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Spending cuts hitting medical providers, Medicaid and Affordable Care Act enrollees, and lawfully present immigrants are just some of the biggest changes the GOP has in store for health care ā with ramifications that could touch all Americans.
Immigrants without legal status who live in the state are facing a Medi-Cal enrollment freeze next year. But the spate of immigration raids has raised fears that signing up before the deadline will put them on the radar of federal officials.
Fewer Americans will likely have health insurance, compromising their physical and financial health, as the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress weigh major changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid. āThe effects could be catastrophic,ā one policy analyst predicts.
Sixty percent of Americans have health insurance through their own workplace or someone elseās job. But not all employers provide health insurance or offer plans to all their workers. When they do, cost and quality vary widely, making Thuneās statement an oversimplification.
Republicans claim 4.8 million Americans on Medicaid who could work choose not to. The GOPās work-requirement legislation could sweep up disabled people who say theyāre unable to hold jobs.
In this special episode taped before a live audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, three former governors ā one of whom also served as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services ā discuss how state and federal officials can work together to improve Americansā health. Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, former Kansas governor and HHS secretary under President Barack Obama; Republican Chris Sununu, former New Hampshire governor; and Democrat Roy Cooper, former North Carolina governor, join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Julie Rovner.
California lawmakers are poised to approve a six-month delay in implementing the stateās in vitro fertilization law, pushing its start to January 2026. The plan to postpone, which has drawn little attention, is part of the state budget package and has left patients, insurers, and employers in limbo.
Dozens of health insurance companies pledged on Monday to improve prior authorization, a process often used to deny care. The announcement comes months after the killing of UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson, whose death in December sparked widespread criticism about insurance denials.
While Congress fails to stave off cuts to HIV care, community leaders in Mississippi and beyond race to limit the damage.
Republican proposals to tighten the use of special taxes to fund Medicaid programs could deprive states of billions of dollars for safety net health care. In California, any such limit would come on top of Medicaid cuts proposed by California Democrats in response to a $12 billion state deficit.
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The Supreme Court this week said Tennessee may continue to enforce its law banning most types of gender-affirming care for minors. The ruling is likely to greenlight similar laws in two dozen states. And the Senate is preparing to vote on a budget reconciliation bill that includes even deeper Medicaid cuts than the House version. Victoria Knight of Axios, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
Patient advocates say they frequently hear from people who thought they didnāt need to sign up for Medicare when they turned 65 because they had group health coverage. That delay sometimes forces people to cover medical expenses themselves.
A new poll finds that most adults oppose the GOP bill that would extend many of President Donald Trumpās tax cuts while reducing spending on domestic programs including Medicaid. Most Trump backers support the plan until they learn that millions would lose health coverage and local hospitals would lose funding.
An estimated 4 million Americans will lose health insurance over the next decade if Congress doesnāt extend enhanced subsidies for Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage, which expire at the end of the year. Florida and Texas would see the biggest losses, in part because they have not expanded Medicaid eligibility.
Health insurers issue millions of prior authorization denials every year, leaving many patients stuck in a convoluted appeals process, with little hope of meaningful policy change ahead. For doctors, these denials are frustrating and time-consuming. For patients, they can be devastating.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week did something he had promised not to do: He fired every member of the scientific advisory committee that recommends which vaccines should be given to whom. And he replaced them, in some cases, with vaccine skeptics. Meanwhile, hundreds of employees of the National Institutes of Health sent an open letter to the agencyās director, accusing the Trump administration of policies that āundermine the NIH mission.ā Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join Ńī¹óåś“«Ć½Ņīl Health Newsā Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
Rural hospitals would take an outsize hit from Republicansā proposed cuts to Medicaid and other federal health programs. Researchers say the financial erosion would trigger hospital closures and service cuts, especially in communities where large shares of patients are enrolled in Medicaid.
The vast majority of improper payments stem from documentation mistakes and do not fit the definition of waste, fraud, or abuse. They also typically stem from health care providersā actions, not beneficiariesā abuse.
The combination of the House-passed spending and tax bill and the Trump administrationās regulatory action could change Affordable Care Act enrollment and the cost of insurance. The result, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is that millions of people may become uninsured.
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