dropped out of the Title X household planning program. More states and organizations might observe go well with within the weeks forward, particularly as these entities now should file plans with the administration outlining how they may adjust to new necessities. The first verdict in favor of a state lawsuit towards an opioid producer, with Oklahoma suing Johnson & Johnson, introduced a verdict of greater than half a billion dollars. But that was a lot lower than the state was looking for ($17.5 billion) that the corporate’s inventory rose after the choice. That makes it unclear what impression this take a look at case can have as different states sue different opioid makers to get better damages brought on by their merchandise.
Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Rachel Bluth, who wrote the most recent KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” function a couple of affected person who did every thing proper to organize financially for an elective surgical process — and nonetheless acquired billed greater than he anticipated. If you have got an outrageous medical invoice you want to share with us, you are able to do that here.
Plus, for additional credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week they assume you need to learn too:
Julie Rovner: Kaiser Health News’ “Beset By Lawsuits And Criticism In U.S., Opioid Makers Eye New Market In India,” and “In India’s Slums, ‘Painkillers Are Part Of The Daily Routine,” by Sarah Varney
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Times Magazine’s “Why Doesn’t the United States Have Universal Health Care? The Answer Has Everything to Do With Race,” by Jeneen Interlandi
Kimberly Leonard: Vox.com’s “She Spent More Than $110,000 on Drug Rehab. Her Son Still Died,” by German Lopez
Stephanie Armour: The Atlantic’s “L.A.’s Health-Care Reform Is a Lesson for Democrats,” by Ronald Brownstein
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