Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

Politico: Republicans Again Find Themselves In An Obamacare Pickle The ongoing debate over soon-to-expire Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies has reopened an old wound for Republicans: What should they do about the health care law they have railed against for more than a decade but has now taken root with their own constituents? While some GOP hard-liners are again embracing repeal-and-replace rhetoric, the scars from the party’s failed attempt to undo the ACA in 2017 have left a broader swath of Republicans extremely wary of trying to rip out the law — even as they continue to criticize it. (Guggenheim, Carney and Hill, 10/17)

Politico: Four GOP Ideas For An Obamacare Subsidies Compromise A menu of options is starting to emerge around what a compromise might look like for extending a suite of Affordable Care Act tax credits, which have become a focal point in the current government funding standoff. With the shutdown about to enter its third week, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune continue to insist that any negotiation over the future of the enhanced Obamacare subsidies will need to happen after the government reopens. (Guggenheim, 10/14)

KFF Health News: RFK Jr. Misses Mark In Touting Rural Health Transformation Fund As Historic Infusion Of Cash At a September Senate hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. boasted about a rural health initiative within  President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” “It’s going to be the biggest infusion of federal dollars into rural health care in American history,” Kennedy said, responding to criticism from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Sanders said the law would harm patients and rural hospitals. (Zionts, 10/15)

For a Deeper Dive...

AP: Federal Health Workers Targeted In Weekend Firings Hundreds of federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration’s mass firings over the weekend, current and laid-off workers said Monday, as the administration aimed to pressure Democratic lawmakers to give in and end the nearly two-week-long government shutdown. (Swenson and Aleccia, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Democratic Governors Form Public Health Alliance To Counter RFK Jr. Fifteen Democratic governors on Wednesday announced the formation of a state public health alliance designed to counter turmoil at federal agencies under the Trump administration. Leaders of the Governors Public Health Alliance said it will serve as a hub for governors and public health leaders to monitor disease outbreaks, establish public health policy guidance, prepare for pandemics and buy vaccines and other supplies. (Ovalle and Sun, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Health Care Premiums For Small Businesses And Their Employees Are In The Balance In Shutdown They are restaurateurs and beauticians, landscapers and mediators, chiropractors and funeral directors. They are freelancers, contractors and gig workers. And they now find themselves stuck in the middle of the political battle that has shut down the government.At the core of the congressional stalemate is how much people should pay for their Affordable Care Act health policies, also known as Obamacare, and how much the government should pay in federal subsidies. (Whoriskey, 10/16)

NBC News: Fired CDC Workers' Fates Hang In The Balance After Week Of Chaos After a week of chaos and confusion, as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees described it, the fates of more than 600 workers hang in the balance now that a federal judge has temporarily blocked their terminations. (Bendix and Edwards, 10/16)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid DSH Payments Are Getting Cut. Here's What To Know Hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income uninsured patients at long last are confronting a Medicaid cut that had been kicked down the road for more than a decade. The government shut down Oct. 1 when Congress failed to enact fiscal 2026 appropriations bills to finance federal operations. Simultaneously, a number of key healthcare policies expired because of the deadlock, including a provision to delay a reduction in Medicaid disproportionate share hospital, or DSH, payments. (Early, 10/15)

What is Changing...

The New York Times: Trump Administration Decimates Birth Control Office In Layoffs The Trump administration has targeted a federal office that oversees a $300 million family planning program for layoffs, raising fears that it is effectively ending an initiative that provides contraception for millions of low-income women, according to three people with knowledge of the events. The decimation of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs — part of a larger effort by President Trump to fire federal employees during the government shutdown — threatens a program that has existed for over 50 years and also offers testing for sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy, as well as basic infertility care. (Kitchener, 10/15)

CBS News: After CDC Cuts, Former Officials Say "We're Not Prepared" For Daily Public Health Or Emergencies Days after hundreds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees were laid off, former CDC officials are warning it has left the agency more unprepared to keep Americans healthy and safe. While 1,300 CDC employees initially received reduction-in-force notices on Friday, about 700 were later notified their terminations were revoked, union officials said. Some of the RIF notices had been sent to CDC employees due to a coding error, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said. (Moniuszko, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Hundreds Of CDC Layoffs Reversed, But Biodefense Staff At ASPR Hit Dozens of fired staff members at the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a federal health agency, included individuals with top-secret clearance who work with intelligence agencies on biodefense issues such as pandemics and weaponized pathogens, said a former Department of Health and Human Services official who has been in contact with those dismissed. (Sun and Winfield Cunningham, 10/13)

For the Visual Among Us...

A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD