Every step taken by this administration makes insurance access harder Congress and the Administration Are Weaponizing Paperwork to Discourage Enrollment in Marketplace Insurance www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2025/co... by @jalisahealth.bsky.social @christinemonahan.bsky.social @commonwealthfund.org

I recently spoke with NBC10 Philadelphia reporter Tracy Davidson, investigating why more patients are seeing unexpected increases on their medical bills, often due to outpatient #facilityfees. 🎥 Watch the full NBC10 segment here: www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video/invest...

One of the most urgent questions, if this bill passes, is how states can minimize the damage (coverage losses) from these policies. The venn diagram of answers to that question and answers to "how will system vendors try to extract as much profit as possible?" is going to have a lot of overlap.

My team and I spend a lot of time thinking about how the private health insurance system works (and doesn't) for individuals with #diabetes who depend on #insulin. To say the least, #OBBBA is scary. This population will jump thru hoops to stay insured. That doesn't mean they won't get hurt.

Reminder that the median Medicaid eligibility level for pregnancy is over 2x the poverty level. Many of these people Mullin is referring to are pregnant or are children. www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

Republicans' monster bill is designed to make people self-deport from Medicaid and Obamacare. That creates a talking point (also not true): No one is losing eligibility!

What can we learn from states like ME, TX, and NY when it comes to outpatient hospital billing reforms? Join @mccourtschool.bsky.social in DC on June 17 for a panel discussion exploring state-led solutions to reduce hospital outpatient charges and improve health care affordability: bit.ly/43uTEiY

What can we learn from states like ME, TX, and NY when it comes to #facilityfee reform? Join me and @GtownCHIR in DC on June 17 for a panel discussion exploring state-led solutions to reduce #hospital outpatient charges and improve #healthcare #affordability: bit.ly/43uTEiY #healthpolicy

What can we learn from states like ME, TX, and NY when it comes to #facilityfee reform? Join me and @GtownCHIR in DC on June 17 for a panel discussion exploring state-led solutions to reduce #hospital outpatient charges and improve #healthcare #affordability: bit.ly/43uTEiY #healthpolicy

PBMs get a lot of attention. But most employer #healthcare dollars are spent on medical care where another type of corporate middlemen operates: third-party administrators (TPAs) owned by large insurance companies. Via @healthaffairs.bsky.social buff.ly/y6uiYa1 #healthpolicy #healthinsurance #medsky

🚨 Today in Health Affairs, Amy Killelea and I highlight how ongoing efforts in #Congress to dismantle the #ACA imperil the well-being of young adults with insulin-requiring #diabetes. 🚨 Read it here: www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...

Even with #healthinsurance, millions of people with #diabetes face high costs and barriers to care that impact their health. Explore our NEW @helmsleytrust.bsky.social-funded research on state #policy solutions to improve #coverage, #costsharing and #priorauthorization: bit.ly/3SwBUNS

When tests get sent to a hospital facility, consumers can end up paying $1000+ for routine lab work. Adding insult to injury, these are the "discounted" payment rates their insurance company agreed to! kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

I was honored to appear on @pbsnews.org on Saturday to help explain what's going on with outpatient #facilityfee billing and how states are responding! Please check out the segment, which also highlights two stories from Minnesota families dealing with these bills. www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...

America’s exorbitantly expensive hospitals—is featured in today’s Chartbook Top Link. Link in comment.

Until we get policies to actually drive prices down, I am trying my best to help consumers (maybe) steer clear of facility fees by digging around the internet for obscure policy documents...

My latest essay -- States As Contractor, with Maanasa Kona and Madeline O'Brien -- is available now. Learn more about the extent to which state contracting power can be a workaround to leg/reg barriers to health care cost containment: www.cambridge.org/core/books/h...

AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare.

Schumer is acceding to the GOP’s plan to blow up D.C.’s budget by prohibiting us from spending a billion dollars *of our own money,* forcing devastating cuts to vital services out of pure spite toward our city and its residents. And he doesn’t bother defending his decision to throw us under the bus.

