Jessie Hellmann

Health policy reporter @cqnow @rollcall. Proud member of @cqrollcallguild. Tips? Signal: @jshellmann.18 or [email protected]. Photo: @pennstatetom

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

NEW from me in my series about barriers to hep C care in the U.S.

This story looks at a missed opportunity: drug treatment programs are an ideal place for hep C testing + treatment, but few offer it. England has expanded care in similar settings — with dramatic results.

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

@wmataGM @Wendell_Felder hi

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

@wmataGM @Wendell_Felder

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

If we devoted as many journalistic resources to food insecurity or domestic violence as we do to the reflecting pool, we might actually start making progress on solving those problems.

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

@Metrobusinfo what’s going on with this

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

@maustermuhle Thanks for coming to Ward 7!

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

@LorenAdler Yes, that's what I'm thinking of.
I think it's interesting that an agency that most people have never heard of is now subject of campaigns by insurance groups. But I love a wonky story.

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

Does anyone want me to write a story about how MedPAC has become a maligned institution

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

?????????????
https://t.co/LXYQdAgMSl

[HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute @HIVHep]

@MSInsuranceDept Commissioner Mike Chaney won't enforce no-cost #PrEP coverage, saying users have "alternative lifestyles" & "do promiscuous things." Such bigotry is unacceptable from a public official charged with protecting health rights: https://t.co/NoztwQMGfZ

[Adriel Bettelheim @abettel]

UnitedHealth and FTC reach deal in insulin case https://t.co/2QAOEIPEfs #axiosvitals

[Kenneth P. Vogel @kenvogel]

SCOOP from @By_CJewett & me:

Markwayne Mullin urged @HHSGov to remove warnings from the @US_FDA website about the health risks of the gas station drug kratom.

Mullin owns equity in a leading kratom company called Botanic Tonics that could have benefited. https://t.co/rzkImei3VI

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

👀 👀 👀

[Senator John Cornyn @JohnCornyn]

Grifter

[Jessica Nix @jessicanix_]

Scoop!! CDC has activated a Level 3 response for the ongoing New World screwworm outbreak. Level 3 is the lowest level for responses and just allows the CDC to coordinate its response across the agency. The risk to humans is low.
https://t.co/Wa1WuZScOX

[Larry Levitt @larry_levitt]

New federal data shows hospital revenues increased 7.6% in the first quarter of 2026 compared to 2025. Hospitals continue to be the biggest driver of health care cost growth.

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

Scoop: a very popular, bipartisan prior authorization bill once again qualifies for the House consensus calendar. Ways & Means might mark it up, but nothing has been announced yet.

https://t.co/piWL819vfn

[NYTimes Communications @NYTimesPR]

The Times set out to examine Secretary Kennedy’s leadership and management style in light of numerous vacancies within the Department of Health and Human Services and concerns internally about his detachment from key issues and officials.

The secretary declined an interview request and did not address detailed questions before publication about his approach to running the department. This article is based on conversations with a dozen people who have worked directly with Mr. Kennedy during his tenure as secretary. We are confident in our reporting.

[STAT @statnews]

Trump administration guidance reignites debate over methadone and buprenorphine https://t.co/9birCoURrd

[InsideHealthPolicy @InHealthPolicy]

AMA Choses Vocal Vaccine Advocate Fryhofer As President-Elect https://t.co/cKWigs3ywR

[Jeffrey Davis @JeffreyLDavis44]

The Medicare Trustees Report was just released. As with last year's report, the Trustees continue to sound the alarm about the lack of a stable, inflationary update under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.

https://t.co/XwJ8FzQPgF

The Report states:

"While the physician payment system put in place by MACRA avoided the significant short-range physician payment issues resulting from the SGR system approach, it nevertheless raises important long-range concerns that will almost certainly need to be addressed by future legislation. The law specifies the physician payment updates for all years in the future, and these updates do not vary based on underlying economic conditions, nor are they expected to keep pace with the average rate of physician cost increases. The specified rate updates could be an issue in years when levels of inflation are high and would be problematic when the cumulative gap between the price updates and physician costs becomes large. Absent a change in the delivery system or level of update by subsequent legislation, the Trustees expect access to Medicare-participating physicians to become a significant issue in the long term."

[Connor O'Brien @connorobrienNH]

He died doing what he loved: Offering and withdrawing his amendment due to a point of order against it, but still using his entire allotted time to talk about it.

[Jessie Hellmann @jessiehellmann]

These are real people. People who can’t find people qualified, reliable professionals to care for their very disabled children. I interviewed an Ohio family here about what Medicaid paying caregivers meant for their families. https://t.co/VfGiZXMqoz

[Sean T at RCP @SeanTrende]

A bill, Ohio HB 795, bans Medicaid reimbursement of family members for caregiver time for special needs kids. First, this doesn't affect me directly; though we've been encouraged to enroll as paid family caregivers for our son, we never have. Also, fraud is 100% real. That said

This is a terrible idea. If you have a kid with a serious disability, you can't just hire the local teen to babysit. It's almost always a family member who knows the kid's protocol. This isn't some kind of babysitting slush fund.

More importantly, you can't just send the kid to Primrose School or whatever for daycare or aftercare, because they're not really equipped for that. We have one of the few kids in the world where a preschool said "we don't want your money; we can't handle him" (this was in VA, before we moved to OH for the autism scholarship). We were lucky that I had a job that gave me quite a bit of flexability and that the stars aligned to allow me to leave the practice of law to take this job.

Yes, I know the stories of fraud and abuse, and could tell some myself from our community. Frankly, they're the ones I'm most angry at with this. That should absolutely be cracked down on. But this is ultimately launching a missile to kill a mouse, one that is going to hurt a lot of well-meaning, innocent people. @GovMikeDeWine @LtGovJimTressel @OhioAG @Rob_McColley @matthuffman1