This has been quite a year in health policy. In 2017, the Affordable Care Act survived numerous GOP efforts to repeal and replace it, although the year-end tax bill will eliminate fines for failing to obtain health insurance in 2019. And, ironically, the more Republicans talked the health law down, the more popular it got.
Meanwhile, Congress may have passed the tax bill, but lawmakers are still scrambling to finish legislation needed to keep the government open after Dec. 22. On the line in that bill is the Children’s Health Insurance Program that provides coverage to 9 million kids around the country. Its formal funding ran out in September.
This week’s “What the Health?” guests are:
Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News
Joanne Kenen of Politico
Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo
Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times
They discuss these topics as well as health issues in 2017 that were less covered and remain unresolved.
Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
- The Republican repeal of the individual mandate penalties will lead to higher premiums and higher numbers of uninsured, but the magnitude of that change is still unknown.
- The promise Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) secured for bills to help stabilize the individual insurance market has faltered, and those bills will not be part of any end-of-the-year legislation. This time, she didn’t have other moderate GOP allies to help strengthen her negotiating position.
- Two surprising year-end observations: Despite Republicans’ efforts to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, the health law seems to be resilient and the public appears to be more committed than ever to sustaining Medicaid, the health program for low-income residents.
Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week they think you should read, too.
Julie Rovner: Politico’s “The stealth repeal of Obamacare,” by Joanne Kenen
Joanne Kenen: HuffPost’s “Health Insurers See Higher Prices And A Big Mess Ahead Without The Obamacare Mandate,” by Jeffrey Young
Alice Ollstein: Politico’s “HHS defends withholding comments critical of abortion, transgender policy,” by Dan Diamond
Margot Sanger-Katz: Bloomberg’s “A Hospital Giant Discovers That Collecting Debt Pays Better Than Curing Ills,” by John Tozzi and Vox.com’s “How well does bariatric surgery work? We asked 11 people who got it,” by Julia Belluz
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