President Donald Trump signed a significant budget bill into law on July 4th, which includes billions of dollars in cuts to health programs like Medicaid. This new law will also impact rules for the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and other health initiatives. As a result, there is a looming threat of layoffs for Department of Health and Human Services employees, and funding for health-related contracts and grants remains uncertain.
During this week’s episode of KFF Health News’ podcast “What the Health?”, panelists Julie Rovner, Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Rachel Roubein, and Tami Luhby discussed key takeaways from recent health policy developments. It was highlighted that legal immigrants in the country may lose access to government benefits, including health coverage, due to Trump’s tax and domestic policy law. The law also garnered attention for its impact on Social Security benefits, with the Social Security Administration incorrectly promoting tax cuts to beneficiaries.
In other news, the Supreme Court issued a ruling supporting the Trump administration’s authority to lay off federal workers solely through executive action. This decision adds to the uncertainty surrounding government employee job security. Additionally, public health groups are challenging the Trump administration’s withdrawal of covid-19 vaccine recommendations, while HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled a meeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
The podcast also featured an interview with Julie Appleby, who reported on expensive childhood immunizations in the latest “Bill of the Month” feature by KFF Health News. The panelists recommended several health policy stories for further reading, including pieces on the corporatization of U.S. healthcare, ulraprocessed foods, Medicare billing practices, and nursing shortages at a new D.C. hospital.
Listeners were encouraged to subscribe to KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” podcast on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. KFF Health News is known for producing in-depth journalism on health issues as part of KFF, an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.
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