Anger Over Health Costs Clouds Midterms

Amid a campaign already focusing on affordability, anxious voters are unlikely to be assuaged by headlines about healthcare costs rising even more next year. And a lawsuit that could cut off access nationwide to the abortion pill mifepristone gets a hearing at a federal appeals court. Sandhya Raman of Bloomberg Law, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Amanda Seitz of KFF Health News join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Lauren Sausser, who wrote the latest “Bill of the Month,” about when a preventive service isn’t preventive enough to qualify for zero-cost coverage. Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: NBC News’ “A Secretive Computer Algorithm Is Taking Caregiving Money Away From Disabled People,” by Mike Hixenbaugh.  Sandhya Raman: Bloomberg Government’s “Medicaid Cuts Leave Schools Pondering How To Serve Disabled Kids,” by Erin Durkin and Claire Hebert.  Joanne Kenen: ProPublica’s “Children in a Faith-Healing Sect Keep Dying. The State Lets It Happen,” by Audrey Dutton.  Amanda Seitz: KFF Health News’ “A NY Hospital Tried To Close Its Birthing Center. This City United To Fight Back,” by Noam N. Levey and Hannah Norman, and Stat’s “Hospitals Pursue Deals To Ensure Survival as Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Loom,” by Daniel Payne.