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Donald Trump is back in the White House, the GOP controls Congress, and Republicans have dusted off their 2017 plans to reshape Medicaid, the government health program for those with low incomes or disabilities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom was elected to office in 2019 on a promise of universal health care. He dramatically expanded coverage, but after six years, the Democrat is forced to contemplate deep cuts 鈥 including to the nation鈥檚 largest health care expansion to immigrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.
Two stories from Washington, D.C., give listeners a sense of what changes the Trump administration has been making to health policy, with 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner and Arthur Allen.
As California鈥檚 budget deadline looms, state Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson, a physician-turned-lawmaker, says state leaders may soon have to make some tough decisions on health care spending. With the state鈥檚 Medi-Cal program billions of dollars short, California鈥檚 health care safety net is at risk 鈥 even without federal cuts to Medicaid.
The administration is facing a May 12 deadline to declare if it will defend Biden-era regulations that aim to enforce laws requiring parity in insurance coverage of mental and physical health care.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are struggling to reach consensus on cutting the Medicaid program as they search for nearly a trillion dollars in savings over the next decade 鈥 as many observers predicted. Meanwhile, turmoil continues at the Department of Health and Human Services, with more controversial cuts and personnel moves, including the sudden nomination of Casey Means, an ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.鈥檚, to become surgeon general. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 吃瓜不打烊鈥 Lauren Sausser, who co-reported the latest 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 feature, about an unexpected bill for what seemed like preventive care.
Republicans, on the hunt for spending cuts, are eyeing a special kind of Medicaid tax that nearly every state uses to boost funding for hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers.
On the surface, President Donald Trump embraced the MAHA movement with a pledge to end the nation鈥檚 high rates of chronic disease. But the broader Trump agenda may prove to be the biggest barrier this effort confronts.
Congressional Republicans are looking to cut at least $880 billion from a pool of federal funding that includes Medicaid 鈥 and the program is likely to take a major hit. A previous budget crunch in Missouri offers a window into how cuts ripple through people鈥檚 lives.
In recent weeks, Social Security has been plagued by problems related to technology, system errors, and even the marking of living people as dead.
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Monica Soni, Covered California鈥檚 chief medical officer, oversees an effort to hold health plans financially accountable for the quality of care they provide, including childhood vaccination rates, which have fallen in California and nationwide. She worries federal spending cuts could soon bring turbulence to the state鈥檚 Affordable Care Act marketplace.
This fall, the U.S. Government Accountability Office expects to release a report on how much it costs to run Georgia Pathways to Coverage 鈥 the country鈥檚 only active Medicaid work requirement program 鈥 as other states and Congress consider similar programs.
Carmen Aiken of Chicago thought their medical appointment would be covered because the Affordable Care Act requires insurers to pay for a long list of preventive services. But after the appointment, Aiken received a bill for more than $1,400.
Breakups between health providers and Advantage plans are increasingly common. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has allowed whole groups of patients to leave their plans.
Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.
State-level efforts to regulate fertility coverage reveal the gauntlet of budgetary and political hurdles such initiatives face 鈥 obstacles that have led to millions of people being left out even when mandates become law.
Montana鈥檚 powerful hospital lobby was instrumental in renewing the state鈥檚 Medicaid expansion program and has also fended off most legislation to increase state oversight of their business.
Federal law requires states to offer health insurance to many people with low incomes or disabilities. But some states, including California, are far more generous than what鈥檚 required. Budget pressures may force lawmakers to cut benefits that have led to a historic low in the uninsured rate.
These fixers, officially known as caseworkers, unraveled complex and arcane health insurance rules to solve people鈥檚 coverage issues. They worked in a little-known federal department with which most consumers never interact 鈥 until they need help.
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