Facing mounting financial pressures, insurance companies are changing the prescription drug coverage available to many consumers in Medicare Part D.
Leslie Walker
Leslie is a senior reporter and producer for Tradeoffs covering a wide range of health policy issues including prescription drugs and Medicare. Her story, “Inside Big Health Insurers’ Side Hustle,” was awarded first place in audio reporting by the Association of Health Care Journalists and her work has been featured on Marketplace, NPR and STAT News. Before Tradeoffs, Leslie worked as a freelance writer and editor, in nonprofit communications, and at a health care social enterprise. She lives in San Francisco.
Posted inCost of Care
What Would Actually Lower Drug Prices in America? Experts Weigh In
Some of America’s top scholars on prescription drug pricing outline steps the Trump administration could take to make medicines more affordable.
Posted inCost of Care
Will Trump’s Prescription Drug Deals Really Lower Prices?
Facing unprecedented pressure from the Trump administration, some of the world’s top drugmakers promise to cut prices. But experts say the savings might not be what they seem.
Posted inInsurance
How States Are Reckoning with Republican Health Reforms
It’s been 90 days since Congress passed Trump’s megabill slashing health care spending and reshaping the Medicaid program. States are already knee-deep in dealing with the fallout.
Posted inInsurance
A Closer Look at a Widely Despised Health Insurance Policy
Every year, millions of people’s medical care runs into the roadblock known as prior authorization, which requires a patient’s health insurer to sign off before chemotherapy, surgery or countless other services can proceed. Who does this often onerous process help, who does it hurt and how could it work better for everyone?
Posted inMental Health
This Federal Experiment Is Pouring Money into Mental Hospitals. Will It Work?
As states struggle to meet the needs of people with serious mental illness, some are signing on to a federal pilot project that’s pouring new funding into institutional care.
Posted inInsurance
Former North Carolina Health Secretary Sees Hard Road Ahead for States
Sweeping federal reforms force North Carolina and other states to make tough decisions about Medicaid coverage, costs and eligibility under mounting budget pressure.
Posted inInsurance
As the Big Beautiful Bill Becomes Law, States Face a ‘Daunting’ Rollout
North Carolina’s former health secretary explains the heavy lift and hard choices ahead of states as they rush to put Republicans’ new health reforms in place.
Posted inHealth Law
How Two Supreme Court Rulings Affect the ACA, Planned Parenthood and the Future of Preventive Care
Health law expert Katie Keith helps us break down what a pair of big court decisions mean for RFK Jr.’s power and for people’s access to abortion, cancer screening and many other kinds of care.
Posted inCost of Care
Helping Some of America’s Costliest Patients Could Get A Lot Harder
Some people’s lives are so complicated by trauma, poverty and other social problems that conditions like diabetes and asthma regularly flare into $10,000 hospital visits. Health care experts have spent years trying to help this small but costly group of patients. What have they learned?