Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

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

The Top Three...

AP: CBO: Trump's Tax Law Could Lead To $491B In Medicare Cuts The federal budget deficits caused by President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law could trigger automatic cuts to Medicare if Congress does not act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Friday. The CBO estimates that Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans over age 65, could potentially see as much as $491 billion in cuts from 2027 to 2034 if Congress does not act to mitigate a 2010 law that forces across-the-board cuts to many federal programs once legislation increases the federal deficit. (Groves, 8/16)

MedPage Today: CMS Announces Plan To Disenroll Noncitizens From Medicaid And CHIP The Trump administration announced a new initiative Tuesday aimed at getting noncitizens disenrolled from the Medicaid program and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). "CMS will begin providing states with monthly enrollment reports identifying individuals whose citizenship or immigration status could not be confirmed through federal databases," the agency said in a press release. "States are responsible for reviewing cases, verifying the citizenship or immigration status of identified individuals, requesting additional documentation if needed, and taking appropriate actions when necessary, including adjusting coverage or enforcing noncitizen eligibility rules." (Frieden, 8/19)

Modern Healthcare: Employer Healthcare Costs To Increase By 9% In 2026: Report Employers are renegotiating vendor contracts, paring back benefits and implementing new pharmacy models to offset the largest projected rise in healthcare costs in at least a decade. Large companies’ median healthcare costs will grow by an estimated 9% in 2026, up from 8% this year, and the highest increase since at least 2017, according to a report the Business Group on Health published Tuesday. Employers plan to use a variety of strategies to combat rising expenses. Making changes to the health insurance they offer employees could reduce the anticipated increase in costs to 7.6% next year, the report said. (Tepper, 8/19)

For a Deeper Dive...

Politico: Supreme Court Lets Trump Admin Cut Off Health Grants It Says Advance DEI Or ‘Gender Ideology Extremism’ The Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to cut off health research grants it contends advance diversity, equity and inclusion efforts or promote “gender ideology extremism.” By a 5-4 vote, the justices lifted an order a federal court judge in Boston issued forcing the National Institutes of Health to restore funding for more than 1,700 grants focused on heart disease, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s disease, alcohol and substance abuse and mental health issues. (Gerstein, 8/21)

Politico: RFK Jr. Attacks Pediatricians’ Group Over Vaccine Recommendations The gloves are off in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s feud with American doctors. Hours after the American Academy of Pediatrics, the professional society for doctors who care for children, issued Covid-19 vaccine guidance contradicting that of the health secretary, Kennedy accused the group of engaging in a “pay-to-play scheme to promote commercial ambitions of AAP’s Big Pharma benefactors” in a post on social media platform X. (Friedman, 8/19)

Fierce Healthcare: HHS To Form Outside Committee On Reshaping Medicare, Medicaid The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will seek external experts for a new committee tasked with providing strategic guidance on the care provided by government insurance programs. The HHS announced Thursday that the Healthcare Advisory Committee will offer recommendations to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz, M.D., seeking to "improve how care is financed and delivered" across Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. (Minemyer, 8/21)

The New York Times: Year Will End With 300,000 Fewer Federal Workers, Trump Official Says There will be some 300,000 fewer federal workers on the government payroll by the end of December than there were in January, according to the Trump administration’s top human resources official. That amounts to the loss of about one in eight federal civilian workers, and would be the largest single-year reduction since World War II. But in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, Scott Kupor, painted the coming few months as a period of relative stability after a time of tremendous upheaval. (Sullivan, 8/22)

The Washington Post: Hundreds Of CDC Employees Receive Permanent Layoff Notices Hundreds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees have received permanent termination notices, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, marking the latest blow in the Trump administration’s sweeping purge of the agencies that oversee government health programs. Between 500 and 600 employees at the agency were terminated as of Monday, said one CDC employee, who spoke anonymously for fear of retaliation. A federal health official confirmed that these notices were sent, but declined to provide a number. (Sun and Moon, 8/21)

The Hill: CDC Funding Changes Inject ‘Chaos’ Into Local Health Programs The Trump administration has delayed or blocked millions of dollars in federal grants from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), leaving state and local health departments in the dark, uncertain when or even if they will get money that’s already been appropriated by Congress for key public health initiatives. With little communication from the White House, CDC staff are trying to expedite getting grants out the door, and public health officials are scrambling to spend the money they have before it expires Sept. 30. (Weixel, 8/20)

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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