

Health Affairs This Week
Health Affairs
Health Affairs This Week places listeners at the center of health policy’s proverbial water cooler. Join editors from Health Affairs, the leading journal of health policy research, and special guests as they discuss this week’s most pressing health policy news. All in 15 minutes or less.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 26, 2024 • 15min
The Plan to Remove Medical Debt From Credit Reports
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Deputy Editor Rob Lott to the program to discuss a recent policy proposal that would result in prohibiting medical debt from being included in credit reporting and how the upcoming presidential election could play into the policy's implementation.Read our "ahead-of-print" article on how adverse childhood experiences and health care utilization and expenditures. Check out this year's You're A Health Policy Wonk If... contest!Submit an abstract for our upcoming theme issue focusing on Food, Nutrition, and Health. Submissions are due by Monday, July 29th.Submit an article for the Forefront series "Supplemental Benefits in Medicare Advantage." Submissions will be taken on a rolling basis through June 2025.Related Articles:FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Announces Proposal to Prohibit Medical Bills from Being Included on Credit Reports and Calls on States and Localities to Take Further Actions to Reduce Medical DebtIllness And Injury As Contributors To Bankruptcy (Health Affairs)Medical Bankruptcy: Dranove And Millenson Respond (Health Affairs)The Joint Distribution Of High Out-Of-Pocket Burdens, Medical Debt, And Financial Barriers To Needed Care (Health Affairs)HEALTH POLICY BRIEF: Health, Income, & Poverty: Where We Are & What Could Help (Health Affairs)
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Jul 19, 2024 • 16min
New Alzheimer's Drug Approval Expands Treatment Options — and Creates Coverage Questions
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Leslie Erdelack to the program to discuss FDA's recent approval of an Alzheimer's treatment drug, Lilly’s Kisunla, how private insurers and Medicare may cover the drug, and the emerging new class of drugs surrounding Alzheimer's treatment.We announced the winner for our You're A Health Policy Wonk If... contest this week!Until July 20, we are having a flash sale on Health Affairs Insider membership. Use the code HealthWonkLife for $30 off the normal Insider price.Check out our Request For Abstracts page for the April 2025 theme issue focusing on Food, Nutrition, and Health.Related Articles:Approval of Newest Alzheimer’s Drug Will Accelerate New Era of Treatment by Peter Loftus and Joseph Walker (Wall Street Journal)Press Release: Lilly's Kisunla Approved by the FDA for the Treatment of Early Symptomatic Alzheimer's Disease
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Jul 12, 2024 • 19min
The Chevron Deference is Dead. What Now? w/ Andrew Twinamatsiko
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Andrew Twinamatsiko of O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law back to the program to discuss the Supreme Court's recent overturning of the Chevron doctrine and the implications for health policy moving forward. Check out our Request For Abstracts page for the April 2025 theme issue focusing on Food, Nutrition, and Health.Related Articles:The Supreme Court And The Future Of Expert Preventive Recommendations by Richard Hughes IV (Forefront)Two Obscure Cases about Fish May Disempower Health Agencies by Suhasini Ravi, Andrew Twinamatsiko, and Lawrence O. Gostin (MedPage Today)What the Supreme Court’s Rulings on Chevron in Loper Bright Enterprises and Relentless Could Mean for Health Care by Suhasini Ravi (The O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law)
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Jul 5, 2024 • 16min
Scene Report from AcademyHealth's ARM Conference
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers chats with Senior Editors Kathleen Haddad and Meg Winchester about their recent trip to AcademyHealth's 2024 Annual Research Meeting (ARM) in Baltimore and the main takeaways that the two found regarding private equity, opioid use, and solutions-orientated research.Order the July 2024 Issue of Health Affairs.Related Links:Request For Abstracts – Food, Nutrition, And HealthProtecting Patients And Society In An Era Of Private Equity Provider Ownership: Challenges And Opportunities For Policy by Christopher Cai and Zirui Song (Health Affairs, May 2024)A Health Podyssey: Christopher Cai on Responding To Challenges Posed By Private EquityAccountable Care for Population Health (a Forefront series)
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Jun 28, 2024 • 18min
