The Host
Julie Rovner KFF Well being Information
@lierrovner.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 skilled on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference e book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
A lot of the hubbub in well being care this 12 months has been targeted on Medicaid, which faces dramatically diminished federal funding as the results of the large finances invoice signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month. However now the eye is popping to the Reasonably priced Care Act, which is dealing with some massive adjustments that would value many shoppers their well being protection as quickly as 2026.
In the meantime, adjustments to immigration coverage beneath Trump might have an outsize influence on the nation’s well being care system, each by exacerbating shortages of well being staff and by eliminating insurance coverage protection that helps hold some hospitals and clinics afloat.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Julie Appleby of KFF Well being Information, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Name, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Panelists
Julie Appleby
KFF Well being Information
Learn Julie’s tales.
Jessie Hellmann
CQ Roll Name
@jessiehellmann.bsky.social
Learn Jessie’s tales.
Alice Miranda Ollstein Political
@alicemiranda.bsky.social
Learn Alice’s tales.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Many People can count on their medical insurance premiums to rise subsequent 12 months, however these charge hikes might be even larger for the tens of millions who depend on ACA well being plans. To afford such plans, most shoppers depend on enhanced federal authorities subsidies, that are set to run out — and GOP lawmakers appear loath to increase them, though lots of their constituents might lose their insurance coverage because of this.
- Congress included a $50 billion fund for rural well being care in Trump’s new regulation, aiming to cushion the blow of Medicaid cuts. However the fund is anticipated to fall brief, particularly as many individuals lose their medical insurance and clinics, hospitals, and well being techniques are left to cowl their payments.
- Abortion opponents proceed to say the abortion tablet mifepristone is unsafe, extra not too long ago by citing a problematic evaluation — and a few lawmakers are utilizing it to stress federal officers to take one other take a look at the drug’s approval. In the meantime, many Deliberate Parenthood clinics are bracing for an finish to federal funding, stripping cash not solely from busy clinics the place abortion is authorized but in addition from clinics that present solely contraception, testing for sexually transmitted infections, and different non-abortion care in states the place the process is banned.
- And as extra states implement legal guidelines enabling docs to decide out of remedies that violate their morals, a pregnant girl in Tennessee says her physician refused to supply prenatal care, as a result of she is single.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews Jonathan Oberlander, a Medicare historian and College of North Carolina well being coverage professor, to mark Medicare’s sixtieth anniversary later this month.
Plus, for “further credit score” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it is best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: KFF Well being Information’ ”Republicans Name Medicaid Rife with Fraudsters. This Man Sees No Selection however To Break the Guidelines,” by Katheryn Houghton.
Julie Appleby: NPR’s “Many Magnificence Merchandise Have Poisonous Components. Newly Proposed Payments May Change That,” by Rachel Treisman.
Jessie Hellmann: Roll Name’s “Kennedy’s Psychological Well being Drug Skepticism Lands at FDA Panel,” by Ariel Cohen.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Related Press’ “RFK Jr. Promoted a Meals Firm He Says Will Make People Wholesome. Their Meals Are Ultraprocessed,” by Amanda Seits and Jonel Aleccia.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credit
Francis Ying Audio Product Emmarie Hasdeman Editor
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