The Host
Julie Rovner
KFF Health News
Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Health?” A famous knowledgeable on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference ebook “Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z,” now in its third version.
The formal finish May 11 of the nationwide public well being emergency for covid-19 will usher in a number of adjustments in the best way Americans get vaccines, therapy, and testing for the coronavirus. It can even change the best way some individuals get their medical insurance, with tens of millions more likely to lose protection altogether.
Meanwhile, two FDA advisory committees voted unanimously this week to permit the over-the-counter sale of a particular contraception tablet. Advocates of constructing the tablet simpler to get say it may take away important obstacles to the usage of efficient contraception and forestall hundreds of unplanned pregnancies yearly. The FDA, nonetheless, should nonetheless formally approve the change, and a few of its workers scientists have expressed issues about whether or not youngsters and low-literacy adults will have the ability to comply with the instructions with out the direct involvement of a medical skilled.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times.
Panelists
Joanne Kenen
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico
Tami Luhby
CNN
Margot Sanger-Katz
The New York Times
Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
- The formal public well being emergency could also be over, however covid positively just isn’t. More than 1,000 individuals within the United States died of the virus between April 19 and April 26, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While most Americans have put covid of their rearview mirrors, it stays a threat across the nation.
- The Senate Finance Committee held a listening to on “ghost networks,” lists of well being professionals distributed by insurance coverage corporations who usually are not taking new sufferers or usually are not really within the insurance coverage firm’s community. Ghost networks are a specific downside in psychological well being care, the place few suppliers take medical insurance in any respect.
- Another pattern within the enterprise of well being care is main care practices being purchased by hospitals, insurance coverage corporations, and even Amazon. This technique was standard within the Nineties, as well being programs sought to “vertically integrate.” But now the bigger entities might produce other causes for having their very own networks of docs, together with utilizing their sufferers to create income streams.
- Court battles proceed over the destiny of the abortion tablet mifepristone, as a federal appeals court docket in New Orleans prepares to listen to arguments a few lower-court choose’s ruling that might successfully cancel the drug’s approval by the FDA. In West Virginia, the maker of the generic model of the drug is difficult the appropriate of the state to ban treatment accepted by federal officers. At the identical time, a gaggle of unbiased abortion clinics from numerous states is suing the FDA to drop restrictions on how mifepristone may be prescribed, becoming a member of largely Democratic-led states looking for to make sure entry to the drug.
Plus for “extra credit” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they assume it is best to learn, too:
Julie Rovner: Slate’s “Not Every Man Will Be as Dumb as Marcus Silva,” by Moira Donegan and Mark Joseph Stern.
Joanne Kenen: The Baltimore Banner’s “Baltimore Isn’t Accessible for People With Disabilities. Fixing It Would Cost Over $650 Million,” by Hallie Miller and Adam Willis.
Tami Luhby: CNN’s “Because of Florida Abortion Laws, She Carried Her Baby to Term Knowing He Would Die,” by Elizabeth Cohen, Carma Hassan, and Amanda Musa.
Margot Sanger-Katz: The New Yorker’s “The Problem With Planned Parenthood,” by Eyal Press.
Also talked about on this week’s episode:
Credits
Francis Ying
Audio producer
Stephanie Stapleton
Editor
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