Heidi Allen

Out-of-network and on your own? What to do if your insurer drops your doctors Patients sometimes find themselves scrambling for affordable care when their insurer and hospital get into a contract dispute. Here are six things to know if that happens to you.

Follow the link for advice on what to do if your doctor is suddenly out-of-network, including from Professor Jason Buxbaum. He examined 3,714 hospitals across the US and found that most disputes between hospitals and insurance companies are ultimately resolved.

In the rural South where Medicaid has been a lifeline, residents brace for cuts With Medicaid cutbacks on the horizon, millions in the U.S. are expected to go uninsured. In the Mississippi Delta region — one of the poorest places in the U.S. — people are stressed and mad.

"The fact that it still went though…was a real sense of disconnect with what our legislators are doing and what we as a health care community feel like is the reality on the ground." www.npr.org/sections/sho... #Medicaid #OBBBA #healthpolicy

Image: Photo of Jessica Altman, David Seltz, Janice Walters and Maureen Hensley-Quinn at NASHP's Annual Conference in September 2025. Text: State Strategies to Contain Health Care Costs and Improve Access. Insights from NASHP's Conference. See the full blog post at NASHP.org

Rising health care prices continue to challenge affordability and access. This recap covers insights from NASHP’s annual conference, featuring strategies from Rhode Island, Indiana, Colorado, Oklahoma, North Carolina & Connecticut.

Review the blog post loom.ly/-XLt-4k
#HealthPolicy #Affordability

US FDA’s Tidmarsh: Marginal Treatments Do More Harm Than Good Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director George Tidmarsh's Oct. 27 remarks at BIO's Patient Advocacy Changemakers Event suggested FDA may be tougher on accelerated approvals under his watch.

New FDA CDER director George Tidmarsh had some pretty interesting remarks at BIO's patient advocacy event yesterday. He pushed industry to up their standards, called for review of surrogate endpoints in accelerated approval, & no crossover in cancer trials... #healthpolicy

In a First, Trump and GOP-Led Congress Prepare To Swell Ranks of U.S. Uninsured - KFF Health News Fewer Americans will likely have health insurance, compromising their physical and financial health, as the Trump administration and GOP-controlled Congress weigh major changes to the Affordable Care…

A #publichealth disaster unlike anything we've seen.

In a First, Trump and GOP-Led Congress Prepare To Swell Ranks of U.S. Uninsured kffhealthnews.org/MjA1MTc2OQ by @samuelwhitehead.bsky.social via @kffhealthnews.org CC: @prof-heidiallen.bsky.social @mfcannon.bsky.social @aaronecarroll.bsky.social

‘Medicaid Cut Me Off’: A Rural Health Center Faces New Pressures

“FQHCs are going to have a dramatic increase in volume of care,” said Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy @ Johns Hopkins. “They’re going to be stretched even more thinly than they have been,” he added. “It’s going to be a nightmare.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/h... #Medicaid #healthpolicy

Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine

New research in the 'Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine' reveals that #MentalHealth patients face 120% longer emergency department boarding times than non-mental health patients—highlighting urgent inequities in care and resource allocation. bit.ly/4owCr0l 🩺📊 @cjemonline.bsky.social #EMedsky 🧪

Obamacare Is Expensive. But So Is All Health Insurance.

Really good overview of health insurance pricing. Basically, all health care is subsidized! And expensive! @sangerkatz.bsky.social #healthpolicy @reedabelson.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/u...

Patient navigation: helping people through the health system maze Patient navigation programmes expand access to best-practice care and improve health outcomes. But uneven implementation is limiting their impact.

Patient navigation helps people move through the health system, improving outcomes and cutting costs. But implementation is uneven.

It’s time to make patient navigation a standard part of person-centred care.

#HealthPolicy #PatientNavigation #HPP

www.healthpolicypartnership.com/patient-navi...

Graph of insurance premiums going from around $350 to $1400, 1999 to 2025

We’re paying high premiums + tax/hidden subsidy via employer insurance. A universal system could reduce total spending while covering everyone. The evidence is not perfect — but strong enough that it deserves serious consideration.

Kevin Nguyen, Leesh Menard, @prof-heidiallen.bsky.social & Gilbert Gonzales examine the changing landscape of LGBTQ health politics/policy, including developments in LGBTQ health data collection & research, and the role of developments like marriage equality & ACA read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Great thread for Medicaid researchers using or considering using TMSIS 🧵

So glad to have have helped support this work!
#Medicaid #healthpolicy

Officials show little proof that new tech will help Medicaid enrollees meet work rules | CNN The Trump administration says it’s developing a digital tool to help people prove they’re meeting new Medicaid work requirements. KFF Health News talked to officials from the two states running pilot ...

