Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

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

The Top Three...

KFF Health News: Presidential Election Puts Affordable Care Act Back In The Bull’s-Eye Health care is suddenly front and center in the final sprint to the presidential election, and the outcome will shape the Affordable Care Act and the coverage it gives to more than 40 million people. Besides reproductive rights, health care for most of the campaign has been an in-the-shadows issue. However, recent comments from former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, about possible changes to the ACA have opened Republicans up to heavier scrutiny. (Armour, 10/25)

The Hill: Harris, Trump Clash Over Future Of ObamaCare Vice President Harris wants to put ObamaCare front and center in the campaign’s final weeks. Abortion has been the primary health issue for much of the campaign, but Harris is reopening Democrats’ successful 2018 playbook by elevating the Affordable Care Act. ... Early in the campaign, Trump revived his previous calls for repealing the law and replacing it with something better. Senate Republicans were quick to shut down any talk of bringing up repeal again, even if they were to control the government. Lately, Trump has slightly shifted his tone. (Weixel, 10/24)

Stat: Look To Lame Duck Congress For Health Policy Changes After Election When Congress returns on Nov. 12 after the elections, lawmakers will have just over a month to fund the government. That deadline pressure creates an opportunity to potentially enact health care legislation. Regardless of what happens this year, next year will be huge for health care policy, in part because lawmakers need to address major expiring policies. (Wilkerson, 10/23)

For a Deeper Dive...

KFF Health News: Voters Fret High Medical Bills Are Being Ignored By Presidential Rivals Tom Zawierucha, 58, a building services worker in New Jersey, wishes candidates would talk more about protecting older Americans from big medical bills. Teresa Morton, 43, a freight dispatcher in Memphis, Tennessee, with two teenagers, wants to hear more about how elected officials would help working Americans saddled with unaffordable deductibles. (Levey, 10/24)

Newsweek: Abortion Overtakes Immigration In Voters' Minds Abortion has overtaken immigration to become the second most important issue for voters heading into the 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Newsweek polling suggests. Over the past 16 months, a series of polls conducted by Redfield & Wilton Strategies ahead of the November 5 election asked participants: "Which issues are most likely to determine how you vote in the November 2024 Presidential Election? You may select up to three." Only four issues out of 24 were repeatedly selected by more than two in five respondents: the economy, abortion, immigration and healthcare. (10/21)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Physician Pay Proposal Attracts Criticism Doctors are fed up with the system the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services uses to promote quality and set reimbursement rates. But they fear the agency's new vision even more. Physician pay is once again front and center for policymakers. CMS is due to issue the final rule for Medicare payments in 2025 this month. When Congress returns after Election Day, lawmakers will strive to mitigate whatever cut the agency implements, as they did for 2024. Under the proposed rule CMS published in July, Medicare physician reimbursements would be 2.9% lower next year. (Early, 10/21)

Stat: The Key Ballot Measures And Races To Watch That Could Reshape Health Care While Vice President Harris and former President Trump are dominating the headlines in the last two weeks before the election, there is a lengthy list of health care proposals and down-ballot races that could heavily shape health policy. More than a dozen states are voting on health care issues ranging from abortion access to psychedelics use, paying for long-term care, and medically assisted suicide. (Owermohle, 10/24)

Stat: Questionable Medicare Payments To UnitedHealth, Humana: Federal Watchdog A federal watchdog found that Medicare Advantage insurers led by UnitedHealth Group collected billions of dollars in dubious payments from Medicare by using home visits and medical chart reviews to diagnose patients with conditions for which they received no follow-up care. (Ross, Bannow, Lawrence and Herman, 10/24)

Newsweek: One In 14 American Patients May Be Harmed By Hospital Diagnosis Mistakes Harmful diagnostic errors may occur for as many as one in every 14 hospital patients receiving medical care, a new study based on a single medical center in the U.S. has found. As many as 85 percent of these errors may be preventable, highlighting the need for improved surveillance in hospital settings. ... In their study, published in the journal BMJ Quality and Safety, [Anuj Dalal, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and lead author on the study] and colleagues concluded that, based on this sample from a single medical center, harmful diagnostic errors occurred in 7 percent of patients, or one in 14, receiving general medical care. They added that the majority of these errors were preventable. (Dewan, 10/24)

Reuters: Black Women Face A Maternal Health Crisis. Advocates Want To Make That A US Election Issue Francisca Shaw said she knew something was deeply wrong as she was rushed into an emergency cesarean for the delivery of her third child, a daughter, at Seattle's University of Washington Medical Center in 2015. "I remember I told my doctor when I was getting cut: 'I can't breathe," Shaw recalled saying. "She said: 'Oh yeah, you can.'" Shaw's uterus ruptured during the c-section, causing heavy bleeding. She required a hysterectomy and went into cardiac arrest, according to medical records reviewed by Reuters. She was hospitalized for three weeks after the birth, the records show. (Flowers and Raychaudhuri, 10/19)

Modern Healthcare: Change Healthcare Breach Affected 30% Of US Population It's official: The massive cyberattack against UnitedHealth Group unit Change Healthcare was the biggest healthcare data breach in history. The ransomware incident in February affected 100 million people, or nearly 30% of the U.S. population, according to the Breach Portal maintained by the Office for Civil Rights at the Health and Human Services Department. That's consistent with what CEO Andrew Witty told a House subcommittee in May, when he testified that the breach ensnared about one-third of the country. (Berryman, 10/23)

Axios: Ghost Networks Deny Americans Mental Health Care: Lawsuit The push for more transparency in the health system is increasingly taking aim at "ghost networks" — the inaccurate health provider directories that critics say are keeping Americans from getting mental health care. A lawsuit filed against Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield this week comes as Congress and the White House are stepping up efforts to require insurers to accurately account for which providers are in network. (Reed, 10/24)

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