The host
Julie Rovner KFF Well being Information @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Well being Information’ 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 e-book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
In his ongoing effort to reshape well being coverage, Secretary of Well being and Human Companies Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly plans to overtake two extra authorities entities: the U.S. Preventive Companies Job Drive and the Nationwide Vaccine Damage Compensation Program. Ousting the prevailing members of the duty power would give Kennedy a measure of management in figuring out the sorts of preventive care which might be lined for free of charge to sufferers in the US. And whereas it is unclear what the secretary would do to the vaccine harm program, Kennedy has made no secret of his perception that vaccines can do extra hurt than good.
In the meantime, final week marked the thirty fifth anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Act, and President Donald Trump signed an government order that might allow native and state governments to forcibly hospitalize some people who find themselves homeless and battling psychological well being issues.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Anna Edney of Bloomberg Information, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being and Politico Journal, and Shefali Luthra of The nineteenth.
Panelists
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Lower than two months after Kennedy eliminated all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, he’s reportedly contemplating an identical purge of members of the duty power that recommends the preventive providers insurers should cowl — an inventory whose providers, a few of them controversial amongst Trump officers, embrace medication that forestall HIV and sure most cancers screenings. He’s additionally contemplating modifications to the federal program that compensates individuals who expertise opposed results from immunizations.
- This week Vinay Prasad, the Meals and Drug Administration’s prime vaccine official, resigned simply months into his tenure. Prasad had come underneath assault, notably by right-wing persona Laura Loomer, and had been blasted for some company selections about new medication for uncommon illnesses — regardless of his work limiting using covid pictures.
- Trump’s newly introduced commerce take care of the European Union features a 15% tariff on brand-name prescription drugs, which would come with, for instance, the diabetes drug Ozempic, usually used for weight reduction. However it could be troublesome to decrease costs on brand-name medication by means of tariffs; it’s unlikely that drugmakers, dealing with greater import prices, would relocate manufacturing to the US.
- Additionally, Trump’s huge tax and spending regulation, hastened by means of Congress weeks in the past, renders some lawfully current immigrants ineligible for Inexpensive Care Act subsidies. However a brand new KFF Well being Information column factors out that the change would really elevate premiums for everybody else, taking extra wholesome folks out of the insurance coverage pool.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews George Washington College well being coverage professor Sara Rosenbaum, one of many nation’s main Medicaid consultants, to mark Medicaid’s sixtieth anniversary this week.
Plus, for “additional credit score,” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they assume you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: KFF Well being Information’ “Beauty Surgical procedures Led to Disfiguring Accidents, Sufferers Allege,” by Fred Schulte.
Anna Edney: The Washington Put up’s “Morton Mintz, Put up Reporter With a Muckraker Spirit, Dies at 103,” by Stefanie Dazio.
Joanne Kenen: ScienceAlert’s “New Form of Dental Floss Might Change Vaccine Needles, Research Finds,” by David Nield.
Shefali Luthra: The New Yorker’s “Mexico’s Molar Metropolis Might Remodel My Smile. Did I Need It To?” by Burkhard Bilger.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
Credit
- Francis Ying Audio producer
- Emmarie Huetteman Editor