The Host
Julie Rovner
KFF Well being Information
@jrovner
Learn Julie’s tales.
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 knowledgeable on well being coverage points, Julie is the creator of the critically praised reference e book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.
The Republican Nationwide Conference highlighted quite a few coverage points this week, however well being care was not amongst them. That was not a lot of a shock, as it isn’t a prime precedence for former President Donald Trump or most GOP voters. The nomination of Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio provides an outspoken abortion opponent to the Republican ticket, although he brings no specific background or experience in well being care.
In the meantime, abortion opponents are busy attempting to dam state poll questions from reaching voters in November. Authorized battles over potential proposals proceed in a number of states, together with Florida, Arkansas, and Arizona.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins colleges of public well being and nursing and Politico Journal.
Panelists
Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico
@AliceOllstein
Learn Alice’s tales.
Joanne Kenen
Johns Hopkins College and Politico
@JoanneKenen
Learn Joanne’s articles.
Sarah Karlin-Smith
Pink Sheet
@SarahKarlin
Learn Sarah’s tales.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio has solid few votes on well being coverage since becoming a member of Congress final 12 months. He has taken a doctrinaire method to abortion restrictions, although, together with expressing assist for prohibiting abortion-related interstate journey and invoking the Comstock Act to dam use of the mail for abortion medicines. He additionally speaks overtly about his mom’s struggles with habit, framing it as a well being moderately than prison difficulty in a method that resonates with many People.
Though Republicans have largely deserted calls to repeal and exchange the Reasonably priced Care Act, it could be simple for former President Donald Trump to undermine this system in a second time period; expanded subsidies for protection are because of expire subsequent 12 months, and there’s at all times the choice to chop spending on advertising this system, as Trump did throughout his first time period.
Trump’s current feedback to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about childhood vaccinations echoed tropes linked to the anti-vaccination motion — notably the false declare that whereas one vaccine could also be protected, it’s maybe harmful to obtain a number of without delay. The federal vaccination schedule has been rigorously evaluated and located to be protected and efficient.
Covid is surging as soon as once more, with President Joe Biden amongst these testing constructive this week. The virus is proving a year-round concern and has peaked frequently in summertime; covid spreads greatest indoors, and these days thousands and thousands of People have taken refuge inside from extraordinarily excessive temperatures. In the meantime, the virology group is anxious that the nation isn’t testing sufficient animals or people to know the danger posed by hen flu.
Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information’ Renuka Rayasam, who wrote the June installment of KFF Well being Information-NPR’s “Invoice of the Month,” a few affected person who walked into what he thought was an pressing care middle and walked out with an emergency room invoice. In case you have an exorbitant or baffling medical invoice, you may ship it to us right here.
Plus, for “additional credit score,” the panelists recommend well being coverage tales they learn this week that they assume it is best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: Time journal’s “‘We’re Dwelling in a Nightmare:’ Contained in the Well being Disaster of a Texas Bitcoin City,” by Andrew R Chow.
Joanne Kenen: The Washington Put up’s “A Mother Struggles To Feed Her Youngsters After GOP States Reject Federal Funds,” by Annie Gowen.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: ProPublica’s “Texas Sends Hundreds of thousands to Disaster Being pregnant Facilities. It’s Meant To Assist Needy Households, however No One Is aware of if It Works,” by Cassandra Jaramillo, Jeremy Kohler, and Sophie Chou, ProPublica, and Jessica Kegu, CBS Information.
Sarah Karlin-Smith: The New York Instances’ “Promised Cures, Tainted Cells: How Wire Blood Banks Mislead Sufferers,” by Sarah Kliff and Azeen Ghorayshi.
Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:
The Wall Avenue Journal’s “Mail-Order Medicine Had been Supposed To Preserve Prices Down. It’s Doing the Reverse,” by Jared S. Hopkins.
Credit
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Emmarie Huetteman
Editor
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