Culture Wars Take Center Stage

The Host

Julie Rovner KFF Well being Information

@jrovner

@julierovner.bsky.social

Read Julie’s stories.

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 professional on well being coverage points, Julie is the creator of the critically praised reference guide “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.

Hundreds of thousands of People are going through dramatically larger medical insurance premium funds because of the Jan. 1 expiration of enhanced Reasonably priced Care Act subsidies. However a lot of Washington seems extra in the intervening time in tradition conflict points, together with abortion and gender-affirming care.

In the meantime, on the Division of Well being and Human Companies, personnel proceed to be fired and rehired, and grants terminated and reinstated, leaving everybody who touches the company unsure about what comes subsequent.

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 Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico.

Panelists

Anna Edney Bloomberg Information

@annaedney

@annaedney.bsky.social

Read Anna’s stories.

Joanne Kenen
Johns Hopkins College and Politico

@JoanneKenen

@joannekenen.bsky.social

Read Joanne’s bio.

Alice Miranda Ollstein Politico

@AliceOllstein

@alicemiranda.bsky.social

Read Alice’s stories.

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• Congress stays undecided on a deal to resume enhanced ACA premium subsidies, as it’s on spending plans to maintain the federal authorities working when the prevailing, short-term plan expires on the finish of the month. Whereas a number of the greater appropriations hang-ups are associated to immigration and overseas affairs, there are additionally hurdles to passing spending for HHS.
• ACA plan enrollment is down about 1.5 million in contrast with final 12 months, with states reporting that many individuals are switching to cheaper plans or dropping protection. Enrollment numbers are prone to drop additional within the coming months as more-expensive premium funds come due and a few understand they will not afford the plans they’re enrolled in.
• A key Senate well being committee on Wednesday hosted a listening to on the abortion tablet mifepristone, centered on the protection considerations posed by abortion foes — although these considerations are unsupported by scientific analysis and many years of expertise with the drug. Many abortion opponents are annoyed that the Trump administration has not taken aggressive motion to limit entry to the abortion tablet.
• Because the Trump administration moved this week to rehire laid-off workers and abruptly cancel, then restore, addiction-related grants, total authorities spending is up, regardless of the administration’s acknowledged objective of saving cash by reducing the federal authorities’s dimension and actions. It seems the churn throughout the administration is costing taxpayers extra. And new information, revealing that extra federal staff left on their very own than had been laid off final 12 months, reveals that plenty of institutional reminiscence was additionally misplaced.

Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information’ Elisabeth Rosenthal, who created the “Invoice of the Month” sequence and wrote the latest installmenta couple of scorpion pepper, an ER go to, and a ghost invoice. When you’ve got a baffling, infuriating, or exorbitant invoice you’d wish to share with us, you can do that here.

Plus, for “additional credit score” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you need to learn, too:

Julie Rovner: The New York Occasions’ “E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution,” by Maxine Joselow.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: ProPublica’s “After Sowing Distrust in Fluoridated Water, Kennedy and Skeptics Turn to Obstructing Other Fluoride Sources,” by Anna Clark.

Joanne From: The New Yorker’s “What ‘The Pitt’ Taught Me About Being a Doctor,” by Dhruv Khullar.

Anna Edney: MedPage As we speak’s “Worried About Liability After CDC Vaccine Changes? You Shouldn’t Be,” by Joedy McCreary.

Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:

• The Washington Publish’s “A Majority in Name Only? House Republicans Are Barely Hanging On,” by Paul Kane.
• HealthAffairs’ “National Health Care Spending Increased 7.2 percent in 2024 as Utilization Remained Elevated,” by Mica Hartman, Anne B. Martin, David Lassman, and Aaron Catlin.
• Politico’s “Lawsuit Dismissed After Trump Admin Quietly Restored Tens of Millions to Planned Parenthood,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein.
• JAMA’s “The US Food and Drug Administration’s Regulation of Mifepristone,” by Sophie Dilek, Joanne Rosen, Anna Levashkevich, Joshua M. Sharfstein, and G. Caleb Alexander.

Credit

Francis Ying Audio producer Emmarie Huetteman Editor

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