The Biden administration this week pleaded with states to slow the post-pandemic removal of beneficiaries from their Medicaid rolls, as government data shows greater than one million Americans have lost coverage since pandemic protections resulted in April. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled Medicaid beneficiaries may sue over their care.

In an appearance on the U.S. Capitol, the outgoing chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, offered no revelations as House Republicans pressed her concerning the agency’s response to the covid-19 pandemic. And senators are pushing for motion on drug pricing, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) vowing to carry up nominations to press the Biden administration for drug pricing reform.

This week’s panelists are Mary Agnes Carey of KFF Health News, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call.

The host

Mary Agnes Carey KFF Health News @MaryAgnesCarey

Partnerships Editor and Senior Correspondent, oversees placement of KFF Health News content in publications nationwide and covers health reform and federal health policy. Before joining KFF Health News, Mary Agnes was associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, Capitol Hill Bureau Chief for Congressional Quarterly, and a reporter with Dow Jones Newswires. A frequent radio and tv commentator, she has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, the PBS NewsHour, and on NPR affiliates nationwide. Her stories have appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, TheAtlantic.com, Time.com, Money.com, and The Every day Beast, amongst other publications. She worked for newspapers in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.

Panelists

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• Asking states to slow the pace of Medicaid disenrollment, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra offered options intended to cut back the variety of Americans who lose coverage as a consequence of bureaucratic hurdles, reminiscent of by allowing community organizations to assist people get coverage reinstated. But those options are only guidance for Medicaid programs across the country, and nothing says that states — especially conservative ones which have rushed to trim the variety of low-income and disabled people counting on this system — will adopt the administration’s suggestions.
• A deal within the Braidwood Management v. Becerra court case will preserve, for now, the mandate requiring insurance coverage of preventive services for all however the litigants. The specter of a court order halting that coverage mandate nationwide has contributed to growing concerns concerning the overuse of injunctions allowing a single judge to bring down a complete program or law.
• The Supreme Court ruled that a lady is entitled to sue over the nursing home care her husband received that was covered by Medicaid, setting a precedent that enables beneficiaries to pursue legal motion over their care.
• This week, House Republicans pressed CDC Director Walensky concerning the agency’s response to the pandemic, but, producing few latest details, the hearing mostly proved an attempt by Republicans to relitigate concerns over issues like gain-of-function research funding. And Ashish Jha, the White House’s covid coordinator, is preparing to step down with no successor, offering more fodder for the argument that the Biden administration is de-emphasizing covid policy.
• Reports of threats against an Alabama clinic that doesn’t provide abortions illuminate the realities of the post-Dobbs era: Even the state attorney general has taken issue with the clinic’s efforts to offer non-abortion maternal health care — and 40% of Alabama counties already don’t have any access to maternal care.
• And on Capitol Hill, Sanders — head of a key Senate health committee — has said he’ll delay reviewing nominations in an effort to pressure the Biden administration to provide a comprehensive drug pricing plan. Meanwhile, one other key Senate committee releases its proposal to rein in fees charged by pharmacy profit managers.

Also this week, KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews Dan Mendelson, chief executive of Morgan Health — the successor project to Haven Healthcare, a three way partnership by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase that aimed in 2018 to disrupt how Americans get health coverage but quickly disbanded. Rovner and Mendelson discuss the role of employers in insuring American employees.

Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think it is best to read, too:

Mary Agnes Carey: The Washington Post’s “I Lost 40 Kilos on Ozempic. But I’m Left With Even More Questions,” by Ruth Marcus.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: Stat’s “AMA Asks Doctors to De-Emphasize Use of BMI in Gauging Health and Obesity,” by Brittany Trang and Elaine Chen.

Rachel Cohrs: Politico’s “Hundreds Lose Medicaid in Arkansas: Is This America’s Future?” by Megan Messerly.

Sandhya Raman: The Markup’s “Suicide Hotlines Promise Anonymity. Dozens of Their Web sites Send Sensitive Data to Facebook,” by Colin Lecher and Jon Keegan.

Also mentioned on this week’s episode:

Credits

Francis Ying Audio producer Emmarie Huetteman Editor