KFF Health News' 'What the Health?'

For the 2024 campaign, Joe Biden is out, and Kamala Harris is in. As the vice president makes moves toward the top of the Democratic presidential ticket, health policy is resurging as a campaign issue. Meanwhile, Congress tries — and again fails — to make timely progress on the annual government spending bills as abortion issues cause delays.Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Stephanie Armour of KFF Health News, and Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more.Also this week, Rovner interviews Anthony Wright, the new executive director of Families USA, about his plans for the organization and his history working with Harris on health topics. Click here for a transcript of the episode.Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: NPR’s “A Study Finds That Dogs Can Smell Your Stress — And Make Decisions Accordingly,” by Rachel Treisman.  Alice Miranda Ollstein: Stat’s “A Pricey Gilead HIV Drug Could Be Made for Dramatically Less Than the Company Charges,” by Ed Silverman, and Politico’s “Federal HIV Program Set To Wind Down,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein and David Lim. Stephanie Armour: Vox’s “Free Medical School Won’t Solve the Doctor Shortage,” by Dylan Scott.  Rachel Cohrs Zhang: Stat’s “How UnitedHealth Harnesses Its Physician Empire To Squeeze Profits out of Patients,” by Bob Herman, Tara Bannow, Casey Ross, and Lizzy Lawrence. 

After an assassination attempt last weekend sent former President Donald Trump to the hospital with minor injuries, the Republican National Convention went off with little mention of health care issues. And Trump’s newly nominated vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, has barely staked out a record on health during his 18 months in office — aside from being strongly opposed to abortion.Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Renuka Rayasam, who wrote June’s installment of KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month,” about a patient who walked into what he thought was an urgent care center and walked out with an emergency room bill. Click here for a transcript of the episode. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: Time magazine’s “‘We’re Living in a Nightmare:’ Inside the Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town,” by Andrew R Chow.Joanne Kenen: The Washington Post’s “A Mom Struggles To Feed Her Kids After GOP States Reject Federal Funds,” by Annie Gowen.Alice Miranda Ollstein: ProPublica’s “Texas Sends Millions to Crisis Pregnancy Centers. It’s Meant To Help Needy Families, But No One Knows if It Works,” by Cassandra Jaramillo, Jeremy Kohler, and Sophie Chou, ProPublica, and Jessica Kegu, CBS News.Sarah Karlin-Smith: The New York Times’ “Promised Cures, Tainted Cells: How Cord Blood Banks Mislead Patients,” by Sarah Kliff and Azeen Ghorayshi.

As Donald Trump prepares to be formally nominated as the GOP’s candidate for president next week, the platform he will run on is taking shape. And in line with Trump’s approach, it aims to simultaneously satisfy hard-core abortion opponents and reassure more moderate swing voters. Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission takes on pharmacy benefits management firms.Shefali Luthra of The 19th News, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, about the Biden administration’s policies to ensure access to reproductive health care.Click here for a transcript of the episode. Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: STAT News’ “Troubled For-Profit Chains Are Stealthily Operating Dozens of Psychiatric Hospitals Under Nonprofits’ Names,” by Tara Bannow.Shefali Luthra: The Washington Post’s “These GOP Women Begged the Party to Abandon Abortion. Then Came Backlash,” by Caroline Kitchener.Sandhya Raman: Roll Call’s “For at Least One Abortion Clinic, Dobbs Eased Stressors,” by Sandhya Raman.Jessie Hellmann: North Carolina Health News’ “N.C. House Wants to Spend Opioid Money on Multiple Abstinence-Based Recovery Centers, While Experts Stress Access to Medication,” by Grace Vitaglione.

The Supreme Court has issued its final opinions for the 2023-24 term, including decisions affecting abortion access, the opioid epidemic, and how the federal government functions. In this special episode, Sarah Somers, legal director of the National Health Law Program, joins KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss how the justices disposed of the term’s health-related cases and what those decisions could mean going forward. A Summary of the Cases On the functioning of government: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, challenging the “Chevron doctrine” that required courts to defer in most cases to the expertise of federal agencies in interpreting laws passed by Congress.Corner Post Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, challenging the statute of limitations for bringing a case against a federal agency’s actions.On abortion: Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, challenging the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone.Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, about whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requirement that hospitals participating in Medicare provide the care needed to stabilize a patient’s condition overrides Idaho’s near-complete abortion ban when a pregnant patient experiences a medical emergency.On other health issues:Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, about whether federal bankruptcy law can shield an entity from future claims without the consent of all claimants.City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, about whether banning sleeping in public subjects those with no other place to sleep to “cruel and unusual punishment” under the U.S. Constitution.Previous “What the Health?” Coverage of These Cases:“SCOTUS Ruling Strips Power From Federal Health Agencies,” June 28“SCOTUS Rejects Abortion Pill Challenge — For Now,” June 13“Abortion — Again — At the Supreme Court,” April 25“The Supreme Court and the Abortion Pill,” March 28“Health Enters the Presidential Race,” Jan. 25

