The Host
Julie Rovner KFF Well being Information
@julierovner.bsky.social
Learn Julie’s tales.
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Well being Information’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Well being?” A famous knowledgeable on well being coverage points, Julie is the creator of the critically praised reference e book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
Hundreds of thousands of People are dealing with dramatically larger medical health insurance premium funds as a result of Jan. 1 expiration of enhanced Inexpensive Care Act subsidies. However a lot of Washington seems extra in the meanwhile in tradition battle points, together with abortion and gender-affirming care.
In the meantime, on the Division of Well being and Human Companies, personnel proceed to be fired and rehired, and grants terminated and reinstated, leaving everybody who touches the company unsure about what comes subsequent.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Anna Edney of Bloomberg Information, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg College of Public Well being and Politico Journal, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Panelists
Anna Edney Bloomberg Information
@annaedney.bsky.social
Learn Anna’s tales.
Joanne Kenen
Johns Hopkins College and Politico
@joannekenen.bsky.social
Learn Joanne’s bio.
Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico
@alicemiranda.bsky.social
Learn Alice’s tales.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Congress stays undecided on a deal to resume enhanced ACA premium subsidies, as it’s on spending plans to maintain the federal authorities operating when the present, short-term plan expires on the finish of the month. Whereas a number of the larger appropriations hang-ups are associated to immigration and overseas affairs, there are additionally hurdles to passing spending for HHS.
- ACA plan enrollment is down about 1.5 million in contrast with final 12 months, with states reporting that many individuals are switching to cheaper plans or dropping protection. Enrollment numbers are prone to drop additional within the coming months as more-expensive premium funds come due and a few notice they’ll not afford the plans they’re enrolled in.
- A key Senate well being committee on Wednesday hosted a listening to on the abortion capsule mifepristone, targeted on the security considerations posed by abortion foes — although these considerations are unsupported by scientific analysis and a long time of expertise with the drug. Many abortion opponents are pissed off that the Trump administration has not taken aggressive motion to limit entry to the abortion capsule.
- Because the Trump administration moved this week to rehire laid-off workers and abruptly cancel, then restore, addiction-related grants, total authorities spending is up, regardless of the administration’s acknowledged objective of saving cash by reducing the federal authorities’s measurement and actions. It seems the churn throughout the administration is costing taxpayers extra. And new information, revealing that extra federal staff left on their very own than have been laid off final 12 months, reveals that numerous institutional reminiscence was additionally misplaced.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who created the “Invoice of the Month” collection and wrote the newest installmenta few scorpion pepper, an ER go to, and a ghost invoice. When you’ve got a baffling, infuriating, or exorbitant invoice you’d prefer to share with us, you are able to do that right here.
Plus, for “further credit score” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it’s best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The New York Instances’ “E.P.A. to Cease Contemplating Lives Saved When Setting Guidelines on Air Air pollution,” by Maxine Joselow.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: ProPublica’s “After Sowing Mistrust in Fluoridated Water, Kennedy and Skeptics Flip to Obstructing Different Fluoride Sources,” by Anna Clark.
Joanne From: The New Yorker’s “What ‘The Pitt’ Taught Me About Being a Physician,” by Dhruv Khullar.
Anna Edney: MedPage At the moment’s “Nervous About Legal responsibility After CDC Vaccine Modifications? You Shouldn’t Be,” by Joedy McCreary.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
- The Washington Publish’s “A Majority in Title Solely? Home Republicans Are Barely Hanging On,” by Paul Kane.
- HealthAffairs’ “Nationwide Well being Care Spending Elevated 7.2 p.c in 2024 as Utilization Remained Elevated,” by Mica Hartman, Anne B. Martin, David Lassman, and Aaron Catlin.
- Politico’s “Lawsuit Dismissed After Trump Admin Quietly Restored Tens of Hundreds of thousands to Deliberate Parenthood,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein.
- JAMA’s “The US Meals and Drug Administration’s Regulation of Mifepristone,” by Sophie Dilek, Joanne Rosen, Anna Levashkevich, Joshua M. Sharfstein, and G. Caleb Alexander.
Credit
Francis Ying Audio producer Emmarie Huetteman Editor
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