Opt-in apps/web-based tools will not be sufficient to reduce the anticipated loss of coverage expected when Medicaid work requirements are implemented. They also ignore areas with limited or no internet access.
www.cnn.com/2025/10/22/h... #Medicaid #healthpolicy

Colorado becomes first state to cap prescription drug prices, starting with Enbrel Colorado makes history as first state to cap prescription drug prices, targeting Enbrel, used for several autoimmune conditions.

Great News from #Colorado! Their Prescription Drug Affordability Board (#PDAB) set an Upper Payment Limit on the expensive prescription medication, #Enbrel!

www.koaa.com/news/local-n...

#PrescriptionDrugPrices #AffordableRX #UpperPaymentLimit #Oregon #ORPol #OCAP #HealthPolicySky

The projected $911 billion reduction in federal Medicaid spending over the next decade puts immense pressure on states to reduce costs, disproportionately threatening coverage for people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (I/DD).

The @commonwealthfund.org is now accepting applications for its Hospital Pricing Strategies Technical Assistance Program. States working on hospital pricing policies can receive expert support and join peer learning sessions. Apply by October 27. bit.ly/48TkmVJ #HealthPolicy #StatePolicy

How Medicaid Provider Taxes Work: An Explainer - National Association of Medicaid Directors This resource explains how Medicaid provider taxes work, why states use them, and the key changes made under OBBBA, providing context for the provider tax provisions highlighted in NAMD’s OBBBA Medica...

New resource from NAMD explains provider taxes and key HR 1/OBBBA changes - concise & easy to understand breakdown of a complex issue medicaiddirectors.org/resource/how... #Medicaid #healthpolicy

What a super cool idea!!

For many years, the Clark Center at Chicago Booth has regularly surveyed leading economists to assess consensus on timely economic policy issues.

We are excited today to launch the Cornell Health Policy Insight Panel, where we extend that model to health policy.

1/N ⬇️

We’re LIVE! But there is still time to join “What the South Tells Us About Medicaid’s Future.” Hear Roy Mitchell, April Simpson & @acvollers.bsky.social on what policy shifts mean for access and equity. Join now: bit.ly/FutureofMedicaid

#webinar #Medicaid #HealthPolicy #Journalism

Flagging this new TFAH report for other health policy/politics syllabi-updaters

www.tfah.org/wp-content/u...

The Madden Sisters Don’t Want to Be Institutionalized

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/m...

Thread on highly inadequate and flawed "rural health transformation" fund intended to prevent rural hospitals from closing or cutting services/staff in face of draconian #Medicaid cuts in Senate reconciliation bill. Details from @punchbowlnews.bsky.social here (1/x): punchbowl.news/rural-health...

Wow, Zohran won the democratic primary 🔥 AND I have a new paper out today, which I argue is extremely on topic for our future mayor. We find cost and affordability were the most common reason for returning to work from postpartum leave. Let's get into it 🧵
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10....

Re-upping some 2019 analysis about challenges with safeguards intended to protect coverage for people with disabilities from losing #Medicaid coverage due to work and reporting requirements in Arkansas - it was very complex! www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

State-Level Context for Federal Medicaid Cuts of $625 Billion and Enrollment Declines of 10.3 Million | KFF Based on draft reconciliation language from the Energy & Commerce Committee, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released preliminary estimates showing proposed Medicaid changes would reduce federal...

Looking for state-level cost and coverage estimates of #Medicaid reductions in the E&C reconciliation bill? See new new analysis: www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

5 Key Facts About Medicaid Work Requirements | KFF Work requirements in Medicaid have resurfaced as part of a broader legislative package of potential changes to Medicaid designed to significantly reduce federal Medicaid spending. This brief highlight...

Work requirements in #Medicaid account for nearly half of the savings in the CBO estimates of E&C provisions. Check out our brief if you need a refresher on the data and summary of existing research: www.kff.org/medicaid/iss...

“work requirements” are nothing more than red tape to block people from accessing their benefits

Opinion | How the American Right Learned to Love Psychedelics A once left-wing psychedelic movement has become tightly entwined with the Trump administration.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...

Planned Parenthood of Arizona "Pauses" Gender Affirming Care for Trans Adults If Planned Parenthood withholds treatment, many trans people may lose access to gender affirming care altogether, experts warn.

1. Planned Parenthood of Arizona has "paused" gender affirming care for transgender adults.

It appears to be a case of massive over compliance. This kind of move could threaten the majority of trans people's medication in the US.

The latest from S. Baum.

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