The Connection
A roundup of recent Fund publications, charts, multimedia, and other timely content.
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June 2, 2025
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Medicaid Cuts Put Women’s Lives at Risk
Nearly 24 million women rely on Medicaid for prenatal and maternity care, cancer screenings, mental health care, vaccinations, and many other services. With Congress considering policies that would drastically cut federal funding for Medicaid, analysts Dawn Joyce, Lena Marceno, and Harper Eisen of Impact Health Policy Partners explore how the cuts could worsen women’s health and put lives at risk. Writing on To the Point, they break down proposals like work requirements and a reduction in the federal Medicaid match that states receive.
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Women’s Health and the Trump Administration
If the first 100 days of the Trump administration is a sign of what is ahead for women’s health, there is some cause for concern. From diminishing capacity at HHS and freezing nearly $35 million in federal funding for Title X grantees to pausing data collection systems that are essential to identifying emerging maternal health issues, many services and resources that are important for women’s health are in jeopardy. On To the Point, Alyssa Llamas and Harper Eisen of Impact Health Policy Partners examine what has played out so far.
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FEATURED CHART
Cuts Could Hurt Hospitals in Medicaid Expansion States
Congress is considering cuts to federal Medicaid spending of up to $880 billion over 10 years. Some cuts could prompt states to end their Medicaid expansion, leaving millions of low-income people across the nation without health coverage. These losses would carry serious financial consequences for hospitals, a new Commonwealth Fund issue brief finds. In states that expanded Medicaid eligibility, hospital operating margins could fall by an average of 19 percent. Safety-net hospitals — which care for a large share of Medicaid and low-income patients — would be hit hardest. The resulting financial strain could force hospitals to cut staff, reduce services, or shut down altogether.
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QUIZ
How many people in the U.S. receive primary care at community health centers?
- 11 million
- 21 million
- 31 million
- 41 million
Scroll down to see if you got it right.
More Data on Medicare Advantage Needed
Private Medicare Advantage plans already account for more than half of all Medicare spending. What will happen if spending on Medicare Advantage continues to increase, as it is projected to do? In a new Health Affairs Forefront piece, the Fund’s Gretchen Jacobson and coauthors Amol Navathe, M.D., and David Blumenthal, M.D., argue that policymakers need more information. The current estimates obscure the budgetary impact of future Medicare Advantage growth trajectories and the extent to which higher Medicare Advantage spending can be attributed to the payment formula required by law or how changing the formula would change federal spending on Medicare overall.
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Can Defaulting to Medicare Advantage Help Beneficiaries?
Beneficiaries are automatically placed in traditional Medicare when they first enroll in the program unless they actively choose a Medicare Advantage plan. But what if that changed? In Health Affairs Forefront, Gretchen Jacobson and David Blumenthal, M.D., examine what could happen if Medicare Advantage became the default for new enrollees. Such a change could have both adverse and positive implications for beneficiaries, they write. It could limit freedom of choice within the Medicare program and raise federal spending but could also provide access to some coverage for services not included in traditional Medicare, like dental, vision, and hearing services.
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Meet the 2025–26 Harkness Fellows
The Commonwealth Fund is pleased to introduce the 2025–26 class of Harkness Fellows in Health Care Policy and Practice, a group that carries forward a century-long legacy of driving change across health systems worldwide. This year’s 10 fellows bring deep expertise in clinical practice, policy, technology, public health, and research. Beginning their U.S. placements this August, they will pursue international comparative work on some of health care’s most pressing challenges, from digital mental health and overdose mortality to AI, health equity, social prescribing, and value-based care. The 2025–26 fellows are Chukwuebuka Anyaegbuna (U.K.), Chan Chi Ling (Singapore), Caroline Figueroa (Netherlands), Rocco Friebel (U.K.), Lucinda Hiam (U.K.), Reza Jarral (New Zealand), Florence Jusot (France), Kate Mulligan (Canada), Henning Øien (Norway), and William Roberts (U.K.).
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USC Center for Health Journalism Names 2025 Grantees
The Center for Health Journalism recently announced the selection of nine journalists who will participate in its Impact Fund for Reporting on Health Equity and Health Systems. The 2025 class will report for a range of national and regional outlets, as well as ethnic media publications. Their reporting will explore the role of structural racism in maternal and infant mortality, the unmet needs of new mothers who do not speak English, and the lack of mental health support for children of immigrant families. The 2025 grantees are Phi Do, Los Angeles Times; Hannah Harris Green, The Guardian; Matt Kiefer, The Guardian; Ziwei Liu, World Journal; Stacie Stukin, Capital & Main; Kaylee Tournay, InvestigateWest; Gabriela Villegas, Univision Dallas; John Washington, Arizona Luminaria; and Charlotte Rene Woods, Virginia Mercury. The initiative is supported by the Commonwealth Fund.
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How Malaysia Is Transforming Rural Health Care
Rural residents around the world struggle to access providers and hospitals, and they experience higher rates of illness and preventable deaths as a result. In International Insights, Evan Gumas reports on how Malaysia is using large investments in health clinics, telehealth, and infrastructure to address health disparities for rural residents. He says that 60 million rural U.S. residents stand to benefit if our government were to do the same.
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In Rural America, a Weak Signal Can Mean Worse Health
Broadband access is often framed as a tech issue, but in some rural communities it’s a matter of health equity. Broadband internet is so limited in some areas that patients can’t use remote monitoring devices, hospitals can’t support telehealth, and electronic health records slow down care instead of streamlining it. On The Dose podcast, journalist Sarah Jane Tribble joins host Joel Bervell to explain how internet dead zones are deepening chronic illness in rural communities.
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Paramedicine Improves Health Outcomes in Rural Areas
St. Louis Public Radio recently reported that a rural hospital in Rolla, Mo., invested $8 million to build a base that local ambulance and helicopter crews will use to transport residents in need of specialized care to larger facilities ([link removed] ) in Columbia, St. Louis, and Springfield. In Transforming Care, Commonwealth Fund researchers described ways rural communities have leveraged community paramedicine to improve health outcomes ([link removed] ) .
Betancourt Is Guest on Upcoming NCQA Fireside Chat
The National Committee for Quality Assurance will host an “NCQA Fireside Chat” with the Commonwealth Fund’s Dr. Joseph Betancourt and NCQA’s Dr. Eric Schneider on June 4, 2025. Register for the webinar today and join the conversation as they unpack the evolving health policy landscape, gaps in the U.S. primary care system, and the greatest opportunities to improve population health and health care quality.
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QUIZ: Answer
The answer is C. Community health centers provide care to more than 31 million people around the country.
Though they are the main source of care for many, community health centers (CHCs) are under growing financial strain. Value-based payment (VBP), which pays providers based on patient outcomes instead of how many services they deliver, could help keep CHCs financially stable. On To the Point, Hope Glassberg and the Commonwealth Fund’s Corinne Lewis explain that many CHCs don’t yet have the necessary infrastructure to succeed under VBP ([link removed] ) . To find needed resources, the authors say CHCs can partner with primary care associations, health center–controlled networks, CHC provider networks, and VBP-enablement companies.
Affordable, quality health care. For everyone.
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