Leslie Walker

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Reporter/Producer We're looking for an experienced health care journalist ready to contribute to Tradeoffs' distinct footprint at a moment of audience and impact growth for our newsroom.

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We’re looking for an experienced health care journalist ready to contribute to our distinct footprint at a moment of audience and impact growth for our newsroom.

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Applications accepted through October 19.

As the Big Beautiful Bill Becomes Law, States Face a ‘Daunting’ Rollout North Carolina’s former health secretary explains the heavy lift and hard choices ahead of states as they rush to put Republicans' new health reforms in place.

North Carolina’s former health secretary, Kody Kinsley, explains the heavy lift and hard choices ahead of states as they rush to put Republicans’ new health reforms in place.

tradeoffs.org/2025/07/10/b...

Cancer Drugs Cost More Than Ever. They Often Don’t Extend Lives Pharmaceutical companies are making billions on treatments that can sometimes overpromise and underdeliver for terminal cases.

Thank you to Bob Langreth, Tanaz Meghjani, and Rachael Dottle for the rigorous reporting and for sharing my family's experience as part of this piece. Especially important as we hear about all of the "breakthroughs" at ASCO.

CBO projects that House reconciliation bill will cause 1.38 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries to lose Medicaid coverage

We estimate that this will lead to over 18,000 avoidable deaths per year stemming from loss of drug subsidies

Link to our memo led by @pennldi.bsky.social:
bit.ly/4mwfcDA

House Reconciliation Bill Could Trigger $500 Billion in Mandatory Medicare Cuts The reconciliation bill reported out of the House Budget Committee would increase the deficit compared to current law by at least $2.3 trillion. If enacted into law in its current form, and Congress t...

Here’s a tidbit from CBO that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. CBO says the House bill will trigger about $500 billion in Medicare savings unless Congress takes action. www.kff.org/quick-take/h...

Tradeoffs: How Cutting Medicaid Could be Deadly Two new research papers add important data to the fierce political debate over Medicaid in Washington, D.C. Both offer strong evidence that Medicaid, the public insurance program that covers more than...

As @lesliemwalker.bsky.social writes for Tradeoffs today, discussing the paper’s findings, that regulation “was poised to help nearly 1 million more duals gain this extra medication assistance, but the latest Republican proposal delays that rule until 2035.”

Also worth noting this suit alleges that MA insurers pressured brokers to enroll fewer disabled beneficiaries, who the insurers “perceived to be less profitable”

What Republican Health Cuts Could Mean for People with Disabilities We talk with Harvard researcher Ari Ne’eman about why the sharp policy shifts underway in Washington pose a unique threat to people with disabilities.

Really terrific @tradeoffs.org interview with my colleague, Ari Ne'eman, on what Medicaid cuts could mean for people with disabilities — and how to think about this moment in the arc of disability rights activism