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 knowledgeable on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference guide “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third version.
Congress is operating out of time to avert an enormous improve in well being care premium funds for tens of millions of Americans who purchase insurance coverage by the Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Dec. 15 is the deadline to join protection that begins Jan. 1, and a few customers are ready to see whether or not the credit will likely be prolonged, enabling them to afford protection subsequent yr.
Meanwhile, a federal vaccine advisory panel handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. voted final week to finish the common suggestion for a hepatitis B vaccine dose at start. It’s simply the beginning of what are anticipated to be main modifications in childhood vaccine suggestions total.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times.
Panelists
Anna Edney
Bloomberg News
Maya Goldman
Axios
Sheryl Gay Stolberg
The New York Times
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
As of Thursday morning, the Senate was getting ready to vote on competing well being proposals, neither of which was anticipated to go: one, from Democrats, that may lengthen the improved ACA premium tax credit and a second, from Republicans, that may as a substitute add cash to well being financial savings accounts for some ACA enrollees. With the credit set to run out and time operating out to join plans, it’s possible that protection will likely be unaffordable for some Americans, leaving them uninsured.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ resolution to finish its suggestion that newborns be immunized in opposition to hepatitis B is a serious improvement within the federal authorities’s shift away from selling vaccines. While the panel coalesced across the declare that infants are probably to contract hepatitis B from their moms, the truth is that the virus can stay on home items, posing a risk of power illness and demise to unvaccinated youngsters.
In reproductive well being information, House Speaker Mike Johnson eliminated insurance coverage protection of fertility therapy for service members from the National Defense Authorization Act earlier than the laws’s passage, and anti-abortion teams are calling for the firing of Food and Drug Administration head Marty Makary over studies he’s slow-walking coverage modifications on treatment abortion.
Also this week, Rovner interviews Georgetown University professor Linda Blumberg about what the GOP’s well being plans have in frequent.
Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn (or wrote) this week that they assume you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The Washington Post’s “Rural America Relies on Foreign Doctors. Trump’s Visa Fee Shuts Them Out,” by David Ovalle.
Anna Edney: Bloomberg News’ “Abbott Fired a Warning Shot on Baby Formula — Then Launched a Lobbying Blitz,” by Anna Edney.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg: The New York Times’ “The Married Scientists Torn Apart by a Covid Bioweapon Theory,” by Katie J.M. Baker.
Maya Goldman: ProPublica’s “These Health Centers Are Supposed to Make Care Affordable. One Has Sued Patients for as Little as $59 in Unpaid Bills,” by Aliyya Swaby.
Also talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credits
Taylor Cook
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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