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 writer of the critically praised reference ebook “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third version.
Much of the hubbub in well being care this 12 months has been centered on Medicaid, which faces dramatically lowered federal funding as the results of the large finances invoice signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month. But now the eye is popping to the Affordable Care Act, which is going through some large modifications that would price many shoppers their well being protection as quickly as 2026.
Meanwhile, modifications to immigration coverage below Trump might have an outsize affect on the nation’s well being care system, each by exacerbating shortages of well being staff and by eliminating insurance coverage protection that helps maintain some hospitals and clinics afloat.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Julie Appleby of KFF Health News, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.
Panelists
Julie Appleby
KFF Health News
Jessie Hellmann
CQ Roll Call
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
Many Americans can anticipate their medical health insurance premiums to rise subsequent 12 months, however these charge hikes might be even larger for the thousands and thousands 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, regardless that 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. But the fund is anticipated to fall quick, particularly as many individuals lose their medical health insurance and clinics, hospitals, and well being programs are left to cowl their payments.
Abortion opponents proceed to say the abortion tablet mifepristone is unsafe, extra lately by citing a problematic evaluation — and a few lawmakers are utilizing it to strain federal officers to take one other take a look at the drug’s approval. Meanwhile, many Planned Parenthood clinics are bracing for an finish to federal funding, stripping cash not solely from busy clinics the place abortion is authorized but additionally 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 choose out of remedies that violate their morals, a pregnant lady in Tennessee says her physician refused to offer prenatal care, as a result of she is single.
Also this week, Rovner interviews Jonathan Oberlander, a Medicare historian and University of North Carolina well being coverage professor, to mark Medicare’s sixtieth anniversary later this month.
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: KFF Health News’ “Republicans Call Medicaid Rife with Fraudsters. This Man Sees No Choice but To Break the Rules,” by Katheryn Houghton.
Julie Appleby: NPR’s “Many Beauty Products Have Toxic Ingredients. Newly Proposed Bills Could Change That,” by Rachel Treisman.
Jessie Hellmann: Roll Call’s “Kennedy’s Mental Health Drug Skepticism Lands at FDA Panel,” by Ariel Cohen.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Associated Press’ “RFK Jr. Promoted a Food Company He Says Will Make Americans Healthy. Their Meals Are Ultraprocessed,” by Amanda Seitz and Jonel Aleccia.
Also talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credits
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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