Listen to Health Affairs' Jessica Bylander and Kathleen Haddad discuss the recently-released merger guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission and its potential impacts on the health care industry.

Read the CVS Health-sponsored series "Private Sector Solutions for Health Equity."

Related Links:

• Biden Declares War on the Cult of Efficiency (The Atlantic)
• Who Pays for Health Care Costs? The Effects of Health Care Prices on Wages (SSRN)
• Access, Quality, and Financial Performance of Rural Hospitals Following Health System Affiliation (Health Affairs)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Listen to Health Affairs' Ryann Tanap and Vabren Watts discuss what policies and news developments have been shaping the health equity landscape this summer. They discuss the proliferation of LGBTQIA+ policies, affirmative action, Bebe Moore Campbell Minority Mental Health Month and the one-year anniversary of 988, the suicide and crisis hotline.

Read the "You're A Health Policy Wonk If..." submissions.

Read the new Ahead-of-Print article, "Early OxyContin Marketing Linked To Long-Term Spread Of Infectious Diseases Associated With Injection Drug Use."

Read the CVS Health-sponsored series "Private Sector Solutions for Health Equity."

Related Links:

• Diversity & Health Equity (American Psychiatric Association)
• Black men make up less than 3% of physicians. That requires immediate action, say leaders in academic medicine. (AAMC)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Listen to Health Affairs' Leslie Erdelack and Rob Lott discuss President Joe Biden's proposed rules to reduce "junk insurance."

Read the "You're A Health Policy Wonk If..." submissions.

Read the Underemployment Health Policy Brief.

Related Links:

• Administration Takes Action To Limit Junk Health Insurance (Health Affairs Forefront)
• The Biden Administration Takes Aim At Medical Financing Products (Health Affairs Forefront)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Ellen Bayer and Chris Fleming discuss the wide-reaching health care implications of the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action.

Join us July 10 for a virtual Lunch and Learn event on the Supreme Court

Related Links:

• How Health Care May Be Affected by the High Court's Affirmative Action Ruling (KFF Health News)
• Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College
• Eliminating Racism In Health Care Before And After The Supreme Court’s Affirmative Action Decision (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Brief for Amici Curiae Association of American Medical Colleges

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Chris Fleming interviews Sara Rosenbaum from George Washington University to dive into the Supreme Court decision on Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County v Talevksi.

Related Links:

• A Victory for Medicaid Beneficiaries In Supreme Court’s Talevski Decision
• Inside The Administration’s Proposed Medicaid Managed Care Rule: Steering A Behemoth
• Is The Supreme Court Poised To Wipe Out Legal Rights For Medicaid Beneficiaries?

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Kathleen Haddad and Michael Gerber discuss the state of health policy related to the LBGTQ+ community in honor of Pride Month. They discuss state policies' impact on the community, the burgeoning data on gender, and more.

Related Links:

• LGBTQ+ Health Is An Essential Component Of Public Health Equity Efforts (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Health Insurance Coverage And Access To Care Among LGBT Adults, 2013–19 (Health Affairs)
• Transgender Adults Have Higher Rates Of Disability Than Their Cisgender Counterparts (Health Affairs)
• Anti-LGBTQ+ laws put U.S. in a state of emergency, Human Rights Campaign says (Los Angeles Times)
• US judge blocks Florida ban on trans minor care in narrow ruling, says ‘gender identity is real’ (AP)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Chris Fleming and Rob Lott discuss how health care would fare under in current legislation negotiated by the White House and Congressional Republications. to suspend the debt limit. They discuss COVID-19 funding claw backs, SNAP work requirements, and more.

Related Links:

• CBO’s Estimate of the Budgetary Effects of Medicaid Work Requirements Under H.R. 2811, the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 (CBO)
• Medicaid Work Requirements Are Back On The Agenda (KFF)
• Forcing States To Tie Medicaid To Work Is An Unconstitutional ‘Gun To The Head’ (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Medicaid Work Requirements: Who’s At Risk? (Health Affairs Forefront)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Michael Gerber and Jessica Bylander discuss the end of the strike by resident physicians at Elmhurst Hospital in New York City and the recent trend of unionization among health care workers, including resident physicians, plus other efforts to secure health care worker rights across the country.

Submit to You're A Health Policy Wonk If... Contest (submissions will be taken through May 31, 2023).

Join us for a Policy Spotlight on June 1 with Carrie Colla from CBO.

Related Links:

• Minnesota Lawmakers Take Step to Mandate Nursing Home Wages (Modern Healthcare)
• 'More Than Half of My Paycheck Goes To Rent': Young US Doctors Push To Unionize (The Guardian)
• Resident Doctors End Strike at Elmhurst Hospital (The New York Times)
• Nursing Home Workforce Standards (Minnesota)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Kathleen Haddad interviews Tom Insel, author of Healing: Our Path From Mental Illness to Mental Health, on the latest federal efforts to reform mental and behavioral health care in the United States. Insel previously led the Mental Health Team at Verily and served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Submit to You're A Health Policy Wonk If... Contest (submissions will be taken through May 31, 2023).

Related Links:

• Integrating Behavioral Health In Primary Care: Overcoming Decades of Challenges (Health Affairs Forefront)
• A New Approach To Mental Health Care, Imported From Abroad (Health Affairs)
• Tackling Unfinished Business and Taking on Current Challenges: Putting Biden's Mental Health Proposals in Context (Brookings)
• Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative (CalHHS)
• MindSite News

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.

Health Affairs' Chris Fleming interviews Lawrence Gostin from Georgetown University on the end of the public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chris and Lawrence discuss the loss of trust in public health, how the Affordable Care Act was the unsung hero of the pandemic, and our readiness for the next pandemic.

Submit to You're A Health Policy Wonk If... Contest (submissions will be taken through May 31, 2023).

Related Links:

• Why The End of The Public Health Emergency Really Matters (Health Affairs Forefront)
• Advancing Equity In The Pandemic Treaty (Health Affairs Forefront)

Currently, more than 70 percent of our content is freely available — and we’d like to keep it that way. With your support, we can continue to keep our digital publication Forefront and podcasts free for everyone.