The Host
With solely a single vote to spare, the House handed a controversial funds invoice that features billions of {dollars} in tax cuts for the rich, together with billions of {dollars} of cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and the meals stamp program — most of which can have an effect on these on the decrease finish of the earnings scale. But the invoice faces an unsure future within the Senate.
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a report from his fee to “Make America Healthy Again” that described threats to the well being of the American public — however notably included nothing on threats from tobacco, gun violence, or a scarcity of medical insurance.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
House Republicans handed their “big, beautiful” invoice 215-214 this week, with one Republican critic voting current. But the Senate could have its personal “big, beautiful” rewrite. Some conservative senators who fear about federal debt are involved that the invoice isn’t absolutely paid for and would add to the funds deficit. Others, together with some red-state Republicans, say the invoice’s cuts to Medicaid and meals help go too far and would damage low-income Americans. The invoice’s cuts would symbolize the largest reductions to Medicaid in this system’s 60-year historical past.
Many of the invoice’s Medicaid cuts would come from including work necessities. Most individuals receiving Medicaid already work, however such necessities in Arkansas and Georgia confirmed that individuals usually lose protection below these guidelines as a result of they’ve hassle documenting their work hours, together with due to technological issues. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated an earlier model of the invoice would cut back the variety of individuals with Medicaid by at the least 8.6 million over a decade. The necessities additionally might add a burden for employers. The invoice’s work necessities are comparatively broad and would have an effect on people who find themselves 19 to 64 years previous.
People whose Medicaid protection is canceled additionally would not qualify for ACA subsidies for market plans. Medicare additionally could be affected, as a result of the invoice could be anticipated to set off an across-the-board sequestration minimize.
The invoice additionally would impression abortion by successfully banning it in ACA market plans, which might disrupt a compromise struck within the 2010 legislation. And the invoice would block funding for Planned Parenthood in Medicaid, though that federal cash is used for different care reminiscent of most cancers screenings, not abortions. In the previous, the Senate parliamentarian has mentioned that form of provision isn’t allowed below funds guidelines, however some Republicans need to take the bizarre step of overruling the parliamentarian.
This week, FDA leaders launched covid-19 vaccine suggestions in a medical journal. They plan to restrict future entry to the vaccines to individuals 65 and older and others who’re at excessive threat of great sickness if contaminated, and so they need to require producers to do additional medical trials to indicate whether or not the vaccines profit wholesome youthful individuals. There are questions on whether or not that is authorized, which merchandise could be affected, when this is able to take impact, and whether or not it’s moral to require these research.
HHS launched a report on power illness beginning in childhood. The report doesn’t embrace many new findings however is noteworthy partly due to what it doesn’t talk about — gun violence, the main reason behind demise for youngsters and teenagers within the United States; tobacco; the dearth of medical insurance protection; and socioeconomic elements that have an effect on entry to wholesome meals.
Also this week, Rovner interviews University of California-Davis School of Law professor and abortion historian Mary Ziegler about her new ebook on the previous and way forward for the “personhood” motion geared toward granting authorized rights to fetuses and embryos.
Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week they suppose you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The Washington Post’s “White House Officials Wanted To Put Federal Workers ‘in Trauma.’ It’s Working,” by William Wan and Hannah Natanson.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: NPR’s “Diseases Are Spreading. The CDC Isn’t Warning the Public Like It Was Months Ago,” by Chiara Eisner.
Anna Edney: Bloomberg News’ “The Potential Cancer, Health Risks Lurking in One Popular OTC Drug,” by Anna Edney.
Sarah Karlin-Smith: The Farmingdale Observer’s “Scientists Have Been Studying Remote Work for Four Years and Have Reached a Very Clear Conclusion: ‘Working From Home Makes Us Happier,’” by Bob Rubila.
Also talked about on this week’s podcast:
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