Kff Health News' 'what The Health?': Here Come The Aca Premium Hikes

The host

Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social

Julie Rovner is main Washington analogous and big of KFF Health News' play wellness argumentation news podcast, "What nan Health?" A noted master connected wellness argumentation issues, Julie is nan writer of nan critically praised reference book "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z," now successful its 3rd edition.

Much of nan hubbub successful wellness attraction this twelvemonth has been focused connected Medicaid, which faces dramatically reduced national backing arsenic nan consequence of nan immense fund measure signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month. But now nan attraction is turning to nan Affordable Care Act, which is facing immoderate large changes that could costs galore consumers their wellness sum arsenic soon arsenic 2026.

Meanwhile, changes to migration argumentation nether Trump could person an outsize effect connected nan nation's wellness attraction system, some by exacerbating shortages of wellness workers and by eliminating security sum that helps support immoderate hospitals and clinics afloat.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Julie Appleby of KFF Health News, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Panelists

• Julie Appleby KFF Health News @julie_appleby
• Jessie Hellmann CQ Roll Call @jessiehellmann @jessiehellmann.bsky.social
• Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico @AliceOllstein @alicemiranda.bsky.social

Among nan takeaways from this week's episode:

• Many Americans tin expect their wellness security premiums to emergence adjacent year, but those complaint hikes could beryllium moreover bigger for nan millions who trust connected ACA wellness plans. To spend specified plans, astir consumers trust connected enhanced national authorities subsidies, which are group to expire — and GOP lawmakers look loath to widen them, moreover though galore of their constituents could suffer their security arsenic a result.
• Congress included a $50 cardinal money for agrarian wellness attraction successful Trump's caller law, aiming to cushion nan rustle of Medicaid cuts. But nan money is expected to autumn short, particularly arsenic galore group suffer their wellness security and clinics, hospitals, and wellness systems are near to screen their bills.
• Abortion opponents proceed to declare nan abortion pill mifepristone is unsafe, much precocious by citing a problematic study — and immoderate lawmakers are utilizing it to unit national officials to return different look astatine nan drug's approval. Meanwhile, galore Planned Parenthood clinics are bracing for an extremity to national funding, stripping money not only from engaged clinics wherever abortion is ineligible but besides from clinics that supply only contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and different non-abortion attraction successful states wherever nan process is banned.
• And arsenic much states instrumentality laws enabling doctors to opt retired of treatments that break their morals, a pregnant female successful Tennessee says her expert refused to supply prenatal care, because she is unmarried.

Also this week, Rovner interviews Jonathan Oberlander, a Medicare historiographer and University of North Carolina wellness argumentation professor, to people Medicare's 60th day later this month.

Plus, for "extra credit" nan panelists propose wellness argumentation stories they publication this week that they deliberation you should read, too: 

Julie Rovner: KFF Health News' "Republicans Call Medicaid Rife pinch Fraudsters. This Man Sees No Choice but To Break nan Rules," by Katheryn Houghton. 

Julie Appleby: NPR's "Many Beauty Products Have Toxic Ingredients. Newly Proposed Bills Could Change That," by Rachel Treisman. 

Jessie Hellmann: Roll Call's "Kennedy's Mental Health Drug Skepticism Lands astatine FDA Panel," by Ariel Cohen. 

Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Associated Press' "RFK Jr. Promoted a Food Company He Says Will Make Americans Healthy. Their Meals Are Ultraprocessed," by Amanda Seitz and Jonel Aleccia. 

Also mentioned successful this week's podcast:

• KFF Health News' "Insurers and Customers Brace for Double Whammy to Obamacare Premiums," by Julie Appleby.
• The Congressional Budget Office's "Estimated Budgetary Effects of Public Law 119-21, to Provide for Reconciliation Pursuant to Title II of H. Con. Res. 14, Relative to CBO's January 2025 Baseline."
• The CBO's "How Changes to Funding for nan NIH and Changes successful nan FDA's Review Times Would Affect nan Development of New Drugs."
• KFF's "KFF Health Tracking Poll: Public Views connected Recent Tax and Budget Legislation," by Grace Sparks, Shannon Schumacher, Julian Montalvo III, Ashley Kirzinger, and Liz Hamel.
• The Washington Post's "Digging Into nan Math of a Study Attacking nan Safety of nan Abortion Pill," by Glenn Kessler.

Credits

• Francis Ying Audio producer
• Emmarie Huetteman Editor