Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

Happy New Year! Health policy has taken a back seat to passage of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill (which has a lot of health program funding implications--see images below) and the struggle to elect the Speaker of the House. If the first few days are any indication, the razor thin Republican majority will make it an interesting year on Capitol Hill. 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...

KHN: Public Health Agencies Try To Restore Trust As They Fight Misinformation By the summer of 2021, Phil Maytubby, deputy CEO of the health department here, was concerned to see the numbers of people getting vaccinated against covid-19 slipping after an initially robust response. With doubt, fear, and misinformation running rampant nationwide — both online and offline — he knew the agency needed to rethink its messaging strategy. (Sausser, 1/4)

Axios: America's Health Care Focus Shifting In 2023 America appears to be resetting its priorities when it comes to health care as inflation and talk of a recession loom larger on voters' minds. A shrinking percentage of Americans across the ideological spectrum view abortion as a top priority heading into 2023, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Independents are the only group that still views health care reform as a top-five issue. (Reed and Bettelheim, 1/3)

Bloomberg: NYC Nurses Strike: Action Set For Next Week Over Hospital Staffing Levels Five institutions, including units of the massive Mount Sinai Health System Inc., are still in talks toward a resolution with about 10,000 members of the New York State Nurses Association. Three others have reached tentative agreements. (Coleman-Lochner, 1/5)

For a Deeper Dive...

The Health 202: Top lawmakers to watch on health care this Congress No matter who wins the speakership, it doesn’t change the balance of power in the House, where Republicans hold a slim majority. And unlike Democrats — where progressives support universal coverage, while moderates want to build on Obamacare — there isn’t a ton of daylight among the various Republican factions’ thinking on health care. With that in mind, here’s our list of the top lawmakers to watch in the 118th Congress. (Roubein, 1/6)

Stat: Priorities Pile Up For HHS, FDA, CMS, NIH The nation’s health agencies already have a long to-do list for 2023. Top officials have promised reforms in the food, drug, and public health departments as frustrations mount over the federal response to Covid-19 and last year’s widespread baby formula shortages. (Owermohle, 1/3)

Modern Healthcare: HHS offers guidance to Medicaid agencies for reimbursing nonclinical care An increasing number of state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs are embracing coverage that aims to improve population health, increase patient access and lower healthcare costs. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, along with the Health and Human Services Department, has allowed state Medicaid programs to offer food, housing, long-term support and other alternative benefits since at least 2016. (Tepper and Hartnett, 1/4)

Reuters: U.S. New Drug Price Exceeds $200,000 Median In 2022 After setting record-high U.S. prices in the first half of 2022, drugmakers continued to launch medicines at high prices in the second half, a Reuters analysis has found, highlighting their power despite new legislation to lower costs for older prescription products. The median annual price of the 17 novel drugs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved since July 2022 is $193,900, down from $257,000 in the first half of 2022, Reuters found. For full year 2022, the median was $222,003. (Beasley, 1/5)

Stat: 3 Trends To Watch In Hospitals And Health Insurance In 2023 For almost three years, hospitals and health insurers have been riding the waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though they can better predict what lies ahead in 2023, there remain several big unknowns. STAT’s business reporters will be paying attention to three trends in particular: the end of the public health emergency, how hospital price hikes will affect people’s paychecks, and Medicare Advantage’s explosive growth. (Herman and Bannow, 1/3)

Politico: Health Care Lobbyists Are Bracing For Chair Bernie Sanders The Vermont independent is set to take over the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next month. Leading the panel gives the Medicare-for-All proponent oversight authority over some of his policy priorities — drug pricing, workers’ rights and income inequality, and student and medical debt. (Wilson, 1/3)

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JAMA: Medicaid as a Potential New Third Rail of US Politics L Levitt

NEJM: Evidence over Politics — The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force BH Lerner, G Curtiss-Rowlands

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?

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD