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: Nearly 1 In 4 Adults Dumped From Medicaid Are Now Uninsured, Survey Finds Nearly a quarter of adults disenrolled from Medicaid in the past year say they are now uninsured, according to a survey released Friday that details how tens of millions of Americans struggled to retain coverage in the government insurance program for low-income people after pandemic-era protections began expiring last spring. The first national survey of adults whose Medicaid eligibility was reviewed during the unwinding found nearly half of people who lost their government coverage signed back up weeks or months later — suggesting they should never have been dropped in the first place. (Galewitz, 4/12)

Roll Call: CDC Moves Forward On Data-Sharing — Without Congress In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s mpox outbreak, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen is updating the agency’s data-sharing strategy for the next two years — with a focus on what the agency can do without congressional help. (Cohen, 4/11)

Politico: Becerra Weighs Exit From Biden Administration For California Gubernatorial Bid Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is considering leaving the Biden administration to mount a run for California governor in 2026, people briefed on his deliberations told POLITICO. Becerra and supporters have had conversations over the past weeks where the secretary and former California attorney general indicated to fellow Democratic officials and operatives that he would leave Washington after the November election and join the crowded field to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom in two years. (Cadelago, Gardiner and Cancryn, 4/9)

For a Deeper Dive...

KFF Health News: Congress Likely To Kick The Can On Covid-Era Telehealth Policies Nearly two hours into a Capitol Hill hearing focused on rural health, Rep. Brad Wenstrup emphatically told the committee’s five witnesses: “Hang with us.” Federal lawmakers face a year-end deadline to solidify or scuttle an array of covid-era payment changes for telehealth services that include allowing people to stay in their homes to see a doctor or therapist. (Tribble, 4/10)

Axios: Private Equity In Health Care Gets Increased Attention From Congress Congress is ramping up oversight of private equity's influence in health care, though lawmakers don't appear ready to give government more power to halt deals. Why it matters: Health care has been a magnet for private equity deals, even as growing data suggest its ownership of hospitals and physician groups has led to reduced staffing levels and worse patient outcomes. (Sullivan, 4/9)

Mississippi Today: Mississippi Hospital Officials Say Marketplace Insurance Helps, But Not As Much As Medicaid Mississippi Senate leaders point to one component of the federal Affordable Care Act health care law as a reason not to expand Medicaid to provide health care coverage to the working poor. The Senate has passed legislation to allow only those earning less than 100% of the federal poverty level (about $15,000 annually for an individual) and who are working to be covered by Medicaid. (Harrison, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: AMA, AHIP, NAACOS Outline Value-Based Care Best Practices Health insurers, physicians and accountable care organizations issued recommendations Wednesday outlining what they see as the best ways to boost value-based care initiatives. The report from the health insurance trade group AHIP, the American Medical Association and the National Association of ACOs focuses on total-cost-of-care contracts, ACOs that typically span three to five years and have demonstrated success improving quality and reducing costs, according to the organizations. (Tepper, 4/10)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Physician Pay Needs Fixes, Senators Say Doctors have long lamented that Medicare fails to pay enough to meet rising costs. Key members of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday they agreed, and pledged to do something about it. "The way traditional Medicare pays physicians to manage and treat these conditions has not kept up with the times," Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said at a hearing on bolstering pay for treating chronic care. "It is now time to act once more." (McAuliff, 4/11)

Stat: About Half Of Cancer Drugs Given Accelerated Approval Don’t Show Improved Survival Or Quality Of Life For decades, the Food and Drug Administration’s accelerated approval pathway has helped companies get drugs for serious unmet medical needs to patients — and the market — sooner. But about half of cancer drugs approved via this route fail to improve patient survival or quality of life in subsequent clinical trials after more than five years of follow-up, according to new findings presented Sunday at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. The data come from an analysis of cancer drugs granted accelerated approval over the past decade. In some cases, failure to show clinical benefit didn’t stop the FDA from converting accelerated approvals into full approvals, and the authors note the agency’s conversion decisions have increasingly been based on less stringent evidence of a drug’s benefits. (Wosen, 4/7)

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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