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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.
Democratic primary voters in Michigan chose former Detroit public health director Abdul El-Sayed as their Senate nominee this week. El-Sayed is one of several high-profile candidates around the country who have been pushing “Medicare for All,” again elevating the issue, at a time when millions of Americans are losing their health coverage because of high costs.
Meanwhile, the Senate this week confirmed Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has been without a permanent leader for almost a year. But it remains unclear whether her support for childhood vaccinations will run afoul of her boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Amanda Seitz of KFF Health News.
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KFF Health News
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Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:
El-Sayed’s primary victory in Michigan means a vocal supporter of Medicare for All will be on the ballot this fall. Progressives again are rallying behind universal healthcare as costs spike and more people lose their coverage — although there are few details so far to explain how they would implement such a policy.
New polling shows more people are experiencing “job lock” because of limited options to obtain healthcare coverage outside employer-sponsored insurance. Meanwhile, more hospitals are reporting a sharp rise in the number of uninsured and in the costs to cover them.
A federal judge recently declined to halt the implementation of Medicaid work requirements while considering a case brought by several states challenging the policy’s burden on sick people. And early reports out of Nebraska, the first state to implement the work requirements, show eligible people are losing coverage for administrative reasons.
Kennedy sat down for an interview with CNN, during which he could not articulate specific plans to address disease outbreaks — as multiple outbreaks are ongoing. And a Senate committee voted along party lines Thursday to hold former public health official Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress over his appearance before the committee last week.
Also this week, as part of the “How Would You Fix It?” series, Rovner interviews Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.), who has a new bill that would provide universal health coverage for all children.
Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too:
Julie Rovner: The New York Times’ “Spotlight on Fauci Said To Boost Book Sales for Kennedy and His Publisher,” by Sheryl Gay Stolberg.
Alice Miranda Ollstein: NOTUS’ “Rand Paul’s Fauci Diary Dump Exposed People’s Medical Histories,” by Margaret Manto.
Joanne Kenen: The New York Times Magazine’s “The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids,” by Helen Ouyang.
Amanda Seitz: The Wall Street Journal’s “A Florida Surrogate, a Father in China, and the Babies Caught Between,” by Katherine Long.
Also mentioned in this week’s podcast:
The Bulwark’s “The ‘Medicare for All’ Test for Michigan Democrats,” by Jonathan Cohn.
The New York Times’ “Uninsured Patients Rise Sharply, Hospitals Report, Citing Obamacare Cuts,” by Reed Abelson.
Politico’s “Blanche Assures Anti-Abortion Supporters That Dobbs Will Be ‘Permanent in Every Single State,’” by Alice Miranda Ollstein and Josh Gerstein.
Underlying Conditions’ “RFK Jr. on CNN: Fact-Checking the Measles and Autism Claims,” by Céline Gounder.
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