The absolute devastation that @chuckschumer.com is about to inflict on D.C. by supporting the GOP’s continuing resolution is hard to overstate. Massive cuts to schools and law enforcement. Teachers laid off en masse. Basic city services may grind to a halt because we *cannot spend our own money.*

Nothing will kill more children than the ongoing decimation of CDC, NIH, and USAID work to lift vaccine uptake in the US and world. Child survival rose 75% in the last 50 years. Vaccines account for 40% of that. Measles vax alone was 60% of the benefit. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The new head of the FDA division that regulates infant formula was in recent months a corporate lawyer defending a top formula maker from claims that its product gave rise to debilitating harm to premature babies.

As someone currently hiring a health policy research fellow, I can confirm the incredible talent loss currently hitting CMS and other parts of HHS. This includes both the people they have let go, and recent and upcoming graduates who normally may have entered government service. It is devastating.

Wow: Jeff Grant, a top career official at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, retired today. On his way out, Grant sent this letter excoriating Jeffery Anoka, who carried out the DOGE firings, and said Anoka is "ethically and legally bound to restore" the jobs of the fired employees.

Tens of thousands of federal employees and contractors have lost their jobs in recent weeks. As a result, many of these workers and their families may now be navigating a loss of job-based health insurance. Here are a few tips for people in this challenging situation.

If Mike Johnson wants to go after Medicaid fraud, he should look on the billing side, not the patient benefits side.

Check out this excellent overview about outpatient facility fee billing and how it affects patients in the @houstonchronicle.com Thanks to reporter @juliangill.bsky.social Gill for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts. www.houstonchronicle.com/health/artic...

🚨 Health Policy Hiring Alert 🚨 The Center on Health Insurance Reforms is looking for a Research Fellow! MPH, MPP, or similar graduate degree required; one year health policy experience preferred. Please apply ASAP. Details in link chir.georgetown.edu/index/jobs/

Just a reminder, the rule eliminating medical debt from credit reports was going through the CFPB. This move puts that in grave jeopardy. (KFF: 41% of American adults have medical debt.)

The corporate takeover of health care is limiting patient choices and driving up costs—what's causing this troubling trend? Join us Friday 2/14 at 1pm ET to learn why from our experts. bit.ly/3Vl6sUZ

Yale Budget Lab estimates that tariffs will cost average US household $1,000-$1,200 in lost purchasing power budgetlab.yale.edu/sites/defaul...

My mentions are filled with people insisting Senate Democrats are powerless. They’re not. They can throw up roadblocks by denying unanimous consent, forcing quorum calls, using holds and filibusters, etc It’s so easy to figure out even a dimwit like Tuberville managed to pull it off.

RFK Jr.’s allies have a plan to upend childhood vaccination www.politico.com/news/2025/01...

The President has directed HHS/DOL to "eliminate unnecessary administrative expenses and rent-seeking practices that increase health care costs." Here's an option: Investigate and then crack down on TPAs, PBMs, and profit-enhancing middlemen driving up $$ chirblog.org/how-hhs-and-...

Join us for a fantastic new webinar series on the Corporate Transformation of Health Care. First up on Jan. 31 - how corporatization is affecting patients and doctors, with editor-in-chief of Kaiser Health News, USPIRG, and the academy of emergency medicine. burness.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

🎉Hiring Alert! Do you know a recent college grad looking to get a foothold in health policy? Georgetown's Center on Health Insurance Reforms is hiring a Research Assistant. Please send aspiring candidates our way. More info here: georgetown.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/George...

🚨 Webinar Alert! Join me and my fellow panelists from NASHP, BreakthroughT1D, & G'town Ctr on Health Insurance Reform's on Thurs. 1/23 for a discussion about recent reforms to private health insurance to best support people with diabetes and what we expect to see in 2025! Register: t.co/52TJFqVSJB

🚨 Webinar Alert! Join me and my fellow panelists from NASHP, BreakthroughT1D, & G'town Ctr on Health Insurance Reform's on Thurs. 1/23 for a discussion about recent reforms to private health insurance to best support people with diabetes and what we expect to see in 2025! Register: t.co/52TJFqVSJB

States aren't waiting for federal action: The New York legislature is seeking to control outpatient spending through a site-neutral payment and rate cap proposal. #siteneutral #sameservicesameprice Read more here: chirblog.org/new-york-leg...