In what will certainly be remembered as a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has overruled a 40-year-old precedent that gave federal agencies, rather than judges, the power to interpret ambiguous laws passed by Congress. Administrative experts say the decision will dramatically change the way key health agencies do business. Also, the court decided not to decide whether a federal law requiring hospitals to provide emergency care overrides Idaho’s near-total ban on abortion.Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Victoria Knight of Axios, and Joanne Kenen of Johns Hopkins University and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too. Click here for a transcript of the episode.Julie Rovner: The Washington Post’s “Masks Are Going From Mandated to Criminalized in Some States,” by Fenit Nirappil.  Victoria Knight: The New York Times’ “The Opaque Industry Secretly Inflating Prices for Prescription Drugs,” by Rebecca Robbins and Reed Abelson. Joanne Kenen: The Washington Post’s “Social Security To Drop Obsolete Jobs Used To Deny Disability Benefits,” by Lisa Rein.  Alice Miranda Ollstein: Politico’s “Opioid Deaths Rose 50 Percent During the Pandemic. in These Places, They Fell,” by Ruth Reader.  

Health policy may not be the top issue in this year’s presidential and congressional elections, but it’s likely to play a key role. President Joe Biden and Democrats intend to hold Republicans responsible for the Supreme Court’s unpopular ruling overturning the right to abortion, and former President Donald Trump aims to take credit for government efforts to lower prescription drug prices — even in cases in which he played no role. Meanwhile, some critical health care issues, such as those involving Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, are unlikely to get discussed much, even though the party in power after the elections would control the future of those programs.This week, in an episode taped before a live audience at the Aspen Ideas: Health festival in Aspen, Colorado, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Click here for a transcript of the episode.

The Supreme Court has dismissed a challenge to the FDA’s approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, ruling unanimously that the anti-abortion doctor group that filed the suit lacked standing. But abortion opponents are expected to pursue other strategies to ban or restrict the medication. Meanwhile, the Biden administration moves to stop the inclusion of medical debt on individual credit reports, and former President Donald Trump tries to claim credit for $35 insulin.Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Rachana Pradhan of KFF Health News, and Emmarie Huetteman of KFF Health News join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF president and CEO Drew Altman about KFF’s new “Health Policy 101” primer. Click here for a transcript of the episode.Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: Julie Rovner: HuffPost’s “How America’s Mental Health Crisis Became This Family’s Worst Nightmare,” by Jonathan Cohn.  Anna Edney: Stat News’ “Four Tops Singer’s Lawsuit Says He Visited ER for Chest Pain, Ended Up in Straitjacket,” by Tara Bannow. Rachana Pradhan: The New York Times’ “Abortion Groups Say Tech Companies Suppress Posts and Accounts,” by Emily Schmall and Sapna Maheshwari. Emmarie Huetteman: CBS News’ “As FDA Urges Crackdown on Bird Flu in Raw Milk, Some States Say Their Hands Are Tied,” by Alexander Tin. 

The nursing home industry — as well as a healthy number of Congress members — are all pushing back on the Biden administration’s new rules on nursing home staffing. Industry officials say that there are not enough workers to meet the requirements and that the costs would be prohibitive.Meanwhile, Democrats on Capitol Hill are trying to force Republicans to explain their exact positions on assuring access to contraceptives and in vitro fertilization.Rachel Cohrs Zhang of Stat, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Bram Sable-Smith, who reported and wrote the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month” feature about a free cruise that turned out to be anything but.Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too:Julie Rovner: Abortion, Every Day’s “EXCLUSIVE: Health Data Breach at America’s Largest Crisis Pregnancy Org,” by Jessica Valenti.Alice Miranda Ollstein: The Washington Post’s “Conservative Attacks on Birth Control Could Threaten Access,” by Lauren Weber.Rachel Cohrs Zhang: ProPublica’s “This Mississippi Hospital Transfers Some Patients to Jail to Await Mental Health Treatment,” by Isabelle Taft, Mississippi Today.Sandhya Raman: Air Mail’s “Roanoke’s Requiem,” by Clara Molot. Click here for a transcript of the episode.

June is when the Supreme Court typically issues rulings in the major cases it hears during that year’s term. This year, those interested in health policy are awaiting decisions in two abortion-related cases and one that could reshuffle the way health policies (and all other federal policies) are made. In this special episode, KFF’s Laurie Sobel, associate director for women’s health policy, joins Julie Rovner for a review of the cases and a preview of how the court might rule.The cases highlighted in this episode:Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce, about how much discretion federal agencies should have in interpreting laws passed by Congress.U.S. Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, about whether the FDA exceeded its authority in relaxing restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone.Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, about whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requirement for hospitals participating in Medicare to provide needed medical care overrides Idaho’s near-total abortion ban in emergency cases.Click here for a transcript of the episode.