As US faces debt ceiling, Medicare becomes a bargaining chip

Guest

While the repeal of the Affordable Care Act appears to have fallen off the Congressional Republican to-do list for 2023, plans to cut Medicare and Medicaid are back. The GOP wants Democrats to agree to cut spending on both programs in exchange for a vote to prevent the government from defaulting on its debt.

In the meantime, the nation’s healthcare workers, from nurses to doctors to pharmacists, are under the strain of caring not only for a growing number of insured patients seeking help, but also for more severely ill patients who are behaving severely and sometimes even violently.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politics, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Victoria Knight of Axios.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

• Conservative House Republicans are looking to capitalize on their new legislative clout to cut government spending as the fight to raise the debt ceiling heralds possible debate this year over costly federal programs like Medicare.
• House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Republicans will defend Medicare and Social Security, but the rise of conservative troublemakers — like the new chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee — raises questions about what “defending” these programs means to Republicans.
• A record number of Americans enrolled this year for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Years after Congressional Republicans last tried to repeal it, the once highly controversial program, also known as Obamacare, appears to be following the trajectory of other established federal welfare programs: evolving, growing, and becoming less controversial over time.
• Recent reports show that while Americans had fewer problems paying for health care last year, many were still putting off treatment due to costs. The findings highlight that insurance is not enough to keep care affordable for many Americans.
• Healthcare workers are calling for better staffing increasingly loudly: The New York City nurses’ strike and recent reports of pharmacist burnout provide some of the latest arguments for how widespread staffing problems can be detrimental to patient care. There is a bipartisan agreement in Congress to address the nurse shortage, but what they will do is another matter.

In addition, as an added bonus, panelists recommend their favorite health policy articles of the week that they think you should also read:

Julia Rovner: Ariel Cohen’s Roll Call “The Absence of Senior NIH Leadership at the Beginning of a Divided Congress.”

Tami Luhbi: CNN “Ambulance on the Field: An Inside Look at How NFL Medical Teams Prepare for a Game Day Emergency” by Nadia Cunang and Amanda Seely.

Joan Kenen: The Atlantic “Don’t Be Afraid to Shake Hands” by Katherine J. Wu.

Victoria Knight: The Washington Post “The Last of Us zombie fungus is real and can be found in dietary supplements” by Mike Hume

Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:

The New York Times: “As France Tries to Delay Retirement, Older Workers Are Stranded” by Liz Alderman.

Stat “Congressional Health Care Advisors Warn of Rising Drug Prices Despite New Price Negotiations” by John Wilkerson.

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