Drew Altman
President and CEO at Kaiser Family Foundation
Executive Publisher at KFF Health News
President and CEO of @KFF
Articles
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1 week ago |
kff.org | Drew Altman
With the focus on Medicaid cuts, the dismantling of the Department of Health and Human Services and so much more that has been part of the “flood the zone” tactics of the Trump administration, one big health policy issue—the looming expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits—has not received the attention it deserves. That may be changing soon.
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3 weeks ago |
kff.org | Drew Altman
Having reorganized both nonprofit and public sector organizations, these are a few reflections on Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s restructuring of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). I know the department pretty well and worked there early in my career. First, HHS is no stranger to reorganization. HHS itself was born from a reorganization when education was split off from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and became a separate cabinet agency.
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1 month ago |
kff.org | Drew Altman
Whether you are for the Medicaid cuts under discussion or against them, don’t expect many states to replace significant cuts in federal Medicaid funding. If any state does, it may lead to cuts in other state programs outside of health care such as corrections, environmental protection, social services, transportation, education or higher education, or possibly force some states to raise taxes.
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1 month ago |
kff.org | Drew Altman
The noted health policy expert Steve Bannon had a warning for Republicans interested in cutting federal Medicaid spending, saying: “A lot of MAGAs on Medicaid. If you don’t think so you are dead wrong. You can’t just take a meat axe to it.” Bannon was correct, there are more than 20 million Republicans on Medicaid, although I don’t know from our polling how many of them regard themselves as MAGA.
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2 months ago |
kff.org | Drew Altman
Decisions about two things—paying for tax cuts, and whether President Trump wants another big fight about health care—more than any other factors, will drive the biggest health policy decisions in the early days of the Trump administration. The first big decision is the one Republicans will make about paying for their $5 trillion tax cut (coincidentally about the same amount as we spend on health care each year).
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3 in 4 non-elderly adults on Medicaid have one or more chronic condition. R’s in Congress plan to cut Medicaid. RFKjr wants to tackle chronic illness. Maybe they should talk? https://t.co/qTWLqu2DK1
Medicaid has always been a counter cyclical program. It’s there for MORE people when the economy turns south. And often congress comes up with MORE money to help states through the rough patches. That’s the plan now, right?
There may be lots of significant changes hidden in the HHS reorg weeds. Is the AHRQ mission disappearing? Is prevention at CDC going away? What's crystal clear: big staffing cuts. What's a question: how it makes America healthier (again)?