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...

ABC News: Evidence Of Racial Disparities In Health Care Reported In Every US State: New Report Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are evident in every state, even those with robust health systems, according to a new analysis from the Commonwealth Fund. In the analysis from the organization, which is aimed at promoting equitable health care, researchers found health system performance is markedly worse for many people of color compared to white people. (4/18)

Bloomberg: PE-Owned Health Care Saw Bankruptcy Surge As Playbook Failed Private equity-owned businesses accounted for a high number of bankruptcies in the health-care sector last year, and another wave of distress looms, according to a new report from an advocacy group that monitors the sector. PE-backed firms accounted for at least 17, or about a fifth, of the 80 bankruptcies of health-care companies last year, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project said in a report due to be released Wednesday. It called 2023 a “record year” for large health-care bankruptcies. (Coleman-Lochner, 4/17)

Axios: Biden Faces Deadline To Finalize Key Health Care Rules The Biden administration has just weeks to finish health policy regulations on Medicaid, tobacco, reproductive care and other key areas, to avoid any chance of them being repealed by the next Congress. (Knight, 4/15)

For a Deeper Dive...

The New York Times: 5 Takeaways From A Year Of Medicaid Upheaval Lindsey McNeil and her 7-year-old daughter, Noelle, who suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy, were jolted by an alert they received from Florida’s Department of Children and Families late last month that Noelle would be losing her Medicaid coverage 10 days later. Their lives have since begun to unravel, Ms. McNeil said. Noelle has stopped seeing the four therapists she visits each week and is running low on medications she needs to prevent her seizures from flaring up. Monday brought a measure of relief: Ms. McNeil learned that Noelle’s coverage had been temporarily reinstated as they wait for a resolution to an appeal filed with the state. (Weiland, 4/16)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Prices For Emergency Care Varied 16-Fold In 2023: JAMA Prices for initiating care at hospital trauma centers vary wildly across hospitals, sometimes leading to patients with insurance paying more than those without coverage, according to a new study. Prices associated with readying doctors and other personnel for trauma cases varied 16-fold in 2023 across 761 hospitals studied, according to a peer-reviewed research letter published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (Kacik, 4/17)

Axios: Trust In Health Institutions Declines As More Rely On Own Judgment Declining confidence in major institutions is driving more people to trust their own ability to assess health information or turn to friends for guidance, indicates a new global Edelman Trust Barometer survey provided exclusively to Axios. (Owens, 4/18)

Stat: UnitedHealth Skips Hearing In The Wake Of Change Cyberattack, Triggering Call For Subpoena Multiple representatives, including House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.) and ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), expressed their disappointment that UnitedHealth failed to make anyone available to testify about the cyberattack on its subsidiary. “I would actually encourage the chair to subpoena UnitedHealthcare. I think they should be here today and I’m appalled, frankly, [that] as a corporate citizen that they didn’t choose to participate,” said Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.). (Trang, 4/16)

The Texas Tribune: Texas, Idaho Abortion Bans Test Against Federal Emergency Medicine Rule For almost 40 years, American hospitals have operated under a federal law that says they must treat and stabilize any patient experiencing a medical emergency. But now, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act finds itself on a collision course with conservative states that want to ban abortion in nearly all cases. (Klibanoff, 4/17)

KFF Health News: Native Americans Have Shorter Life Spans. Better Health Care Isn’t The Only Answer Katherine Goodlow is only 20, but she has experienced enough to know that people around her are dying too young. Goodlow, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, said she’s lost six friends and acquaintances to suicide, two to car crashes, and one to appendicitis. Four of her relatives died in their 30s or 40s, from causes such as liver failure and covid-19, she said. And she recently lost a 1-year-old nephew. (Zionts, 4/17)

You Might Also Enjoy...

HBO: Medicaid: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

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