Health policy reporter @cqnow @rollcall. Proud member of @cqrollcallguild. Tips? Signal: @jshellmann.18 or jessie.hellmann@cqrollcall.com. Photo: @pennstatetom
Joined March 2011
- Tweets 15,887
- Following 4,219
- Followers 4,517
- Likes 19,841
612 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
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.
1
3
7
2,147
Does anyone want me to write a story about how MedPAC has become a maligned institution
55
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
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. nytimes.com/2026/06/15/us/po…
31
580
891
52,819
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
Jun 11
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.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
5
3
435
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
Jun 11
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.
3
23
37
17,374
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.
rollcall.com/2026/06/10/prio…
3
6
1,359
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
Jun 11
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.
42
127
756
51,281
Trump administration guidance reignites debate over methadone and buprenorphine trib.al/ZmBiJeF
1
1,144
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
AMA Choses Vocal Vaccine Advocate Fryhofer As President-Elect ow.ly/CaaV106zvZb
1
260
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
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.
cms.gov/oact/tr/2026
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."
1
1
2
259
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
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.
3
25
293
28,261
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. rollcall.com/2023/08/21/fami…
Jun 4
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
5
9
1,410
Someone I know went to the pharmacy for cephalexin and with insurance, it would have cost $64. Without insurance, $29. For a first generation antibiotic. Amazing!
248
20! Years!
Jun 4
My colleague @manuelas957 wrote about the "catastrophic" failure of Rayburn House Office Building in April.
Now @ktullymcmanus has an even more grim update: A $9 billion repair costing more than NFL stadiums.
Just knock RHOB down & build a new building.
politico.com/news/2026/06/04…
2
345
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
Unanimous Supreme Court rules in generic drug "skinny label" case that Amarin failed in claiming active patent infringement
supremecourt.gov/opinions/25…
2
3
456
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
This is a huge deal for generic drugs and lower drug prices.
First SCOTUS decision is Hikma Pharmaceuticals v. Amarin Pharma. Jackson has the unanimous opinion for the court reversing the Federal Circuit in the patent case. Amarin loses. supremecourt.gov/opinions/25…
2
2
9
3,890
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
Advocates are concerned that even though HIV meds are not impacted, the cuts could undermine adherence for Missourians with HIV. And with the state legislature adjourned for the year, a legislative solution is unlikely for now.
positivelyaware.com/missouri…
5
2
1,427
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
Wyden and Kennedy introduced a bill to modernize PACER
22
163
1,088
168,808
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
This choice comes as a big surprise to states. As recently as last month, CMS was telling them in regular meetings that it would allow them to exclude people based on medical diagnoses alone. That's what Nebraska--already live with its requirement--is doing.
1
8
18
1,636
Jessie Hellmann retweeted
ICYMI, the work requirements regulation dropped yesterday evening.
I think the biggest departure from initial expectations is around medical frailty — conditions like cancer and HIV *only* exempt people if they're severe enough to impair compliance with the new rules.
The IFR confirms rumors that CMS is restricting medical frailty exemptions to individuals for whom medical conditions impair the ability to work, a narrower read of the statute than most states and stakeholders I've been in conversation with had initially expected (pp. 83-84)
2
5
16
3,874