The Host
Julie Rovner
KFF Health News
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Health?” A famous professional on well being coverage points, Julie is the creator of the critically praised reference e-book “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third version.
As anticipated, the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris supplied few new particulars of their positions on abortion, the Affordable Care Act, and different crucial well being points. But it did underscore for voters dramatic variations between the 2 candidates.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration issued guidelines making an attempt to raised implement psychological well being parity — the federal authorities’s requirement that companies for psychological well being care and substance use problems be coated by insurance coverage to the identical extent as different medical companies.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, Riley Griffin of Bloomberg News, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post.
Panelists
Rachel Cohrs Zhang
Stat News
Riley Griffin
Bloomberg
Lauren Weber
The Washington Post
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
Trump declined to say through the debate whether or not he’d veto laws implementing a nationwide abortion ban. But he may successfully ban the process with out Congress passing something due to the 150-year-old Comstock Act. And Project 2025, a coverage blueprint by the conservative Heritage Foundation, requires doing simply that.
There is an efficient likelihood that enhanced federal subsidies for ACA protection that have been launched through the pandemic may expire subsequent yr, relying on which social gathering controls Congress. The subsidies have helped extra folks safe zero-premium well being protection by the ACA exchanges, although Republicans say the subsidies price an excessive amount of to maintain. Residents in states that haven’t expanded Medicaid protection — together with Florida and Texas — can be most affected.
The Census Bureau stories that the uninsured fee didn’t change a lot final yr after hitting a file low within the first quarter. But the report’s methodology prevented it from capturing the experiences of many individuals disenrolled and left uninsured after what’s referred to as the Medicaid “unwinding” started. Meanwhile, a Treasury Department report sheds gentle on simply what number of Americans have benefited from the ACA, as polls present the well being legislation has additionally grown extra well-liked.
And Congress has but to cross key authorities spending payments, that means the nation (once more) faces a doable federal authorities shutdown beginning Oct. 1. It stays to be seen what may cross throughout a lame-duck session after the November elections. In 2020, the end-of-the-year spending package deal featured many well being care priorities — and that might occur once more.
Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it is best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The Wall Street Journal’s “A Nurse Practitioner’s $25,000 in Student-Debt Relief Turned Into a $217,500 Bill From the Government,” by Rebecca Ballhaus.
Lauren Weber: Stat’s “Youth Vaping Continues Its Tumble From a Juul-Fueled High,” by Lizzy Lawrence.
Riley Griffin: Bloomberg News’ “Lilly Bulks Up Irish Operations in Obesity Drug Production Push,” by Madison Muller.
Rachel Cohrs Zhang: ProPublica’s “‘I Don’t Want To Die’: Needing Mental Health Care, He Got Trapped in His Insurer’s Ghost Network,” by Max Blau.
Also talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credits
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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KFF Health News is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working applications at KFF—an unbiased supply of well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism. Learn extra about KFF.
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