Why the Supreme Court Rejected a Challenge to Abortion Medication w/ Andrew Twinamatsiko
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Andrew Twinamatsiko of O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law to discuss a recent Supreme Court decision to reject a challenge to the FDA's approval of abortion medication. Join us for this upcoming event:7/10/24 - Lunch and Learn: Supreme Court Wrap-Up (Health Affairs Insider Exclusive Event)Become an Insider this week for $40 Off when you use the code InsiderAtTwo at checkout.Related Articles:Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To Abortion Medication, But At What Cost? by Andrew Twinamatsiko et al. (Forefront)
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Jun 21, 2024 • 17min
Breaking Down the CBO's Insurance Coverage Projections w/ Sabrina Corlette
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers is joined by Sabrina Corlette of Georgetown University to discuss an ahead-of-print article released this week that outlines the Congressional Budget Office's health insurance coverage projections in the US for 2024-34. The conversation discusses what went into the CBO's estimates and how the upcoming presidential election may play a big role in how these projections shape up in the future to come.Join us for this upcoming event:7/10/24 - Lunch and Learn: Supreme Court Wrap-UpRelated Articles:Health Insurance Coverage Projections For The US Population And Sources Of Coverage, By Age, 2024–34 by Jessica Hale et al. (Health Affairs)CBO Projections Are Not Destiny: Policies, ACA Investments Can Change Trajectory by Sabrina Corlette (Forefront)CBO Publishes New Projections Related to Health Insurance for 2024 to 2034
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Jun 7, 2024 • 13min
Scene Report from CMS' Health Equity Conference
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers chats with Senior Editor Michael Gerber about his recent trip to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Health Equity Conference in Bethesda and the main takeaways that he found from the diversity of panels offered.Order the Reimagining Public Health Theme Issue of Health Affairs. Join us for our next edition of Journal Club on June 18.Become an Insider today! For the month of June, you can become an Insider with a $40 discount by using the code InsiderAtTwo.Related Links:2024 CMS Health Equity ConferenceJune 2024 Issue of Health Affairs on Reimagining Public Health
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May 31, 2024 • 21min
Obesity Medications & What You'll Pay For Them — If You Can Get Them w/ Stacie Dusetzina
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers talks with Stacie Dusetzina of Vanderbilt University about the current state of obesity medications like Ozempic, the likelihood of insurance coverage, their costs, drug shortages, and how to ensure this medication finds its way to patients. Join Health Affairs Insider to learn more about drug pricing with Stacie Dusetzina. For the month of June, use the code InsiderAtTwo to get $40 off of an Insider membership (offer ends on 6/30/24).The deadline is today (5/31/24) to submit your entry for the "You're A Health Policy Wonk If" Contest and try your chance at winning a subscription to Health Affairs for the next year.Be sure to RSVP for our upcoming Theme Issue Briefing on Reimagining Public Health!
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May 24, 2024 • 15min
Following the Rules: Nursing Facilities Staffing and Organ Transplants
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers talks with Marianne Amoss about recent federal rulemaking activity over nursing facility staff levels and CMS' proposed mandatory kidney transplant value-based model.Read the newly published article "Judicial Decisions Constraining Public Health Powers During COVID-19" from our upcoming Reimaging Public Health theme issue.Related Links:Biden-Harris Administration Acts to Improve Access to Kidney Transplants (CMS)Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities and Medicaid Institutional Payment Transparency Reporting Final Rule (CMS)Disparities in Acceptance of Deceased Donor Kidneys Between the United States and France and Estimated Effects of Increased US Acceptance (JAMA Internal Medicine)
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May 17, 2024 • 19min
FTC Voted to Ban Noncompetes. Will It Actually Happen? w/ Rebecca Pifer
Subscribe to UnitedHealthcare's Community & State newsletter.Health Affairs' Jeff Byers interviews Healthcare Dive's Rebecca Pifer to discuss the FTC's move to ban noncompete agreements.Join Health Affairs Insider.Related Links:FTC votes to ban noncompetes, with far-reaching effects on doctors (Healthcare Dive)
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