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...

NPR: Senators Ask CEOs Why Their Drugs Cost So Much More In The U.S. Sparks flew on Capitol Hill Thursday as the CEOs of three drug companies faced questions from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions about why drug prices are so much higher in the United States than they are in the rest of the world. The executives from Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and Merck spent almost three hours in front of the committee going back and forth about pricing practices and how the companies spend their money. (Lupkin, 2/8)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Medicare Advantage AI Guidance Issued Medicare Advantage insurers may utilize artificial intelligence and other technologies to assess coverage decisions, but the tools cannot override benefits rules and medical necessity standards, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote in a notice to health insurance companies Tuesday. UnitedHealth Group, Humana and Cigna each is fighting lawsuits alleging they utilize AI, algorithms and similar utilities to routinely decline coverage for post-acute care and other services. (Bennett, 2/6)

KFF Health News: Halfway Through ‘Unwinding,’ Medicaid Enrollment Is Down About 10 Million Halfway through what will be the biggest purge of Medicaid beneficiaries in a one-year span, enrollment in the government-run health insurance program is on track to return to roughly pre-pandemic levels. Medicaid, which covers low-income and disabled people, and the related Children’s Health Insurance Program grew to a record 94 million enrollees as a result of a rule that prohibited states from terminating coverage during the nation’s public health emergency. (Galewitz, 2/7)

For a Deeper Dive...

Axios: Health Care Jobs Grew At Fastest Rate In Over 30 Years Health care employment grew at its fastest clip since 1991 last year as the industry's pandemic recovery continued and demand for care picked up. Health care is playing a big role in fueling a strong labor market, even as the industry grapples with high levels of burnout. Health care jobs expanded by 3.9% in 2023, much higher than the 1.5% growth rate across all other industries, according to new Altarum data. (Millman, 2/2)

KFF Health News: Is Housing Health Care? State Medicaid Programs Increasingly Say ‘Yes’ States are plowing billions of dollars into a high-stakes health care experiment that’s exploding around the country: using scarce public health insurance money to provide housing for the poorest and sickest Americans. California is going the biggest, pumping $12 billion into an ambitious Medicaid initiative largely to help homeless patients find housing, pay for it, and avoid eviction. Arizona is allocating $550 million in Medicaid funding primarily to cover six months of rent for homeless people. Oregon is spending more than $1 billion on services such as emergency rental assistance for patients facing homelessness. Even ruby-red Arkansas will dedicate nearly $100 million partly to house its neediest. (Hart, 2/6)

Modern Healthcare: Workplace Violence Against Nurses On The Rise: NNU Survey Nearly half of nurses reported an increase in workplace violence last year, leading many to consider leaving their job or healthcare altogether, according to a recent survey from National Nurses United. The survey gathered data from more than 900 nurses nationwide and found that in 2022 and 2023 more than 80% of nurses experienced some form of workplace violence. Attacks ranged from bites, punches, kicks and thrown urinals to “racist and sexually aggressive comments,” the union said. (Devereaux, 2/6)

Rolling Stone: Republicans Are Planning To Totally Privatize Medicare If Trump Wins As Rolling Stone has detailed, the proposed Project 2025 agenda is radically right-wing. One item buried in the 887-page blueprint has attracted little attention thus far, but would have a monumental impact on the health of America’s seniors and the future of one of America’s most popular social programs: a call to “make Medicare Advantage the default enrollment option” for people who are newly eligible for Medicare. Such a policy would hasten the end of the traditional Medicare program, as well as its foundational premise: that seniors can go to any doctor or provider they choose. The change would be a boon for private health insurers — which generate massive profits and growing portions of their revenues from Medicare Advantage plans — and further consolidate corporate control over the United States health care system. It would not likely benefit seniors, since the private plans limit the doctors they can see and often wrongfully deny patients’ care. (Perez, 2/5)

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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