Democrats Keep Healthcare at the Fore

The Host

Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social Read Julie's stories. Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly health policy news podcast, "What the Health?" A noted expert on health policy issues, Julie is the author of the critically praised reference book "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z," now in its third edition.

Senate Democrats hope a little-used law from the 1990s will help draw attention to the healthcare cost issue by forcing a vote on the Trump administration’s recent changes to the Affordable Care Act.

Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is demanding information from a medical journal that retracted a study that backed Kennedy’s claims of vaccine harm.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of The New York Times, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post.

Panelists

Anna Edney Bloomberg News @annaedney @annaedney.bsky.social Read Anna's stories.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg The New York Times @SherylNYT Read Sheryl's stories.

Lauren Weber The Washington Post @LaurenWeberHP @laurenweberhp.bsky.social Read Lauren's stories.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

• As the midterm elections approach, congressional Democrats are pushing back on newly finalized guidelines from the Trump administration for ACA plans. The guidelines allow the sale of plans with fewer benefits and bigger deductibles next year, further eroding protections designed to keep healthcare affordable. With many voters concerned about the cost of care, Democrats’ push could prove a potent campaign message come November.
• State officials in Texas and Alabama are continuing to crack down on abortion access. And new reporting reveals a trend of women going to great lengths to seek abortion care only to learn that their home pregnancy test results were false positives and they’re not pregnant.
• Two medical journals recently retracted separate studies that linked vaccines to harmful health problems, with Kennedy pushing back. And legal action over Kennedy’s reconstituted vaccine panel and its decisions is leaving the nation without traditional outside expert input into seasonal vaccines as the flu season approaches — though the American Academy of Pediatrics has pointed out that Kennedy could resolve the legal issues by simply appointing experts to the panel with vaccine backgrounds, as statute dictates.

Also this week, Rovner interviews Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute and Liz Fowler of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health about their joint effort pushing for the elimination of the employer health insurance tax exclusion. You can read their Washington Post op-ed here.

Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: 

Julie Rovner: KFF Health News’ “Trump Bought Tobacco Stocks and Raked In Industry Donations as FDA Eased Standards,” by Darius Tahir.  

Sheryl Gay Stolberg: KFF Health News’ “Tennessee Pharmacies Sell Potent Ivermectin, Led by Anti-Vaccine Doctor Who’s Taken ‘Bucketloads,’” by Brett Kelman and Rachana Pradhan. 

Anna Edney: Politico Magazine’s “Inside Trump’s Reversal on HIV,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein and Megan Messerly. 

Lauren Weber: The Atlantic’s “AI Is Taking Over Hospitals,” by Benjamin Mazer.

Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:

• KFF Health News’ “Democrats Seek To Spotlight Rising Health Costs by Forcing Vote on Trump Regulation,” by Julie Appleby.
• The New York Times’ “Can’t Pay Medical Bills? Trump Officials Suggest Getting a Loan,” by Reed Abelson.
• MedPage Today’s “AAP Disputes Kennedy’s Claim That Vaccine Panel Can’t Meet Ahead of Flu Season,” by Jennifer Henderson.
• The Alabama Reflector’s “Alabama Attorney General Threatens Legal Action Against Six Abortion Pill Providers,” by Anna Barrett.
• HuffPost’s “They Had Positive Pregnancy Tests — Without Ever Being Pregnant. The Brand Was Always the Same,” by Alanna Vagianos.
• The Daily Signal’s “Pro-Life Win: Trump Admin Moves to Remedy Downfall of IVF,” by Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell.
• The New York Times’ “Some See New Route to Adoption in Clinics Full of Frozen Embryos,” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
• The New York Times’ “How an Addictive Gas Station Drug Found Allies in Trump’s Cabinet,” by Kenneth P. Vogel and Christina Jewett.

Credits

Francis Ying Audio producer

Taylor Cook Audio producer

Emmarie Huetteman Editor

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KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

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