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Medicare will continue to report hospital safety data as usual next year after the program, apparently swayed by backlash from patient safety advocates, reversed course on its plan to keep some information under wraps. (Bannow, 8/2)

The agency’s decision received a warm welcome from The Leapfrog Group, a patient safety watchdog that has been petitioning the government via letters, reports and informational webinars to keep the hospital quality measure available to the public. (Muoio, 8/3)

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson indicated Tuesday that Medicare and Social Security should be subjected to annual budget deliberations, a move that could upend guaranteed benefits relied upon by millions of Americans. (Glauber, 8/2)

A multi-year report analyzing maternal mortality in Missouri and published Monday found that women on Medicaid are eight times more likely to die within one year of pregnancy than their counterparts with private health insurance. (Weinberg, 8/2)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, New Hampshire and other states have been required to keep people enrolled in Medicaid throughout the ongoing federal public health emergency — even if they haven’t filed key paperwork or have lost eligibility due to a change in income, for example. It’s not clear when the federal public health emergency will end, but when it does, about 90,000 Granite Staters could risk losing Medicaid access. (Fam, 8/2)

KHN: They Lost Medicaid When Paperwork Was Sent To An Empty Field, Signaling The Mess To Come 

Three years ago, Mason Lester, a rambunctious toddler, tumbled off his family’s porch and broke his wrist. His mother, nine months pregnant, rushed him to a nearby hospital, where she made a confounding discovery: Their health insurance had vanished. Alarmed, Katie Lester called the Tennessee Medicaid agency, TennCare, which had covered her during a prior pregnancy and insured Mason since the day he was born. (Kelman, 8/3)