Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

Health policy impacts everyone, but it can be hard to know what is important. If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

AP: More Than 1 Million Dropped From Medicaid As States Start Post-Pandemic Purge Of Rolls More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic. Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork. Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government, President’s Joe Biden’s administration isn’t too pleased at how efficiently some other states are accomplishing the task. (Lieb and DeMillo, 6/19)

Stat: PhRMA Sues HHS Over Medicare Drug Price Negotiation After losing the drug pricing fight on Capitol Hill, PhRMA is taking its battle to the courts. The pharmaceutical industry’s biggest lobbying group on Wednesday filed a long-expected lawsuit challenging Democrats’ drug pricing law that allowed Medicare to start negotiating prices for certain medicines. (Cohrs, 6/21)

AP: Former North Carolina Health Official Is Picked To Be New CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen, a former North Carolina official, will be the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House announced Friday. Unlike the last two people to serve as head of the nation’s top federal public health agency, Cohen has prior experience running a government agency: She was secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services from 2017 until last year. Before that, she held health-related jobs at two federal agencies. “Dr. Cohen is one of the nation’s top physicians and health leaders with experience leading large and complex organizations, and a proven track-record protecting Americans’ health and safety,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. (Stobbe, 6/16)

For a Deeper Dive...

JAMA: CMS Will Test New Value-Based Primary Care Model Starting in July 2024, the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin piloting the Making Care Primary Model at organizations in 8 states—Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, and Washington. In addition to improving care coordination, helping primary care clinicians connect with specialists, and strengthening connections with community-based organizations, the approach will likely reduce health care costs, the agency said in a statement. (Harris, 6/21)

Politico: 10 Things We’ve Learned About Abortion In The Year Since Roe Fell Several developments defied predictions: Conservative lawmakers at the state and federal levels have struggled to agree on the parameters of abortion bans, while progressive groups have clashed over how far to go in expanding access. Doctors in states with bans have reported hesitancy around providing even legal care because of vague new policies and the fear of prosecution. Voters in Kansas, Kentucky and Montana rejected attempts to curtail access, and Democrats held the Senate in part because of their promise to protect abortion rights. With the legal and political landscape still roiling, here are 10 surprises from the past year. (Ollstein and Messerly, 6/22)

CNN: Report Finds Nationwide Spike In Preventable Deaths, Maternal Mortality And Medical Bills A new report puts US states’ health care systems on a scorecard, with Massachusetts coming out on top. But it also highlights alarming trends across the country, especially in areas like premature deaths and women’s health care. (Viswanathan, 6/22)

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JAMA: Lessons From Across the Pacific—Health Policy Debates Worth Having, Part 1 DA Chokshi

JAMA: Medicare Modernization—The Urgent Need for Fiscal Solvency BJ Miller, LM Grabert, ED Hargan

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