States Start Their Medicaid Cuts
The Host
When Republicans passed their big budget bill in 2025, they scheduled many of the Medicaid reductions to take effect in 2027, after the 2026 midterm elections. But in anticipation of getting less money from Washington come January, many states are already cutting their Medicaid programs, making the issue more relevant for voters in November.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of Bloomberg Law.
Panelists
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Congress has no clear path to passing its annual spending bills, with the issue of Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood again threatening to gum up the works. Meanwhile, senators this week screened President Donald Trump’s newest health nominees: Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Sean Kaufman to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. But Schwartz undermined some senators’ confidence by claiming ignorance about a number of Trump administration funding cuts, and Kaufman faced fiery questions over a deleted social media post about the hepatitis B vaccine.
- The confirmation hearing for Todd Blanche as attorney general also trod into health territory, with Blanche saying he would review potentially using the 19th-century Comstock Act to block distribution of medication abortion drugs by mail. Such a move could block not only mifepristone but also misoprostol, which is the second abortion medication in the two-drug regimen — and is also used for non-abortion purposes. Trump promised on the campaign trail not to invoke the Comstock Act.
- In politics, Maine Democrats are cautiously eying the abortion stances of a replacement Senate candidate, hoping to pin the rollback of abortion rights on Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent. And Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is calling for an investigation into whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. violated a federal law aimed at preventing electioneering by officials when he made recent calls to persuade some candidates to drop out of congressional races.
- And the gastrointestinal infection cyclosporiasis is sickening more Americans and drawing attention to the Trump administration’s actions undermining food safety surveillance programs. The cyclospora parasite was once subject to mandatory reporting but has since been made voluntary, challenging efforts to track the source and contain the outbreak.
Also this week, Rovner interviews Elizabeth Mitchell of the Purchaser Business Group on Health as part of the “How Would You Fix It?” series.
Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists this week suggest health policy stories they read (or wrote) that they think you should read, too:
Julie Rovner: Mississippi Today’s “Mississippi Is Getting Hotter. Experts Say It’s Hurting Moms and Babies,” by Sophia Paffenroth and Joanne Kenen.
Anna Edney: Bloomberg News’ “Almost $1 Billion Later, the US Still Can’t Make a Medical Glove,” by Anna Edney.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: Politico’s “Fraud Investigations Are Crumbling This State’s Medicaid System,” by Amanda Chu and Robert King.
Sandhya Raman: Bloomberg Law’s “Unverified GLP-1-Related Claims Flood Food, Supplement Markets,” by Nyah Phengsitthy and Skye Witley.
Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:
- Stat’s “As States Absorb Medicaid Funding Cuts, Family Caregivers Face Financial Ruin,” by O. Rose Broderick.
- NPR’s “Trump’s HHS Shelves Threat To Withhold Medicare and Medicaid Funding Over Trans Care,” by Selina Simmons-Duffin.
- Stat’s “Flood of Comments on White House Grantmaking Overhaul Is Largely Negative, Analysis Shows,” by Anil Oza and J. Emory Parker.
- Politico’s “Trump Admin Asks Appeals Court To Roll Back Obamacare’s Contraception Coverage,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein.
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