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The Host
Autumn is for pumpkins and raking leaves — and open enrollment for well being plans. Medicare’s annual open enrollment started Oct. 1 and runs via Dec. 15. It is going to be adopted shortly by the Reasonably priced Care Act’s annual open enrollment, which begins Nov. 1 and runs till Jan. 15 in most states. However what was once a reasonably easy annual process — renewing an current well being plan or selecting a brand new one — has grow to be a complicated, time-consuming mess for a lot of, resulting from our convoluted well being care system.
In the meantime, Ohio would be the subsequent state the place voters will resolve whether or not to guard abortion rights. These on either side of the talk are gearing up for the November vote, with anti-abortion forces hoping to interrupt a shedding streak of state poll measures associated to abortion for the reason that 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being and Politico, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Publish.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- The U.S. Home of Representatives has been with out an elected speaker since Oct. 4. Which means lawmakers can’t conduct any legislative enterprise, with a number of vital well being payments pending — together with renewal of the favored worldwide HIV/AIDS program, PEPFAR.
- Open enrollment isn’t just for folks seeking to change medical insurance plans. Plans themselves change, and people who do nothing danger persevering with in a plan that not meets their wants.
- A brand new spherical of lawsuits has sprung up associated to “abortion reversals,” a controversial follow through which a affected person, having taken the primary dose of a two-dose abortion medicine routine, takes a excessive dose of the hormone progesterone quite than the second medicine that completes the abortion. In Colorado, a Catholic-affiliated well being clinic says a state regulation banning the follow violates its non secular rights, whereas in California, the state attorney general is suing two faith-based chains that function being pregnant “disaster facilities,” alleging that by promoting the process they’re making “fraudulent and deceptive” claims.
- The newest survey of employer health insurance by KFF exhibits annual household premiums are once more escalating quickly — up a mean of seven% from 2022 to 2023, with even bigger will increase anticipated for 2024. It’s not clear whether or not the already excessive value of offering insurance coverage to employees — an annual household coverage now averages slightly below $24,000 — will dampen corporations’ enthusiasm for offering the profit.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information’ Arielle Zionts, who reported and wrote the most recent KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” characteristic concerning the extensive value variation of chemotherapy from state to state. In case you have an outrageous or inscrutable medical you’d prefer to ship us, you can do that here.
Plus, for “further credit score,” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week they suppose it’s best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: NPR’s “How Gas Utilities Used Tobacco Tactics to Avoid Gas Stove Regulations,” by Jeff Brady.
Lauren Weber: KFF Well being Information’ “Doctors Abandon a Diagnosis Used to Justify Police Custody Deaths. It Might Live On, Anyway,” by Markian Hawryluk and Renuka Rayasam.
Joanne Kenen: The Washington Publish’s “How Lunchables Ended Up on School Lunch Trays,” by Lenny Bernstein, Lauren Weber, and Dan Keating.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: KFF Well being Information’ “Pregnant and Addicted: Homeless Women See Hope in Street Medicine,” by Angela Hart.
Additionally talked about on this week’s episode:
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