Health Care at a Crossroads

The new administration appears likely to dramatically shrink support for key safety net programs, beginning with Medicaid, the nearly $900-billion-a-year government program that, along with the Children’s Health Insurance Program, serves about 79 million mostly low-income families and disabled Americans. Likewise, the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s landmark health program that now covers a record 24 million people, is expected to face substantial cuts. Some of the changes under discussion, including a requirement that many Medicaid enrollees work in order to receive benefits, are seen as a way to pay for the extension of the tax cuts from the first Trump administration, which disproportionately benefited wealthier Americans and corporations.

This webinar will suggest strategies for reporting on these changes by laying out the likely implications for enrollees, hospitals and health providers and exploring how such proposals would shift greater financial responsibility and decision-making to the states with potentially big impacts on future state budgets.

This webinar is sponsored by The Commonwealth Fund.

Panelists:

Joan Alker, Executive Director, Center for Children and Families and a Research Professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy.

Stephanie Armour, Senior Health Policy Correspondent, KFF Health News

Brian Blasé, President of Paragon Health Institute and former Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC) during President Trump’s first term from 2017-2019.

Larry Levitt, Executive Vice President for Health Policy at KFF, an independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

Moderator:

Carol Eisenberg, Project Director, SABEW Health Care Programming

Registration:

This is a free webinar, but you must register below to receive the Zoom link.