{"id":1172,"date":"2023-04-27T18:10:32","date_gmt":"2023-04-27T18:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2023-04-27T18:10:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T18:10:32","slug":"dancing-under-the-debt-ceiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=1172","title":{"rendered":"Dancing Under the Debt Ceiling"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"wp-block-people block--people\">\n<h3 class=\"people-title\">\n\t\tThe Host\t<\/h3>\n<div class=\"people-card-container single\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-people-card block--people-card\">\n<div class=\"author-image-container\">\n\t\t\t<img srcset=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg 600w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=500,500 500w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=480,480 480w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=120,120 120w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=170,170 170w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=300,300 300w, https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/12\/Rovner-Julie2022_sq.jpg?resize=315,315 315w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 150px\"\/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>If Congress fails to raise the nation\u2019s debt ceiling in the next few months, the U.S. could default on its debt for the first time in history. Republicans in Congress, however, say they won\u2019t agree to pay the nation\u2019s bills unless Democrats and President Joe Biden agree to deep cuts to health and other programs. Among the proposals in a bill House Republicans passed April 26 is the imposition of new work requirements for adults who receive Medicaid.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, many of the states passing restrictions on abortion are also passing bills to restrict the ability of trans people to get health care. The two movements \u2014 both largely aimed at conservative evangelicals, a key GOP constituency \u2014 have much in common.<\/p>\n<p>This week\u2019s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Shefali Luthra of The 19<sup>th<\/sup>, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet.<\/p>\n<p>Among the takeaways from this week\u2019s episode:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Republican-controlled House\u2019s proposal to raise the debt ceiling contains enough politically poisonous measures that the plan is a non-starter in the Senate. They include substantial funding cuts to major federal health programs, including the FDA and the National Institutes of Health \u2014 cuts that would force the federal government to cut back on grants and other funding.<\/li>\n<li>The proposal would also impose work requirements on adults enrolled in Medicaid \u2014 which covers low-income and disabled Americans, as well as pregnant women \u2014 and in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps needy families buy food. Under the plan, the government would save money by cutting the number of people helped. But most beneficiaries cannot work or already do so. Experience shows the change would mostly affect people who struggle to report their work hours through what can be complicated online portals.<\/li>\n<li>Multiple congressional committees have released plans to fight high drug costs, promoting efforts to explore how pharmacy benefit managers make decisions about cost and access, as well as to encourage access to cheaper, generic drugs on the market. And during congressional testimony this week, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, said the agency would no longer issue warnings to hospitals that fail to comply with a law that requires them to post their prices, but instead would move directly to fining the holdouts.<\/li>\n<li>Also in news about cost-cutting legislation, a plan to address an expensive glitch in Medicare payments to hospital outpatient centers and physician offices is gaining steam on Capitol Hill. Hospital consolidation has helped increase costs in the health care system, and lawmakers are eager to keep health spending under control. But the hospital industry is ramping up advertising to make sure lawmakers think twice before legislating.<\/li>\n<li>In abortion news, it will likely be at least a year before the Supreme Court rules on whether the abortion pill mifepristone should remain accessible. Some justices suggested in last summer\u2019s <em>Dobbs<\/em> decision, which overturned abortion rights, that they would leave further abortion questions to the states, yet the nation is finding that overturning a half-century of legal precedent is messy, to say the least. Meanwhile, reporting and polling are revealing just how difficult it is for doctors in states with abortion bans to determine what constitutes a \u201cmedical emergency\u201d worthy of intervention, with a grim consensus emerging that apparently means \u201cwhen a woman is near death.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also this week, Rovner interviews Renuka Rayasam, who wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/news\/article\/expectant-mom-needed-15000-overnight-to-save-her-twins\/\">Bill of the Month<\/a>\u201d feature, about a pregnant woman experiencing a dangerous complication who was asked to pay $15,000 upfront to see one of the few specialists who could help her. 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<div class=\"wp-block block--newsletter  \" data-type=\"kaiser-health-news\/newsletter\" data-align=\"center\" style=\"\">\n<h4 class=\"newsletter__title\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/email-signup\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tEmail Sign-Up\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t<\/h4>\n<p class=\"newsletter__description\">\n\t\tSubscribe to KFF Health News&#8217; free Morning Briefing.\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Plus, for \u201cextra credit,\u201d the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Julie Rovner:<\/strong> The Nation\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/comstock-act-jonathan-mitchell\/\">The Poison Pill in the Mifepristone Lawsuit That Could Trigger a National Abortion Ban<\/a>,\u201d by Amy Littlefield.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shefali Luthra:<\/strong> The Washington Post\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2023\/04\/23\/child-labor-lobbying-fga\/\">The Conservative Campaign to Rewrite Child Labor Laws<\/a>,\u201d by Jacob Bogage and Mar\u00eda Luisa Pa\u00fal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jessie Hellmann:<\/strong> Politico\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2023\/04\/23\/surprising-geography-of-gun-violence-00092413\">Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States. It\u2019s Not Even Close<\/a>,\u201d by Colin Woodard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sarah Karlin-Smith:<\/strong> The Wall Street Journal\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/weight-loss-drugmakers-lobby-for-medicare-coverage-69188697\">Weight-Loss Drugmakers Lobby for Medicare Coverage<\/a>,\u201d by Liz Essley Whyte.<\/p>\n<p>Also mentioned in this week\u2019s episode:<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p><em>To hear all our podcasts,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/news\/tag\/podcast\/\">click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>And subscribe to KFF Health News\u2019 \u2018What the Health? 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<section class=\"block--category-tag-list \">\n<div class=\"category-tag-list__content-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"block--category-tag-list__title\">\n\t\t\t\tRelated Topics\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a class=\"category-tag-list__contact-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/contact-us\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tContact Us\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t<a class=\"category-tag-list__tip-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/tips\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tSubmit a Story Tip\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Host If Congress fails to raise the nation\u2019s debt ceiling in the next few months, the U.S. could default on its debt for the first time in history. Republicans in Congress, however, say they won\u2019t agree to pay the nation\u2019s bills unless Democrats and President Joe Biden agree to deep cuts to health and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1173,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions\/1173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}