Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

The Top Three...

With so much going on, it can be hard to know what to read. If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

Health Affairs: What The 2022 Midterm Results Might Mean For Health Care A divided Congress would likely neither dramatically expand nor broadly repeal the Affordable Care Act. However, there are areas of potential bipartisan opportunity—either for the lame duck session or the next Congress—such as telehealth expansion and mental health care access. With votes continuing to be tallied in several key states and a Senate runoff race in Georgia in early December, it may take days or weeks to know the full results of the 2022 midterm elections. Even so, health care, and especially abortion rights, seems to have been a key factor in many congressional and state races. Based on what we know now, this article takes a first pass at how the results of the midterm elections might impact health policy. (Keith, 11/10)

The Washington Post: White House Seeks More Covid Funding In Lame-Duck Session The White House mounted another effort on Tuesday to secure billions of dollars from Congress for a new generation of coronavirus vaccines and treatments, even as Republicans remain skeptical about how past allocations were spent. Biden officials finalized a request this week for about $10 billion in public health funds by year’s end, part of a larger request in the lame-duck session of Congress that would also include funding for Ukraine and disaster relief for hurricane damage in Florida, according to six people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential budget discussions. (Diamond, 11/15)

Axios: Biden: Democrats Will Not Have Enough Votes To Codify Roe V. Wade President Biden said Monday that he does not expect congressional Democrats will have enough votes to pass a bill codifying Roe v. Wade. If Republicans capture a narrow majority in the House, Biden's pledge to make an abortion rights bill the first piece of post-midterm legislation to send to Congress will go nowhere. (Gonzalez, 11/14)

For a Deeper Dive...

USA Today: Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Legacy: Obamacare To Trump Impeachment Nancy Pelosi made history in 2007 for getting the job, for becoming the first female speaker of the House and the highest-ranking woman in American history. As the California congresswoman steps back from her role as the leader of House Democrats through tumultuous times, she has also made history for what she has done in the job. (Page, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: What GOP Control Of The House Means For Inflation, Taxes, Healthcare Republicans won the majority of seats in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, ending unified Democratic control of Washington and presenting new challenges to President Biden’s legislative agenda. Here is a look at what divided government means for key issues. (11/17)

Becker’s Hospital Report: HHS to maintain COVID-19 public health emergency past January The U.S. will extend the COVID-19 public health emergency past January 11, 2023, CNBC reported Nov. 11. A 12th extension of the PHE since the first in January 2020 is also likely because of a lack of public statement from HHS warning about a termination. The agency last renewed the PHE Oct. 13 for an additional 90 days to Jan. 11, 2023 — it also told states it would provide a notice 60 days before if it did decide to end it, or Nov. 11. (Emerson, 11/11)

The Hill: Senators Introduce Bill To Lower Prescription Costs For Seniors With Chronic Illnesses Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Wednesday introduced a bill that would allow people enrolled in the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) to choose their prescription drug plan under Medicare Part D and save more in monthly medication costs. PACE is a Medicare/Medicaid program that provides medical and social services through a team of health care professionals which enrollees have regular access to, with the aim of avoiding placement in a nursing home. (Choi, 11/16)

Bloomberg Law: Maternal Health Backers Seek To Add Bill To Year-End Package A pair of House Democrats are leading a year-end push to bolster maternal health as part of the next spending bill.Democratic Reps. Robin Kelly (Ill.) and Lauren Underwood (Ill.) are gathering support for a package of maternal health bills (H.R. 959) that includes mandatory year-long Medicaid coverage after someone gives birth. (Ruoff and Baumann, 11/15)

Axios: Time Running Out On Insulin Cost Caps An effort to lower the cost of insulin for privately insured patients faces long odds in the lame duck session, Axios' Peter Sullivan reports. (Sullivan, 11/18)

KHN: Sick Profit: Investigating Private Equity’s Stealthy Takeover of Health Care Across Cities and Specialties Private equity firms have shelled out almost $1 trillion to acquire nearly 8,000 health care businesses, in deals almost always hidden from federal regulators. The result: higher prices, lawsuits, and complaints about care. (Fred Schulte, 11/14 )

Politico: It’s Health Care, Stupid As the party sifts through the results in search of what went right, an early conclusion is that for all the focus on inflation and debates over democracy, tens of millions of voters were motivated by everyday health concerns — and that sizable group trusted Democrats far more than Republicans to address them. ... In key races, vulnerable Democrats like Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania ran on cutting drug costs and making health care more affordable. Biden spent the midterm stretch run hammering Republicans for suggesting cuts to Medicare. (Cancryn, Thompson and Stokols, 11/10)

Becker’s Hospital Report: Health system cash reserves plummet Cash reserves, an important indicator of financial stability, are dropping for hospitals and health systems across the U.S. Both large and small health systems are affected by rising labor and supply costs while reimbursement remains low. St. Louis-based Ascension reported days cash on hand dropped from 336 at the end of the 2021 fiscal year to 259 as of June 30, 2022, the end of the fiscal year. The system also reported accounts receivable increased three days from 47.3 in 2021 to 50.3 in 2022 because commercial payers were slow, especially in large dollar claims. (Dyrda, 11/14)

Oregon Capital Chronicle: Oregon Will Be The First State To Make Affordable Health Care A Constitutional Right Oregon will be the first state in the nation to enshrine the right to affordable health care in its constitution. Ballot Measure 111 narrowly passed, with nearly 50.7% of voters in favor and 49.3% of voters opposed. The measure’s long-term impact on Oregon health care is unclear because it doesn’t prescribe how the state should ensure that everyone has affordable health care. (Botkin, 11/15)

Axios: Burnout Plagues Younger Primary Care Physicians Half of U.S. primary care physicians under the age of 55 say they're burned out and some anticipate leaving the profession in the next three years, per a new survey from the Commonwealth Fund. It's the latest evidence of doctor shortages that could hamper efforts to reduce health disparities and fill gaps in care as the nation emerges from the pandemic. (Dreher, 11/17)

KHN: Mistrust And Polarization Steer Rural Governments To Reject Federal Public Health Funding When Elko County commissioners rejected a $500,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that could have helped the county create a health department or health district, Kayla Hopkins pleaded with them to reconsider. Hopkins, who has lived for nearly nine years in the sprawling rural county that forms the northeastern corner of Nevada, told the board how she struggled through postpartum depression and needed mental health resources. (Rodriguez, 11/18)

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