Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: The ACA Turns 12


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The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, turned 12 this week, in spite of efforts to repeal it through both legislation and court action over much of its lifetime. But key decisions facing federal and state lawmakers and the Biden administration in the coming year will say a lot about how many Americans the law ultimately benefits, and how much it will benefit them.

Meanwhile, three leading credit bureaus announced they would stop using most medical debt to determine U.S. consumers’ creditworthiness. The move comes shortly after the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau threatened to make the agencies eliminate the use of medical debt in consumer credit reports.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too:

Julie Rovner: KHN’s “As States Impose Abortion Bans, Young Doctors Struggle — And Travel Far — To Learn the Procedure,” by Sarah Varney

Anna Edney: Politico’s “‘We’ve Learned Absolutely Nothing’: Tests Could Again Be in Short Supply if Covid Surges,” by David Lim

Rachel Cohrs: The Guardian’s “‘Betting Against the NHS’: £1bn Private Hospital to Open in Central London,” by Julia Kollewe

Mary Agnes Carey: KHN’s “Covid’s ‘Silver Lining’: Research Breakthroughs for Chronic Disease, Cancer, and the Common Flu,” by Liz Szabo

Also discussed on this week’s podcast:

HuffPost’s “The Affordable Care Act Turns 12 Today, and It Could Look Pretty Different by Year 13,” by Jonathan Cohn

Stat’s “The Breen Bill to Protect Health Providers Is Well-Intentioned. But It Won’t Stop Burnout,” by Greg Jasani

The Commonwealth Fund’s “Short-Term Health Insurance Markets and the ACA,” by Mark A. Hall and Michael J. McCue


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