Health Affairs This Week

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How Are States Even Affording Health Care Costs? Nov 14, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Nathan Hostert of The Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research at Brown University to the pod to discuss a recent Forefront article on how states are utilizing hospital price caps to save money.

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Related Articles:

How States Are Using Hospital Price Caps To Save Money (Health Affairs Forefront)
Hospital Payment Cap Simulator (Brown University)
Hospital Facility Prices Declined As A Result Of Oregon’s Hospital Payment Cap (Health Affairs)
Hospital Payment Caps Could Save State Employee Health Plans Millions While Keeping Hospital Operating Margins Healthy (Health Affairs)
How Massachusetts’s New Health Care Reform Takes Aim at Private Equity (Health Affairs Forefront)

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CMS Drug Price Negotiation Guidance Updates with Rachel Sachs Nov 07, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Rachel Sachs from Washington University in St. Louis and Deputy Editor Chris Fleming back to the pod to discuss CMS' final guidance for the latest round of the Medicare drug price negotiation program.

Related Articles:

Administration Releases Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program Final Guidance For 2028 (Health Affairs Forefront)
The Role of Combination Drugs in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program (JAMA)
Articulating policy options regarding implementation of the Medicare drug price negotiation program’s renegotiation provision (Brookings Institution)
Eye on The IRA (Health Affairs)

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Why the U.S. Healthcare System Is Unwell | Allison Oakes Oct 31, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Allison Oakes, Chief Research Officer of Trilliant Health, to the pod to discuss Trilliant's recent health care trend report highlighting the health economy and breaking down the big trends, including price and affordability, demographics and lifestyle, care settings and therapies, and more.

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11/5: Health Benefits in 2025: Insights from the KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey (INSIDER EXCLUSIVE)

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Related Articles:

2025 Trends Shaping the Health Economy (Trilliant Health)

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Pharmaceutical Tariffs Explained: The Will-They-Won’t-They Story of 2025 Oct 24, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Stacie Dusetzina of Vanderbilt University Medical Center and David Simon of the University of Connecticut back to the pod to the current state of drug prices, how proposed tariffs may impact the pharmaceutical industry, that Pfizer deal, what consumers can expect if tariffs are added to prescription drugs, what exactly TrumpRx is, and more.

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Related Articles:

Trump admin readies 'imminent' probe into other nations' drug pricing, raising new tariff threat: FT (FiercePharma)
President Trump’s Executive Orders On Prescription Drug Prices: What The Evidence Says (Health Affairs Forefront)

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Government Shutdown: Health Policy Back in the Political Crossfire Oct 17, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Kathleen Haddad back to the pod to take a look at the recent government shutdown, how health policy plays into it, HHS layoffs, the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, the ACA marketplace, and more.

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11/5: Health Benefits in 2025: Insights from the KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey (INSIDER EXCLUSIVE)

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Physician Autonomy in Decline: The Rise of Deprofessionalization w/ Yul Ejnes Oct 03, 2025

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Dr. Yul Ejnes of Brown University Health to the pod to discuss a recent Forefront article he authored about the trend of deprofessionalization in the health care workforce and potential antidotes to address these issues.

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10/15: Immigration Policies and Their Impact on Health Care

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Related Articles:

Deprofessionalization: An Emerging Threat To The Physician Workforce (Health Affairs Forefront)
The Health Care Workforce: A Challenge In Sustainability (Health Affairs)

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Make America Healthy Again...Again Sep 26, 2025

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Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Ellen Bayer back to the pod to discuss the release of a HHS' new strategy document focusing on childhood chronic disease as part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative, specifically the goals surrounding food, diet, and nutrition.

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9/29: Prior Authorization: Current State and Potential Reform
10/15: Immigration Policies and Their Impact on Health Care

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An ACA Supreme Court Case May Have Created an HHS Power Paradox w/ Carmel Shachar Sep 19, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Carmel Shachar of Harvard Law School to the pod to discuss a recent Forefront article she co-authored that broke down the Kennedy v. Braidwood Management case focusing on access to preventive care and how the Supreme Court's framing of the relationship between the HHS Secretary and advisory bodies recommending preventive care might set a precedent worth noting.

Join us for these upcoming Insider exclusive events:

9/29: Prior Authorization: Current State and Potential Reform
10/15: Immigration Policies and Their Impact on Health Care

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The Downstream Effects of Politics & Policy on Health Decisions Sep 12, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Health Affairs's Akilah Wise to discuss the recent CDC executive changes, HHS staff culture clashes with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., changes in federal vaccine recommendations, and research examples where health policy influences health care behavior.

Health Affairs released a new theme issue focusing on insights from the opioids crisis. Subscribe to the journal to never miss out on an upcoming issue.

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9/17: Lunch & Learn: The Current Opioids Policy Landscape & What’s Ahead (FREE TO ALL)
9/23: Prior Authorization: Current State and Potential Reform (INSIDER EXCLUSIVE)

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Related Articles:

Disparities In County COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Linked To Disadvantage And Hesitancy (Health Affairs)
Guaranteed Cash Incentives Boosted COVID-19 Vaccinations Of Young Adults: Evidence From West Virginia (Health Affairs)
HHS schedules next vaccine panel meeting after CDC director ousted (Politico)
Concerned about federal vaccine policies, states are crafting their own (NPR)
Modeling Reemergence of Vaccine-Eliminated Infectious Diseases Under Declining Vaccination in the US (JAMA)
HHS employees demand RFK Jr. resign for ‘compromising the health of this nation’ (CNN)
At Senate hearing, lawmakers express dissatisfaction with RFK Jr.’s vaccine moves (Healthcare Dive)
Trump admin agrees to restore public health webpages (Axios)
1 in 5 US workers say they’re ignoring return-to-office rules (HR Dive)

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Supreme Court Upholds NIH’s Termination of $800M in Grants w/ Katie Keith Sep 05, 2025

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This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.

Health Affairs' Jeff Byers welcomes Katie Keith of Georgetown Law and Deputy Editor Chris Fleming to the pod to discuss the recent Supreme Court case, American Public Health Association et al. v. National Institutes of Health et al., that explores the lawfulness of the NIH's termination of nearly $800 million worth of grant funding for programs due to DEI association.

This week, Health Affairs released a new theme issue focusing on insights from the opioids crisis. Subscribe to the journal to never miss out on an upcoming issue.

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