The independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.
Join Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News, along with top health policy reporters from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico and other media outlets to discuss the latest news and explain what the health is going on here in Washington.
Listen and Subscribe on | | | |
If you have a question for the podcast, you can send it to whatthehealth@kff.org.
Showing 21 - 40 of 452
On 鈥淲hat the Health? From 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News,鈥 distributed by WAMU, chief Washington correspondent and podcast host Julie Rovner sat down with Avik Roy, a GOP health policy adviser, to talk about how health care has evolved as a Republican Party issue.
Senate Democrats were promised a vote by mid-December on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, but Republicans still can鈥檛 decide whether they want to put forward their own alternative or what that might include. Meanwhile, the CDC and FDA are roiled by debates over vaccines. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Aneri Pattani about her project tracking opioid settlement payments.
Just weeks before some tax credits for Affordable Care Act premiums expire, the Trump administration floated a plan to extend the enhanced aid 鈥 but it was met with immediate GOP pushback. Meanwhile, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to revise its website to suggest childhood vaccines might be linked to autism. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Joanne Kenen and Joshua Sharfstein about their new book, 鈥淚nformation Sick: How Journalism鈥檚 Decline and Misinformation鈥檚 Rise Are Harming Our Health 鈥 And What We Can Do About It.鈥
Republicans are solidifying their opposition to extending pandemic-era subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans and seem to be coalescing around giving money directly to consumers to spend on health care. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to leave his mark on the agency, with the CDC altering its website to suggest childhood vaccines could play a role in causing autism. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Avik Roy.
The record-long federal shutdown is over after a small group of Democrats agreed to a deal with most Republicans that funds the government through January 鈥 but, notably, does not extend more generous Affordable Care Act tax credits. Plus, new details are emerging about how the Trump administration is using the Medicaid program to advance its policy goals. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner interviews 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Appleby, who wrote the latest 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 feature.
Nov. 1 marked the start of open enrollment for 2026 health plans bought from Affordable Care Act marketplaces in most states. But this sign-up season is like no other in the health law鈥檚 15-year history. It remains unclear, even at this late date, whether expanded tax credits launched during the pandemic in 2021 will be continued or allowed to expire, exposing millions of Americans to much higher out-of-pocket costs. In this special episode of 鈥淲hat the Health?鈥 from 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News and WAMU, host Julie Rovner interviews KFF vice president Cynthia Cox about the past, present, and possible future of the health law and how those who purchase ACA coverage should proceed during this time of uncertainty.
A standoff in Congress is keeping much of the government shut down as open enrollment begins in most states for Affordable Care Act plans. Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to extend ACA tax credits, but there has been little negotiating 鈥 even as customers are learning what they鈥檒l pay for coverage next year. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is telling states they can鈥檛 pass their own laws to keep medical debt off consumers鈥 credit reports. Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Post, Maya Goldman of Axios, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more.
Two major nutrition programs 鈥 SNAP and WIC 鈥 are likely to exhaust their funding in November, and the furloughs and firings at the CDC have left the agency unable to perform some of its major functions. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump鈥檚 new IVF policy is being met with dissatisfaction from both sides. Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Katheryn Houghton, who wrote the latest 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 feature.
Democrats and Republicans remain stalled over funding the federal government as Republicans launch a new attack on the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is taking advantage of the shutdown to lay off workers from programs supported mostly by Democrats. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews health insurance analyst Louise Norris about Medicare open enrollment.
The government shutdown continues with no end in sight, and while it theoretically should not affect entitlement programs, the lapse of some related authorizations 鈥 like for Medicare telehealth programs 鈥 is leaving some doctors and patients high and dry. Meanwhile, the FDA quietly approved a new generic abortion pill. Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet, Tami Luhby of CNN, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews Sarah Grusin of the National Health Law Program.
