Trump-Harris debate highlights differences on health policy

Guest

As expected, the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris offered few new details about their positions on abortion, the Affordable Care Act and other critical health issues. But it underscored for voters the dramatic differences between the two candidates.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has issued rules aimed at ensuring mental health parity — requiring the federal government to cover mental health and substance use disorder services to the same extent as other health care.

This week's panelists include Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Rachel Kors Zhang of Stat, Riley Griffin of Bloomberg News and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post.

Here are some takeaways from this week's episode:

  • Trump declined to say during the debate whether he would veto a bill that would impose a nationwide ban on abortion. But he could effectively ban the procedure without Congress taking action because of the 150-year-old Comstock Act. And Project 2025, a policy plan from the conservative Heritage Foundation, calls for doing just that.
  • There’s a good chance that expanded federal subsidies for ACA coverage that were put in place during the pandemic could expire next year, depending on which party controls Congress. The subsidies have helped more people get zero-cost coverage through the ACA exchanges, though Republicans say the subsidies are too expensive to keep. Residents of states that haven’t expanded Medicaid coverage, including Florida and Texas, will be hit the hardest.
  • The Census Bureau says the uninsured rate didn’t change much last year after hitting a record low in the first quarter. But the report’s methodology didn’t allow it to capture the experiences of many people who were dropped off the rolls and left without insurance after what’s known as the Medicaid “unwinding” began. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department report sheds light on how many Americans benefited from the ACA, as polls show the health care law has also become more popular.
  • And Congress has yet to pass key government spending bills, meaning the country faces (again) a possible federal government shutdown starting Oct. 1. It remains to be seen what might be passed in the lame-duck session after the November election. The 2020 year-end spending package included many health priorities — and that could happen again.

Additionally, as “extra points,” panelists offer articles on health policy that they read this week that they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: “The Wall Street Journal”Nurse's $25,000 in student debt relief turns into $217,500 government bill“, Rebecca Ballhaus.

Lauren Weber: Statistical”Youth Vaping Continues to Fall After Juul High“, Lizzie Lawrence.

Riley Griffin: Bloomberg News' “Lilly expands Irish obesity drug operations“, Madison Mueller.

Rachel Kors Zhang: ProPublica's «'I don't want to die': Needing psychiatric help, he was caught in the web of his insurer's ghosts“, Max Blau.

Also mentioned in this week's podcast:


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