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A Weekly Health Policy Round Up From Health Affairs
February 14, 2021
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THIS WEEK ON THE BLOG
FOLLOWING THE ACA
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Unpacking The Coverage Provisions In The House Pandemic Relief
Drafts
By Katie Keith (2/9/21)
On February 8, 2021, the Ways and Means Committee and the Education and Labor Committee of the US House of Representatives each released draft legislative text for the budget reconciliation legislation that Democrats are pursuing for additional pandemic relief. The drafts are the next step in a process that began when both chambers passed a 2021 budget reconciliation
resolution last week. Read More >>
ACA Round-Up: Health Plan Filing Deadlines, Affordability Data, Association Health Plan Litigation, And More
By Katie Keith (2/9/21)
Over the past few weeks, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released new guidance and data related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In addition, several pending ACA-related lawsuits have been resolved or delayed. Read More >>
COVID-19
By Joshua Barocas, Celine Gounder, and Syra Madad (2/12/21)
A just-in-time approach to pandemic preparedness by medical supply manufacturers, hospitals, and governments has failed during the COVID-19 pandemic. A just-in-case strategy with training plans, stockpiles, infectious disease surveillance, and stakeholder coordination is the solution to future health crises. Read More >>
Four Recommendations To Efficiently And Equitably Accelerate The COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
By William F. Parker, Govind Persad, and Monica E. Peek (2/11/21)
Successful COVID-19 vaccination distribution requires efficient and equitable operationalization of national guidelines at the local level. We offer four recommendations for doing so.
Read More >>
A Call To Action: Immediate Deployment Of Select Repurposed Drugs For COVID-19 Outpatient Treatment
By Vikas P. Sukhatme and Vidula V. Sukhatme (2/9/21)
During the COVID-19 emergency, a small group of the most promising FDA-approved drugs could be repurposed for COVID-19 using temporary treatment guidance by a government agency and/or health care systems. Tools to track outcomes should be made readily available and data analyzed in real time. Read More >>
COSTS & SPENDING
Health Care Reform: One (Percent) Step At A TimeBy Zack Cooper and Fiona Scott Morton (2/10/21)High US health care costs are the result of a series of discrete problems that each incrementally raises health spending by a percent or two. We call these the "one percent problems"
and have brought together experts to identify these problems and describe evidence-based steps to address them. Read More >>
HEALTH EQUITY
Dreams Of A Beloved Public Health: Confronting White Supremacy In Our Field
By Ryan J. Petteway (2/9/21)
Health equity is not something that is "achieved," because this implies the absence of conflict. Equity scholars must be explicit in our language and goals, and judicious in our choice of research questions and methods, all of which must be rooted in antiracist, critical race, and decolonizing frameworks. Read More >>
SUBSTANCE USE
Responding To COVID-19: Supporting People In Recovery From Opioid Use Disorder
By Karen A. Scott, Kenneth Shatzkes, and Lydia Tschoe (2/11/21)
Access to treatment for opioid use disorder is important, but so is ensuring access to recovery services, which provide social connections and other supports to help people rebuild their lives. A national foundation has awarded grants to organizations helping to provide safe and meaningful recovery support services during the pandemic. The authors suggest policy interventions—for new Biden administration staffers and others
addressing the opioid crisis—on the critical importance of recovery services. Read More >>
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IN THE JOURNAL
EYE ON HEALTH REFORM
Biden And New Congress Tackle COVID-19, ACA
By Katie Keith
Before previewing what lies ahead for the new Congress and the Biden administration, Katie Keith takes note of the actions at the end of the previous Congress, including new COVID-19 relief, the No Surprises Act (patient relief from surprise out-of-network providers’ bills), and the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act. Keith also reviews what actions the new Democratic-controlled Congress could take in striking down some of the Department of Health and Human Services–related rules issued in the waning days of the Trump administration. Looking ahead, Keith notes that the new Congress and the
Biden administration could now make some adjustments to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), such as expanded subsidies.
Read More
>>
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Our February issue features six commentaries from the National Academy of
Medicine’s (NAM’s) Vital Directions for Health and Health Care project, which proposes health and health care priorities for the new Biden administration. The cluster includes these articles:
This initiative was originally established by the NAM in 2016 with the goal of providing the US presidential administration as well as other policy makers, opinion leaders, and the public with nonpartisan, evidence-based analysis of the most compelling opportunities and priorities in health, health care, and biomedical science. The resulting 2017 publication brought together some 150 policy experts to provide guidance on 19 priorities. In 2020, the NAM reassessed the priorities and issues of urgent attention for the next administration; today’s cluster of commentaries is the result of the NAM’s recent
review.
The publication of the Vital Directions series in Health Affairs was supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, The John A. Hartford Foundation, the National Academy of Medicine, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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HEALTH AFFAIRS PODCAST
Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Victor Dzau, president of the National Academy of Medicine, on the new Vital Directions publication, how health equity is fundamental for shaping health system reform, and why science should embrace social and behavioral disciplines.
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CANCERThe Effect Of The Affordable Care Act On Cancer Detection Among The Near-ElderlyBy Fabian Duarte, Srikanth Kadiyala, Gerald F. Kominski, and Antonia Riveros
Fabian Duarte and coauthors show that the reduction in the rate of uninsurance among
adults ages 60–64 due to the Affordable Care Act greatly increased rates of cancer detection for this population. Fifty-nine additional incidents of cancer were detected per 100,000 people, and 68 percent of these were early- and middle-stage cancers—and thus more likely treatable. Read More >>MEDICARE
The Impact Of Medicare On Access To And Affordability Of Health Care
By Paul D. Jacobs
Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey–Household Component and the National Health Interview Survey, Paul Jacobs tested for changes in access to care and affordability around age sixty-five, when most people gain eligibility for Medicare. Read his findings on accessibility and what they mean for proposals to lower the age of Medicare eligibility. Read More >>
DISABILITY
Physicians’ Perceptions Of People With Disability And Their Health Care
By Lisa I. Iezzoni, Sowmya R. Rao, Julie Ressalam, Dragana Bolcic-Jankovic, Nicole D. Agaronnik, Karen Donelan, Tara Lagu, and Eric G. Campbell
How confident are US physicians that they can provide the same quality of care to patients with disability as to those without? Lisa Iezzoni of Harvard Medical School and coauthors surveyed physicians about their perceptions of care for people with disability. Read More >>
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Listen to Health Affairs editors Leslie Erdelack and Jessica Bylander discuss what's in the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021.
Listen
here.
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| HEALTH POLICY VALENTINES
It's that time of year again when we send health policy valentines across Twitter. This year Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil got in on the action when he heard the news that the Wall Street Journal was going to use "health care" as one word from now on.
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About Health Affairs
Health Affairs is the leading peer-reviewed journal at the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Published monthly by Project HOPE, the journal is available in print and online. Late-breaking content is also found
through healthaffairs.org, Health Affairs Today, and Health Affairs Sunday
Update.
Project HOPE is a
global health and humanitarian relief organization that places power in the hands of local health care workers to save lives across the globe. Project HOPE has published Health Affairs since 1981.
Copyright © Project HOPE: The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.
Health Affairs, 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, United States
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