\tJulie Rovner
\n\tKFF Health News<\/p>\n
\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\tJulie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Health News\u2019 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.\t\t<\/p>\n The Department of Health and Human Services is funded for the rest of the fiscal year. But lawmakers remain concerned about whether the Trump administration will spend the money as directed.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, negotiations over extending expanded subsidies for Affordable Care Act plans have broken down in the Senate, mostly over a perennial issue \u2014 abortion. The subsidies\u2019 expiration at the end of 2025 has left millions of Americans unable to afford their health insurance premiums.<\/p>\n This week\u2019s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call.<\/p>\n \tAnna Edney \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t \tJoanne Kenen \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t \tSandhya Raman \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t Among the takeaways from this week\u2019s episode:<\/p>\n President Donald Trump signed government spending legislation that provides for HHS, as well as a separate measure that addresses pharmacy benefit managers and some Medicare programs. Meanwhile, Trump has yet to put out his own budget \u2014 traditionally a president\u2019s wish list of priorities. On the health side, that is likely to include familiar \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d ideas, such as funding for a new agency, proposed last year, that would be known as the Administration for a Healthy America.<\/p>\n In Congress, negotiations over renewing more-generous ACA premium tax credits have collapsed. While lawmakers are likely to continue hearing from constituents about the high cost of health care, now Senate negotiators are signaling that the chances of renewing the expired tax credits are low.<\/p>\n A new study in JAMA finds that cancer patients covered by high-deductible health plans had lower rates of survival. The research suggests that high out-of-pocket costs discourage preventive and necessary care \u2014 and it comes as little surprise in an environment where many Americans cannot afford unexpected bills for a few hundred dollars, let alone four- or five-figure deductibles.<\/p>\n And a new interview reveals a very different mandate for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s remade vaccine advisory panel: to scrutinize the risks of immunizations, rather than balance their risks and benefits. The interview with the panel\u2019s chair, published by Politico, quoted him saying Americans should view them \u201cmore as a safety committee,\u201d adding, \u201cEfficacy will be secondary.\u201d The notion that the panel will no longer balance a vaccine\u2019s potentially health- and lifesaving effects against its possible side effects flies against decades of government best practices.<\/p>\n Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News\u2019 Renuka Rayasam about a new reporting project, \u201cPriced Out<\/a>,\u201d which explores the increasing unaffordability of insurance and health care. If you have a story you\u2019d like to share with us, you can do that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Plus, for \u201cextra credit\u201d the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:<\/p>\n Julie Rovner:<\/strong> Politico\u2019s \u201cDeSantis\u2019 Canadian Drug Import Plan in Florida Goes From Campaign Trail to Tough Realities<\/a>,\u201d by Arek Sarkissian.<\/p>\n Sandhya Raman:<\/strong> The Washington Post\u2019s \u201cFree HIV Drugs Save Lives. Why One State Is Restricting Access for Thousands<\/a>,\u201d by David Ovalle.<\/p>\n Anna Edney:<\/strong> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Associated Press\u2019 \u201cForever Stained: Inside America\u2019s Carpet Capital: An Empire and its Toxic Legacy<\/a>,\u201d by Dylan Jackson, Jason Dearan, and Justin Price.<\/p>\n Joanne Kenen:<\/strong> Inside Climate News\u2019 \u201c\u2018Toxic Colonialism\u2019 on the Bay of Bengal<\/a>,\u201d by Johnny Sturgeon.<\/p>\n Also mentioned in this week\u2019s episode:<\/p>\n Politico\u2019s \u201c\u2018Efficacy Will Be Secondary\u2019: RFK Jr.\u2019s Vaccine Advisers Have a New Mission<\/a>,\u201d by Sophie Gardner.<\/p>\n KFF Health News and WBUR\u2019s \u201cNIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research<\/a>,\u201d by Martha Bebinger.<\/p>\n Stat\u2019s \u201cFDA Commissioner Marty Makary Tries To Soothe Staff Concerns Over Voucher Program<\/a>\u201d by Lizzy Lawrence.<\/p>\n Stat\u2019s \u201cTenuous Biomedical Funding Has Put First-Year Ph.D. Students in a Bind<\/a>,\u201d by Jonathan Wosen.<\/p>\n JAMA Network Open\u2019s \u201cHigh-Deductible Health Plans and Mortality Among Cancer Survivors<\/a>,\u201d by Justin M. Barnes, Arjun Gupta, Meera Ragavan, Patricia Mae Santos, September Wallingford, and Fumiko Chino.<\/p>\n \tFrancis Ying \tEmmarie Huetteman Click here to find all our podcasts.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n And subscribe to \u201cWhat the Health? From KFF Health News\u201d on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a>, the NPR app<\/a>, YouTube<\/a>, Pocket Casts<\/a>, or wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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