Would Project 2025 herald the end of health policy as we know it?
It’s an ambitious blueprint that seeks to drastically shrink the role of the federal government in American life. Project 2025 is a conservative governing plan from a right-wing think tank that takes critical aim at all levels of government, from public health to the justice department, and calls for a fresh army of political appointees to remake the federal workforce. Even if Project 2025 isn’t adopted as an off-the-shelf governing manual, a Trump-Vance administration would usher in major changes in health policy, with an expected focus on Medicaid and politicized issues such as gender-affirming care. As Trump seeks to strengthen his appeal to the general electorate, he has sought to distance himself from the Heritage-led plan, even as a CNN review found more than 140 people who’ve worked for Trump helped craft the 2025 tome. Amid the confusion, reporters must grapple with a key question: What are Trump’s actual positions on health care, and who should we believe? The election’s implications for health care are huge, with conservative proposals calling for gutting LGBTQ health programs, clamping down on reproductive care and access to abortion pills, and imposing onerous work requirements on Medicaid recipients. In this webinar, we’ll seek fresh insight on how the Trump-led conservative movement seeks to refashion health policy in its political image, and what that could mean for all Americans. We’ll also explore story angles for both local and national reporting.
This webinar is free and made possible by The Commonwealth Fund, the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation and The California Endowment.
Panelists
Drew Altman is president and chief executive officer of KFF, a position he has held for more than 30 years since founding the organization in the 1990s. He is a leading expert on national health policy issues and an innovator in health journalism and the nonprofit field. He is also founding publisher of KFF Health News, the largest health newsroom in the U.S., which reports on health issues and distributes its original journalism through major news outlets across the country. Altman established KFF Health News in 2009 to address the need for in depth journalism focusing on the impact of health policy and the changing health system on people. Altman was commissioner of the Department of Human Services for the state of New Jersey, a state umbrella agency which under his leadership was responsible for a third of the state budget and state employees. There he was nationally recognized for initiatives in welfare reform, school based health services, community based HIV health services, and homelessness. He was director of Health and Human Services at The Pew Charitable Trusts, vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and served in a senior position in the Health Care Financing Administration in the Carter administration. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on numerous nonprofit boards and advisory committees. He has been a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and Axios. Dr. Altman earned his doctorate in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his postdoctoral work at Harvard University before moving on to public service. He holds an honorary doctorate from the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Victoria Knight is a health care reporter for Axios, where she focuses on Congressional health policy issues including abortion, drug pricing and Medicare. She was previously a reporter for KFF Health News, where she covered health policy debates in the 2020 presidential election and the COVID pandemic response. Prior to becoming a reporter at KFF, she interned with CNN Health, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University and KHN. Her stories have been featured in Georgia Health News, CNN.com and The Daily Beast. She has a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from the University of Tennessee, and a master’s in health journalism from the University of Georgia.
Sarah Owermohle is a Washington correspondent at STAT, reporting on the Biden administration’s health goals, federal health policy and politics. She previously covered health policy and the drug industry for Politico and S&P Global Market Intelligence. Before returning to her home state of Virginia, Sarah spent five years in Dubai and Beirut reporting on business, finance, and development in the Middle East and Africa, including a three-year stint as the editor of Banker Africa. She graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Suggested reading
“What is Project 2025?” By Amber Phillips, The Washington Post
“Trump’s real health care agenda isn’t in Project 2025 — it’s in his own words,” by By Rachel Cohrs Zhang, Theresa Gaffney, Lev Facher, Isabella Cueto , Sarah Owermohle , and John Wilkerson, STAT
“7 key people who could shape Trump’s health care policy,” by Sarah Owermohle and Rachel Cohrs Zhang, STAT
“What to know about Trump VP pick J.D. Vance’s health care views and investments,” by Sarah Owermohle and Rachel Cohrs Zhang, STAT
“Trump’s 2024 platform abandons calls to cut Medicare, broadly restrict abortion,” by Sarah Owermohle and Rachel Cohrs Zhang, STAT
“Trump surrogates hint at how he could reshape U.S. health care policy,” by Sarah Owermohle, STAT
“Health care after a Trump victory,” by Victoria Knight and Peter Sullivan, Axios
“What J.D. Vance means for health policy,” by Victoria Knight and Peter Sullivan, Axios
“Washington prepares for Trump term that could bring cuts to health programs,” by Victoria Knight and Peter Sullivan, Axios
“Gaming out health policy under Trump and the GOP,” by Victoria Knight and Peter Sullivan, Axios
“Trump claims not to know who is behind Project 2025. A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved,” by Steve Contorno, CNN
“The GOP’s health care policy evolution,” Politico Pulse
“Trump’s plans for health care and reproductive rights if he returns to White House,” PBS News Hour
“With Roe overturned, Trump’s GOP turns to transgender health care,” by Ariel Cohen, Roll Call
“New hidden camera video reinforces Trump’s Project 2025 problem,” by Philip Bump, The Washington Post
“Project 2025, Explained,” by Jonathan Swan, John Pappas, Christina Shaman and James Surdam, The New York Times
“The Role of Health Care in the New Presidential Election,” by Drew Altman, KFF