Tomas Bednar

@garlicksauce Trying to think of something witty to say led me down a deep hole of where the term "manifest destiny" first came from and, anyway, I think I just got an ad hoc 4/5 on AP American History exam ... again.

@garlicksauce I'll reserve judgment until I see a playlist. If this isn't being operated by, at most, a gen 2 ipod (full button profile), I don't buy it.

This is such a big deal and long over due! CMS finally negotiated down drug prices for 10 drugs covered under Medicare Part D. Saving an estimated $6B in net Medicaid prescription drug costs!! tinyurl.com/36z6stsm

NOTE: this was finalized just prior to the Part D demo that will very likely have a beneficial influence on the financial dynamics here, but will not address the underlying quality issues.

Our team at Healthsperien has been looking closely at the LIS PDP market. There’s a lot of work to be done to ensure that LIS beneficiaries have access to a robust set of plans and that, in turn, the plans themselves have the tools they need to succeed.

A blind faith in the virtues of might - given enough time and public support from individuals who are viscerally averse to any limitations whatsoever on individual activities regardless of the impact such actions may have on others - does, in fact, appear to make right.

Judge Reed O’Connor was already one of the most influential people in American health policy. Now, he’s the country’s de facto health policy czar.

I have long wanted to put the essentials all in one place for faculty and students interested in real health policy (as we are at KFF). We finally got our act together, with yours truly as editor and our policy experts as chapter authors. New today: bit.ly/4e2O9eI

Not dead yet… another step forward

@garlicksauce We get it. You’re cool and culturally informed despite being a father of two.

@Fil_Bednar Fear (of the sun) is the mind killer.

It is currently 62 and sunny in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Need to get that dose of Vitamin D, while I can. And what better way to do it than …

In our house we call it type 2 fun. It’s fucking hard but also generally rewarding. And yes, that’s in part a coping mechanism for both us to psyche ourselves up when we’re in the parenting shit.

Reading while I hold my sleeping sick baby in between zoom calls. Parenting, motherhood, fatherhood and the decision to pursue those ends are like so many things - nuanced and best understood within context. Honest and even appraisals like this are sorely needed.

Requiring MA plans to keep bibliographies finally justifies my English and philosophy undergraduate degrees

@garlicksauce Parents everywhere agree

@bjdickmayhew Consistent presence around a massive accumulation of kyber crystals are a heavily weighted HCC category. It’s part of the Empire’s broader sociodemographic approach to risk adjustment

I suspect that if both sides feel there must be some compromise, PRWORA serves as a starting point. It allows Dems to say that Medicaid remains sacrosanct (against the purposes of the SSA) while potentially expanding on existing work reqs in TANF established by PRWORA.

PRWORA came about from a republican-controlled congress pushing welfare reforms and negotiating with a moderate democrat who was also committed to reforming the welfare system. Is this argument by analogy to today? Not exactly. But perhaps still some lessons to reflect on.

For those of you looking for some context on the ongoing debt ceiling discussions, here is HHS press release from August, 1996 when President Clinton signed PRWORA - one of the most consequential public assistance bills to date. aspe.hhs.gov/reports/person…

Shouting only to myself, but I'd like to point out that Medicaid work requirements were included in this slide as a central cost measure and were pretty much the only health care proposed cut in the debt ceiling negotiation.

If anyone is interested to see the starting point of health care domestic spending cuts, see slide 16: cbo.gov/publication/58…