Tag: Kaiser Health News

But unlike every election since 2010, this year finds the Democrats playing offense and the Republicans back on their heels. There is one health proposal most Democrats and Republicans agree is a good idea — providing “reinsurance” to help insurers pay for their sickest patients, thus enabling them to lower premiums for everyone. But legislation in Congress that would extend those programs nationwide failed to get a vote in either the House or Senate earlier this year — another casualty in the partisan fight over health care. This week’s panelists for KHN’s “What the Health?” are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Ollstein of Talking Points Memo and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call. Democrats are playing up the Trump administration’s contention in a lawsuit that since the Congress got rid of the penalty for people who don’t get health coverage, insurers don’t need to cover preexisting conditions. Republicans are seeking to prove that they care about health care too, by pointing to their efforts to cut taxes on health care industries and to expand health savings accounts that allow consumers to set aside money for medical bills in tax-free accounts. A growing number of Democrats in the House and Senate are also expressing support for a “Medicare-for-all” health care system. Rovner also interviews KHN’s Emmarie Huetteman, who wrote the latest Bill of the Month. It features a very expensive surgical bill and a very persistent patient. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists recommend their favorite health stories of the week they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: The New York Times’ “Meet the Rebate, the New Villain of High Drug Prices,” by Katie Thomas Anna Edney: USA Today’s “Hospitals Know How to Protect Mothers.