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Kansas voters tell others this week they don’t want their state to ban abortion nation. In a split of nearly 60%-40%, voters rejected efforts by anti-abortion activists to amend the state constitution to remove their abortion rights, which would allow the legislature to ban the process.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Congress is pushing through legislation before recess. A bill to provide health benefits to veterans injured by inhaling toxic substances from munitions pits has finally made its way to President Joe Biden’s desk. But negotiations continue on Democrats’ health care climate tax bill, which would, among other things, allow Medicare to negotiate the prices of some prescription drugs and expand subsidies for insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
This week’s panelists include KHN’s Julie Rovner, CNN’s Tami Luhby, CQ Roll Call’s Sandhya Raman and Stat’s Rachel Cohrs.
Highlights of this week’s episodes:
- At least four more states — California, Kentucky, Montana and Vermont — will put the issue of abortion on the November ballot. Michigan may also have one, but the required petition is still being certified.
- The Department of Justice has sued Idaho, arguing that its near-comprehensive abortion ban — set to go into effect in late August — Conflicts with federal laws that guarantee patients access to emergency medical services. If the case goes all the way to the Supreme Court, it could jeopardize urgent care laws that have never faced such legal challenges before.
- Biden signed an executive order this week that, among other things, allows Medicaid to pay for seekers if their state restricts Travel costs for women with out-of-state abortion care. But the White House did not provide many details about how such programs would work or how they would be paid for. The so-called Hyde Amendment, named after Rep. Henry Hyde, an abortion opponent who died in 2007, prohibits federal funding of most abortions. Supporters of the president’s move say the restrictions apply only to health care, not transportation, but any efforts by Medicaid to establish such a transportation program could be sued.
- New data released this week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services finds that the number of uninsured Americans has dropped to a historic 8% lowest point. The estimate comes as the Senate is considering funding to continue increasing premium subsidies for people who buy insurance on the Affordable Care Act marketplace. If this legislation falters, the number of people without insurance is expected to rise sharply, as many will be unable to afford premiums.
- Biden’s backlash with symptoms of covid-19 reminds the country that the criteria for when a patient will recover is not strict, and raises How patients should deal with re-entry after battling the disease.
Also this week, Rovner interviewed KHN’s Bram Sable – Smith, who reported and wrote the latest issue of KHN-NPR’s “Monthly Bills” about a single crash that resulted in three very different ambulance bills. If you want to send us a huge or outrageous medical bill, you can send it here.
Plus, for an added bonus, panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week that they think you should read too:
Julie Rovner: KHN’s “When Paperwork When sent to the open, they lose Medicaid, heralding chaos”, Brett Kelman
Rachel Cohrs: Washington Post’s “Thousands of lives depend on transplants requiring ‘massive reorganization’ Network, ‘” Joseph Menn and Lenny Bernstein
Tammy Ruby
Sandhya Raman: KHN’s ‘nursing home is suing residents’ friends and family for debts ” by Noam N. Levey
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