Health Affairs This Week

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.Health Affairs Publishing's Jeff Byers welcomes Trilliant Health’s Allison Oakes to discuss the findings of the organization’s 2026 Trends Shaping the Health Economy report and the pressures affecting the U.S. health care system. Together, they examine trends in affordability, insurance coverage, health care utilization, and payment policy that could shape the industry in the years ahead. Join Health Affairs Publishing on October 21 for an Insider exclusive event exploring risk adjustment, coding incentives, spending, and outcomes with Richard Kronick and Matthew Fiedler.Sign up for Health Affairs' free newsletter to catch up on our new articles, podcasts, and events. Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.As Health Affairs Forefront celebrates its 20th anniversary, two of the publication's most influential contributors join Editor Chris Fleming for a conversation about the future of health policy. Tim Jost and Katie Keith, whose rapid-response analyses have helped readers navigate some of the most consequential health policy developments of the last two decades, reflect on what lessons from the past may shape the next 20 years.The discussion explores the legacy of the Affordable Care Act, the policy lessons learned from reform and repeal efforts, and how recent legislative changes could reshape coverage and access in the years ahead. Jost and Keith also examine the challenges of controlling health care costs, the role of Congress in an increasingly polarized political environment, and the growing influence of courts and litigation on health policy outcomes. Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.Health Affairs Publishing's Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Meg Winchester back to the pod to discuss the Trump administration's decision to terminate ACA marketplace coverage for more than 760,000 people as part of a broader effort to combat fraud, waste, and abuse. They examine how the disenrollments were carried out, the potential implications for consumers and insurers, and what the move could mean for the future stability of the ACA marketplaces.Join Health Affairs Publishing on October 21 for an Insider exclusive event exploring risk adjustment, coding incentives, spending, and outcomes with Richard Kronick and Matthew Fiedler.Related Links:Administration Cancels Coverage For More Than 760,000, Blocks New Agents And Brokers (Health Affairs Forefront)Withholding Medicaid Dollars Won’t Stop Fraud. It Will Hurt People (Health Affairs Forefront)The Troubling Termination Of 760,000 ACA Marketplace Members (Health Affairs Forefront)Semiannual Report to Congress (HHS)ACA Exchange Enrollment in 2026 (ASPE)Sign up for Health Affairs' free newsletter to catch up on our new articles, podcasts, and events. Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.Health Affairs Publishing's Jeff Byers welcomes Senior Editor Kathleen Haddad back to the pod to discuss the evolving prior authorization landscape, including CMS efforts to streamline approvals, insurer responses, and emerging questions around AI-driven decision-making.A Health Affairs journal subscription directly connects you to the research shaping the future of health policy and health care. Until 10/14, purchase a two-year digital subscription to Health Affairs journal and receive a third year free with code ONEFREEYEAR.Sign up for Insider to get exclusive access to our trend report focusing on the current prior authorization landscape.Related Links:Medicare’s AI prior authorization pilot was rushed and full of problems, new documents reveal (Stat News)Prior authorization denials vary widely among insurers, first-of-its-kind data shows (Healthcare Dive)UnitedHealthcare cuts prior authorization from 1,700 codes (Healthcare Dive)TREND REPORT: The Current Prior Authorization Landscape (Health Affairs Insider)PR STUNT: UnitedHealth’s Big Prior Authorization Cut (Health Care Un-covered)Sign up for Health Affairs' free newsletter to catch up on our new articles, podcasts, and events. Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.

This episode is brought to you by Semafor Healthcare.Delivered weekly from David Lim, Semafor Healthcare connects the dots between decisions in government, business, and technology to reveal how they impact the future of healthcare. Each edition will provide the analysis you need to understand and stay ahead of a rapidly changing landscape. Subscribe for free.Health Affairs Publishing's Jeff Byers welcomes Allison Rizer, chief growth and innovation officer at ATI Advisory, about her recent Forefront article. They discuss upcoming 2027 Medicare-Medicaid integration requirements, how to measure if integration is valuable, and why decades of policy experimentation have produced mixed evidence.Related Links:We’ve Spent Decades Testing Medicare-Medicaid Integration. Why Don’t We Know If It Works? (Health Affairs Forefront)Sign up for Health Affairs' free newsletter to catch up on our new articles, podcasts, and events. Subscribe to Semafor Healthcare for free.