Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Avoiding Medicaid Cuts

The House Republicans’ budget resolution is now available. In it, they are proposing a cut of ~$800 billion. Almost all of the $800 billion 10-year spending cut target for the Energy and Commerce Committee would come out of Medicaid by choice. (God forbid those not being able to afford healthcare should have healthcare.) Those with […]

The branding of Medicaid

Let’s call Medicaid by its real name. “While 80 million Americans are insured through Medicaid, many people don’t think of themselves as “on Medicaid” — even when they are. “Why? Because Medicaid is not branded as Medicaid in most states. If you tell a patient in South Carolina they might lose Medicaid, their eyes may […]

Medicaid Cuts as Promoted by WSJ

As a subscriber to xpostfactoid, I have access to some excellent commentary by Andrew Spung. This is not a person I would argue with about the ACA, Medicare or Medicaid, etc. Anyway, the WSJ has an article touting Medicaid cuts which did catch his attention and is the basis for his commentary. The link is […]

I Guess the Nursing Homes don’t care

With all the focus on Medicaid, I have been wondering; why haven’t we heard from the long-term care industry? Surely they must be hearing about the potential cut of $880 billion within the Medicaid budget. Oh, and this is a minimum directive given to the committees of jurisdiction as noted in their 58 page budget […]

Calling on Congress to Stop Threatening Medicaid

The upshot of a Republican led Congress threatening Medicaid kind of makes sense. They can’t threaten Musk, Zuckerman, or the other bunch of billionaires. They would pay for that occurrence. So, in order to look good they pick on those who have little political clout. They are not going to loudly mention how they cleaned […]

The Trump Administration and semaglutides

Semaglutides are turning out to be transformative for obesity in the way that statins have been transformative for hypercholesterolemia and anti-hypertensives have been transformative for high blood pressure: they’re not only highly effective but have minimal side effects. From a public health standpoint, there’s every reason to allow Medicare and Medicaid coverage for semaglutides. But […]

Fear of Losing Medicaid and the ACA Healthcare When Trump Takes Office

What state government were to do for their citizens they began doing in 2010 with the expansion of healthcare in the form of Medicaid. The 2010 Affordable Care Act encouraged states to expand Medicaid programs to cover more low-income Americans who did not get health insurance through their jobs. Forty states and the District of […]

Making Trump Tax Cuts Permanent has Medicaid the Top Target for Cuts

I did some rewriting on this particular commentary and added two charts from another commentary (at the bottom). The point being to give graphical depiction of the impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) and who it benefited the most. You can see (for whatever reason) why the Republican Party is pushing for […]

New Medicaid Rule Gives Hospitals Greater Market Power

Increasing profits far above actual costs. Think Medicare Advantage as compared to Medicare. Over the past 20 years, the prices of hospital services have grown faster than any other sector of the US economy. Unfortunately, the federal government recently issued a regulation intending to address underpayment of hospitals by Medicaid. However, the new rule could push hospital prices […]