KFF Health News’ Weekly Edition: Feb. 16, 2024

Southern Lawmakers Rethink Long-Standing Opposition to Medicaid Expansion
By Daniel Chang and Andy Miller While many Republican state lawmakers remain firmly against Medicaid expansion, some key leaders in holdout states are showing a willingness to reconsider. Public opinion, financial incentives, and widening health care needs make resistance harder.

Patients See First Savings From Biden’s Drug Price Push, as Pharma Lines Up Its Lawyers
By Arthur Allen A restructuring of the Medicare drug benefit has wiped out big drug bills for people who need expensive medicines. But the legal battle over drug negotiations means uncertainty over long-term savings.

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Biden Wins Early Court Test for Medicare Drug Negotiations
A federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit attempting to invalidate the Biden administration’s Medicare prescription-drug price negotiation program. But the suit turned on a technicality, and several more court challenges are in the pipeline. Meanwhile, health policy pops up in Super Bowl ads, as Congress approaches yet another funding deadline. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, and Rachel Cohrs of Stat join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.

New Eligibility Rules Are a Financial Salve for Nearly 2 Million on Medi-Cal
By Bernard J. Wolfson Nearly 2 million Medi-Cal enrollees, mainly people who are aged, disabled, or in long-term care, can now accumulate savings and property without limitations and still qualify for the state’s health insurance program for low-income residents. They join an additional roughly 12 million enrollees who already had no asset limits.

Early Detection May Help Kentucky Tamp Down Its Lung Cancer Crisis
By Charlotte Huff After a decade of work, a Kentucky program launched to diagnose lung cancer earlier is beginning to change the prognosis for residents by catching tumors when they’re more treatable.

Watch: The Feds Reexamine Covid Protocols. Here’s Why You Should Care.
KFF Health News' Céline Gounder explains the "five-day rule" on covid safety, how guidelines and testing have evolved, and how best to protect yourself and others.

California Prison Drug Overdoses Surge Again After Early Treatment Success
By Don Thompson Drug overdose deaths in California state prisons rebounded to near record levels last year, a big setback for corrections officials who thought they were on the right track with medication-assisted treatment efforts. Prison officials and attorneys representing prisoners blame fentanyl.

‘Behind the Times’: Washington Tries to Catch Up With AI’s Use in Health Care
By Darius Tahir Lawmakers and regulators are trying to understand how AI is changing health care and how it should be regulated. The industry fears overreach.

In Fight Over Medicare Payments, the Hospital Lobby Shows Its Strength
By Phil Galewitz and Colleen DeGuzman Medicare pays hospitals about double what it pays other providers for the same services. The hospital lobby is fighting hard to make sure a switch to "site-neutral payments” doesn't become law.

GoFundMe Has Become a Health Care Utility
By Elisabeth Rosenthal Resorting to crowdfunding to pay medical bills has become so routine, in some cases health professionals recommend it.

States Target Health Insurers’ ‘Prior Authorization’ Red Tape
By Bram Sable-Smith Doctors, patients, and hospitals have railed for years about the prior authorization processes that health insurers use to decide whether they’ll pay for patients’ drugs or medical procedures. The Biden administration announced a crackdown in January, but some state lawmakers are looking to go further.

For the Love of Health Care and Health Policy
KFF Health News shares the crème de la crème of reader-submitted health policy valentines. Two of our favorites melted our hearts and inspired original illustrations.

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