The Host

The future of the Medicaid health insurance program for those with low incomes is in doubt, as Congress works on a budget plan calling for major cuts while President Donald Trump both promises to support that plan as well as to protect the program. 

Meanwhile, thousands of employees at the Department of Health and Human Services were fired over the holiday weekend, while states with abortion bans face off against states with laws protecting doctors who use telemedicine to prescribe abortion pills to residents of the former.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

• Medicaid cuts of the magnitude the House is considering would decimate the program. And, as the Republican Party has realigned, cutting it would impact their base. Smaller changes around the edges — concepts like work requirements — may be more possible, even though they have not proved effective in past experiments.
• Many of the firings at HHS have a particularly random feel. In some cases, whole offices, some of which were put in place to pursue Trump priorities such as artificial intelligence — have been left without any employees because all their employees were “new.” In other cases, highly recruited scientists were let go. What is emerging as a long-term issue from these federal firings is how agencies like the National Institutes of Health will recruit future scientists. Job candidates are highly educated people who can find more lucrative employment in the private sector. The loss of brainpower, combined with diminished federal support for research, will have consequences. Areas such as basic research, which is not a moneymaker, could suffer.
• Texas and Louisiana are each seeking to prosecute a New York doctor who prescribes abortion medication via telemedicine. The governor of New York has vowed to protect such doctors under the state’s “shield law.” But the ultimate decision of which state law prevails will likely be made by the Supreme Court.

Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: KFF Health News’ “Pain Clinics Made Millions From ‘Unnecessary’ Injections Into ‘Human Pin Cushions’” by Brett Kelman.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Washington Post’s “U.S. Reverses Plan To Shut Down Free Covid Test Program,” by Lena H. Sun and Carolyn Y. Johnson.

Joanne Kenen: Wired’s “The Ketamine-Fueled ‘Psychedelic Slumber Parties’ That Get Tech Execs Back on Track,” by Elana Klein.

Sarah Karlin-Smith: Fortune’s “The Dietary Supplements You Think Are Improving Your Health May Be Damaging Your Liver, Research Warns,” by Lindsey Leake.

Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:

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