The Host
Julie Rovner
KHN
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KHN’s 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 ebook “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
With Medicare and Social Safety apparently off the desk for federal price range cuts, the main focus has turned to Medicaid, the federal-state well being program for these with low incomes. President Joe Biden has made it clear he needs to guard this system, together with the Reasonably priced Care Act, however Republicans will seemingly suggest cuts to each after they current a proposed price range within the subsequent a number of weeks.
In the meantime, confusion over abortion restrictions continues, significantly on the FDA. One lawsuit in Texas requires a federal choose to quickly halt distribution of the abortion tablet mifepristone. A separate swimsuit, although, asks a special federal choose to quickly make the drug simpler to get, by eradicating a number of the FDA’s security restrictions.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Well being Information, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of STAT Information, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Put up.
Panelists
Rachel Cohrs
Stat Information
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Lauren Weber
The Washington Put up
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- States are working to overview Medicaid eligibility for hundreds of thousands of individuals as pandemic-era protection guidelines lapse on the finish of March, amid fears that many People kicked off Medicaid who’re eligible without cost or near-free protection underneath the ACA received’t know their choices and can go uninsured.
- Biden promised this week to cease Republicans from “gutting” Medicaid and the ACA. However not all Republicans are on board with cuts to Medicaid. Between the social gathering’s slim majority within the Home and the truth that Medicaid pays for nursing properties for a lot of seniors, reducing this system is a politically dicey transfer.
- A nationwide group that pushed using ivermectin to deal with covid-19 is now hyping the drug as a remedy for flu and RSV — regardless of an absence of medical proof to assist their claims that it’s efficient towards any of these sicknesses. Nonetheless, there’s a motion of individuals, lots of them medical doctors, who consider ivermectin works.
- In reproductive well being information, a federal choose just lately dominated {that a} Texas regulation can’t be used to prosecute teams that assist girls journey out of state to acquire abortions. And the abortion problem has highlighted the function of attorneys common across the nation — politicizing a previously nonpartisan state put up. –And Eli Lilly introduced plans to chop the value of some insulin merchandise and cap out-of-pocket prices, although their causes will not be fully altruistic: An skilled identified {that a} change to Medicaid rebates subsequent yr means drugmakers quickly should pay the federal government each time a affected person fills a prescription for insulin, which means Eli Lilly’s plan might save the corporate cash.
Plus, for “additional 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 Occasions’ “A Drug Company Exploited a Safety Requirement to Make Money,” by Rebecca Robbins.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The New York Occasions’ “Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.,” by Hannah Dreier.
Rachel Cohrs: STAT Information’ “Nonprofit Hospitals Are Failing Americans. Their Boards May Be a Reason Why,” by Sanjay Kishore and Suhas Gondi.
Lauren Weber: KHN and CBS Information’ “This Dental Device Was Sold to Fix Patients’ Jaws. Lawsuits Claim It Wrecked Their Teeth,” by Brett Kelman and Anna Werner.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credit
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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KHN (Kaiser Well being Information) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. Along with Coverage Evaluation and Polling, KHN is likely one of the three main working applications at KFF (Kaiser Household Basis). KFF is an endowed nonprofit group offering info on well being points to the nation.
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