{"id":594716,"date":"2023-01-06T09:52:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-06T15:52:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/06\/khns-what-the-health-year-end-bill-holds-big-health-changes\/"},"modified":"2023-01-06T09:52:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-06T15:52:06","slug":"khns-what-the-health-year-end-bill-holds-big-health-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/06\/khns-what-the-health-year-end-bill-holds-big-health-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"KHN\u2019s \u2018What the Health?\u2019: Year-End Bill Holds Big Health Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\tThe Host\t<\/h3>\n<div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?w=180&#038;h=180&#038;crop=1\" alt=\"Julie Rovner photo\">\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The year-end government spending bill includes a lot of changes to federal health programs, including changes to Medicare payments and some structure for states to begin to disenroll people on Medicaid whose eligibility has been maintained through the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, the Biden administration took several steps to expand the availability of the abortion pill, which in combination with another drug can end a pregnancy within about 10 weeks of gestation. Anti-abortion forces have launched their own campaign to limit the reach of the abortion pill.<\/p>\n<p>This week\u2019s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post.<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\tPanelists\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p>Among the takeaways from this week\u2019s episode:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Congress ended the year by passing a nearly $1.7 trillion government spending package. The legislation included smaller-than-scheduled cuts to Medicare payments for physicians, extended telehealth flexibilities, and funding boosts for programs like the Indian Health Service and the federal 988 mental health hotline.<\/li>\n<li>But lawmakers left out many priorities, such as more money in response to the covid-19 emergency, and included a change to Medicaid eligibility that could result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance.<\/li>\n<li>The Biden administration took perhaps its biggest stand on abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> last year, with the FDA announcing that retail pharmacies will be permitted to dispense abortion pills for the first time, and the Justice Department confirming that it is legal to send the pills through the U.S. Postal Service.<\/li>\n<li>A new congressional report on Aduhelm, the controversial Alzheimer\u2019s drug, reveals its manufacturer, Biogen, knew the impact its pricing could have on the Medicare program \u2014 and priced it high anyway. The report also raises big questions about the FDA\u2019s decision-making in approving the drug and what some officials were willing to do to make it happen.<\/li>\n<li>And in price transparency news, insurers are now required to provide patients with cost-estimating tools designed to make more than 500 nonemergency services \u201cshoppable.\u201d But it is unclear whether insurance companies are prepared to help consumers access and use that information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also this week, Rovner interviews Mark Kreidler, who wrote the latest NPR-KHN \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/mistaken-identity-two-grace-elliotts-medical-billing-mystery\/\">Bill of the Month<\/a>\u201d feature, about two patients with the same name and a mistaken bill. If you have an outrageous or exorbitant medical bill you want to share with us, <a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/send-us-your-medical-bills\/\">you can do that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Julie Rovner:<\/strong> The New York Times\u2019 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/23\/health\/morning-after-pills-abortion-fda.html#:~:text=The%20F.D.A.%20Now%20Says%20It,Pills%20%2D%20The%20New%20York%20Times\">The F.D.A. Now Says It Plainly: Morning-After Pills Are Not Abortion Pills<\/a>,\u201d by Pam Belluck<\/p>\n<p><strong>Joanne Kenen:<\/strong> Politico Magazine\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2022\/12\/18\/black-mistrust-healthcare-00060324\">Racist Doctors and Organ Thieves: Why So Many Black People Distrust the Health Care System,<\/a>\u201d by Joanne Kenen and Elaine Batchlor<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rachel Cohrs:<\/strong> The New York Times\u2019 \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/12\/22\/health\/nyu-langone-emergency-room-vip.html\">\u2018Major Trustee, Please Prioritize\u2019: How NYU\u2019s E.R. Favors the Rich<\/a>,\u201d by Sarah Kliff and Jessica Silver-Greenberg<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rachel Roubien:<\/strong> KHN\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/medical-debt-hospitals-sue-patients-threaten-credit-khn-investigation\/\">Hundreds of Hospitals Sue Patients or Threaten Their Credit, a KHN Investigation Finds. Does Yours?\u201d<\/a> by Noam N. Levey<\/p>\n<p>Also mentioned in this week\u2019s podcast:<\/p>\n<p>Stat\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2022\/12\/29\/rife-with-irregularities-congressional-investigation-reveals-fdas-approval-of-aduhelm-marked-by-secret-discussions-breaches-of-protocol\/\">\u2019Rife With Irregularities\u2019: Congressional Investigation Reveals FDA\u2019s Approval of Aduhelm Marked by Secret Discussions, Breaches of Protocol<\/a>,\u201d by Rachel Cohrs<\/p>\n<p>KHN\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/article\/want-a-clue-on-health-care-costs-in-advance-new-tools-take-a-crack-at-it\/\">Want a Clue on Health Care Costs in Advance? New Tools Take a Crack at it<\/a>,\u201d by Julie Appleby<\/p>\n<p>Stat\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2022\/12\/19\/congress-reaches-major-health-policy-deal-on-medicare-medicaid-and-pandemic-preparedness\/\">Congress Reaches Major Health Policy Deal on Medicare, Medicaid, and Pandemic Preparedness<\/a>,\u201d by Rachel Cohrs and Sarah Owermohle<\/p>\n<p>USA Today\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/health\/2022\/12\/13\/ambulance-surprise-medical-bills\/10866349002\/\">Half of Ambulance Rides Yield Surprise Medical Bills. What\u2019s Being Done to Protect People?<\/a>\u201d by Ken Alltucker<\/p>\n<div>\n<h3>\n\t\tCredits\t<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<hr>\n<p><em>To hear all our podcasts,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/tag\/podcast\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And subscribe to KHN\u2019s \u201cWhat the Health?\u201d on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/32EdsB662C3oyIrqLMmBXI?si=TQhRjzzLTgWtK3crfbOFtA\">Spotify<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/what-the-health\/id1253607372?mt=2\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.stitcher.com\/podcast\/kaiser-health-news\/what-the-health\">Stitcher<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.pocketcasts.com\/web\/podcasts\/a379e280-3f57-0135-9028-63f4b61a9224\">Pocket Casts<\/a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/khn.org\/news\/podcast\/podcast-khn-what-the-health-278-year-end-legislation-health-policy-january-5-2022\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><br \/>\n Elroy Drews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Host The year-end government spending bill includes a lot of changes to federal health programs, including changes to Medicare payments and some structure for states to begin to disenroll people on Medicaid whose eligibility has been maintained through the pandemic. Separately, the Biden administration took several steps to expand the availability of the abortion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":594717,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267,37883],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-594716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"category-khns"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}