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...

KFF Health News: The Debt Ceiling Deal Takes A Bite Out Of Health Programs. It Could Have Been Much Worse
Policy analysts, Democrats, and Republicans dissatisfied with the deal agree: Federal health programs have dodged a budgetary bullet in the Washington showdown over raising the nation’s debt ceiling. A compromise bill — approved in a bipartisan vote by the House of Representatives on Wednesday night and approved by the Senate late Thursday — includes some trims and caps on health spending for the next two years. (Rovner, 6/1)

NBC News: Anti-Hunger Advocates Slam The Expanded Work Requirements For SNAP Participants Included In The Debt Limit Deal
While Republicans say the expanded work requirements would help people get jobs, anti-hunger advocates argue that requirements should be eliminated altogether, citing research that indicates they don’t have a measurable effect on participants’ employment. “It’s not doing anything to help them, to help the economy. It’s just a punitive way to take food away from people,” said Ellen Vollinger, the SNAP director for the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger group. (Chuck and McCorvey, 5/30)

KFF Health News: As Medicaid Purge Begins, ‘Staggering Numbers’ Of Americans Lose Coverage
More than 600,000 Americans have lost Medicaid coverage since pandemic protections ended on April 1. And a KFF Health News analysis of state data shows the vast majority were removed from state rolls for not completing paperwork. Under normal circumstances, states review their Medicaid enrollment lists regularly to ensure every recipient qualifies for coverage. But because of a nationwide pause in those reviews during the pandemic, the health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans kept people covered even if they no longer qualified. (Recht, 6/1)

For a Deeper Dive...

Axios: New CMS Alzheimer's Drug Coverage Plan Raises Questions Around Worth
A Medicare plan for covering new Alzheimer's drugs treatments is reviving thorny questions about whether pricey treatments with modest success slowing the disease's progression are worth the cost and safety concerns. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Thursday outlined conditions under which it would expand coverage for a specific class of Alzheimer's drugs, including Eisai and Biogen's experimental Leqembi. (Gonzalez, 6/2)

Stat: Republicans' Crackdown On Health Regulations Has Major Loopholes
At first glance, the debt ceiling deal that Republicans struck with the White House seems to significantly rein in the Biden administration’s ability to pursue big-ticket health care policy. It includes a provision that would force federal agencies to find ways to offset the cost of any new regulations they create related to programs that cost more than $1 billion. Health regulations can be especially expensive, so Republicans are selling it as a way to limit the agencies’ power to spend. (Cohrs, 6/1)

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