The foreshadowed federal shutdown came after Congress failed to pass required spending bills, with Democrats demanding Republicans renew the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies in exchange for their votes. While a shutdown does not affect Medicare and Medicaid, it could eventually hinder activities from every corner of the Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, as Democrats and Republicans point fingers, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pursues policies and personnel that would undermine vaccines. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Bloomberg News join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss the news. Also this week, Rovner interviews 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Cara Anthony, who wrote a recent 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 feature about an out-of-network eye surgery that left one kindergartner鈥檚 family with a big bill.
In a rambling news conference that shocked public health experts, President Donald Trump 鈥 without scientific evidence 鈥 blamed the over-the-counter drug acetaminophen, and too many childhood vaccines, for the increase in autism diagnoses in the U.S. That came days after a key immunization advisory panel, newly reconstituted with vaccine doubters, changed several long-standing recommendations. Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official Demetre Daskalakis joins 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss those stories. Meanwhile, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News join Rovner with the rest of the news, including a threat by the Trump administration to fire rather than furlough federal workers if Congress fails to fund the government beyond the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.
Fired less than a month after being confirmed as head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez appeared at a dramatic Senate hearing this week alongside another ousted CDC official and directly contradicted Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy鈥檚 earlier testimony about why she was fired. Monarez told the Health, […]
With less than three weeks before the deadline to pass legislation to keep the federal government running, lawmakers are still far apart on a strategy. Democrats hope Republicans will agree to extend expanded tax credits for the Affordable Care Act as part of a compromise, but so far Republicans are not negotiating. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released his long-awaited 鈥淢ake America Healthy Again鈥 report, with few specific action items. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
A combative Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, appeared before a Senate committee Thursday, defending his firing of the newly confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other changes that could limit the availability of vaccines. Meanwhile, Congress has only a few weeks to complete work on annual spending bills to avoid a possible government shutdown and to ward off potentially large increases in premiums for Affordable Care Act health plans. Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Tony Leys, who discusses his 鈥淏ill of the Month鈥 report about a woman鈥檚 unfortunate interaction with a bat 鈥 and her even more unfortunate interaction with the bill for her rabies prevention treatment.
This summer marks the 60th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, the twin government programs that have shaped the health care system into what it is today. In this special episode, 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner interviews two experts on the history, significance, and future of these programs: Medicare historian and University of North Carolina professor Jonathan Oberlander and George Washington University professor emerita Sara Rosenbaum, who has studied Medicaid since nearly its beginning and has helped shape Medicaid policy over the past four decades.
President Donald Trump鈥檚 latest executive order about science and medicine seeks to take funding decisions out of the hands of career scientists and give them to political appointees instead. And a gunman, reportedly disgruntled over covid vaccines, shoots at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, killing a law enforcement officer. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Aaron Carroll, president and CEO of the health services research group AcademyHealth, about how to restore the public鈥檚 trust in public health.
The Health and Human Services secretary is winding down nearly $500 million in mRNA research funding, citing false claims that the technology is ineffective against respiratory illnesses 鈥 and notching a victory for critics of the covid vaccines. And President Donald Trump is demanding drugmakers drop their prices, quickly, but it鈥檚 unclear how he could make them comply. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of Health and Human Services, is eyeing an overhaul of two more key entities as part of his ongoing effort to reshape health policy. And President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week that would enable localities to force some homeless people into residential treatment. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Shefali Luthra of The 19th join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also, Rovner interviews Sara Rosenbaum, one of the nation鈥檚 leading experts on Medicaid, to mark Medicaid鈥檚 60th anniversary this week.
Medicaid may have monopolized Washington鈥檚 attention lately, but big changes are coming to the Affordable Care Act as well. Meanwhile, Americans are learning more about what鈥檚 in Trump鈥檚 big budget law, and polls suggest many don鈥檛 like what they see. Julie Appleby of 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join 杨贵妃传媒視頻 Health News鈥 Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews historian Jonathan Oberlander to mark Medicare鈥檚 60th anniversary.
漏 2026 KFF