The host
Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Health?” A famous skilled 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.
Much of the hubbub in well being care this yr has been targeted on Medicaid, which faces dramatically diminished federal funding as the results of the large price range invoice signed by President Donald Trump earlier this month. But now the consideration is popping to the Affordable Care Act, which is dealing with some large adjustments that would price many customers their well being protection as quickly as 2026.
Meanwhile, adjustments to immigration coverage underneath Trump may have an outsize affect on the nation’s well being care system, each by exacerbating shortages of well being employees and by eliminating insurance coverage protection that helps hold 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
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Many Americans can anticipate their medical health insurance premiums to rise subsequent yr, however these fee hikes might be even greater for the tens of millions who depend on ACA well being plans. To afford such plans, most customers depend on enhanced federal authorities subsidies, that are set to run out — and GOP lawmakers appear loath to increase them, regardless that a lot of their constituents may lose their insurance coverage consequently.
- 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 predicted to fall brief, particularly as many individuals lose their medical health insurance and clinics, hospitals, and well being techniques are left to cowl their payments.
- Abortion opponents proceed to say the abortion capsule 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 have 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 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 medical doctors to decide out of therapies 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 “further credit score” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose it’s best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: KFF Health News’ “Republicans Call Medicaid Rife with Fraudsters. This Man Sees No Choice however 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