Podcast: KHN’s ‘What the Health?’ ACA under fire. Again.

Jul 13 2018

Democrats in the Senate are gearing up to fight President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh. They argue he is not only a potential threat to abortion rights, but also to the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration continues its efforts to undermine the workings of the Affordable Care Act. This week, officials announced a freeze on payments to insurers who enroll large numbers of sicker patients, and another cut to the budget for "navigators" who help people understand their insurance options and enroll for coverage.

This week's panelists for KHN's "What the Health?" are:

Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News

Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times

Anna Edney of Bloomberg News

Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News

Among the takeaways from this week's podcast:

• One reason Democrats are rallying around the health issue rather than the abortion issue is that there is more unity in their caucus over health than abortion. Also, the two key Republican senators who support abortion rights — Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) — also voted against GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act last year.
• The Trump administration's action on risk-adjustment payments sent yet another signal to insurers that the federal government does not necessarily have their backs and is willing to change the rules along the way.
• The Trump administration says it wants to cut to payments for navigators because they are not cost-effective. But the navigator money does not come from taxpayers or government sources. It is paid from insurance industry user fees. These funds also go to support ACA advertising — which has also been cut. However, the user fees have not been reduced. In theory, reducing these fees could provide savings that could be passed on to consumers.
• After being called out on Twitter by Trump, drugmaker Pfizer this week announced it would delay some already-announced price increases on about 100 of its drugs. It is worth noting that the president used his bully pulpit and gained some success. The six-month delay will mean that consumers will not experience an increase in cost at the pharmacy for at least that time period. But it still raises questions.
• The Trump administration worked to block a World Health Organization resolution to promote breastfeeding. But while this seemed a clear case of promoting the interests of infant formula companies over public health experts, there was pushback from some women who say they are unable to breastfeed and feel stigma when they opt for formula instead. On the other hand, formula can be dangerous in developing countries without easy access to clean water.

Julie Rovner: Politico Agenda’s "The One Big Winner of the Obamacare Wars," by Joanne Kenen

Julie Appleby: The New York Times’ "Doctor, Your Patient Is Waiting. It's a Red Panda," by Karen Weintraub.

Anna Edney: Politico’s "CMS Quit Test of Pricey Cancer Treatment Amid Concerns Over Industry Role," by Sarah Karlin-Smith and David Pittman

Margot Sanger-Katz: HuffPost’s "Trump Administration May Be Preparing A New Obamacare Sabotage Effort," by Jonathan Cohn

To hear all our podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to What the Health? on iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play.