Kff Health News' 'what The Health?': Schrödinger’s Government Shutdown

The host

Julie Rovner KFF Health News @jrovner @julierovner.bsky.social

Julie Rovner is main Washington analogous and big of KFF Health News' play wellness argumentation news podcast, "What nan Health?" A noted master connected wellness argumentation issues, Julie is nan writer of nan critically praised reference book "Health Care Politics and Policy A to Z," now successful its 3rd edition.

Democrats and Republicans are some facing imaginable governmental consequences successful their continuing standoff complete national authorities funding. Republicans are apt to look a elector backlash if they garbage to work together to Democrats' demands that they renew further taxation credits for Affordable Care Act marketplace plans, since nan mostly of those facing premium hikes unrecorded successful GOP-dominated states. For their part, Democrats are worried that Republicans will break nan position of immoderate imaginable spending deal.

At nan aforesaid time, nan Trump management is utilizing nan shutdown to effort to laic disconnected thousands of national workers, including those performing cardinal nationalist wellness roles astatine nan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This week's panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of nan Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post.

Panelists

• Anna Edney Bloomberg News @annaedney @annaedney.bsky.social
• Joanne Kenen Johns Hopkins University and Politico @JoanneKenen @joannekenen.bsky.social
• Lauren Weber The Washington Post @LaurenWeberHP

Among nan takeaways from this week's episode:

• As nan national authorities shutdown drags on, location has been small advancement toward a woody connected authorities spending — aliases connected nan expiring ACA marketplace subsidies Democrats are fighting to renew. Potential subsidy compromises could, for instance, instrumentality a minimal premium successful spot of $0 premiums, to trim enrollment fraud, arsenic Republicans want.
• A national judge halted nan Trump administration's latest layoffs of national workers amid questions astir nan layoffs' legality. The management successful peculiar dealt a dense rustle this information to nan CDC, an agency that has been battered by unit reductions, argumentation shifts, and moreover violence.
• New reporting shows nan Trump management explored nan feasibility of tracing abortion pill residue successful wastewater, pursuing up connected an anti-abortion declare that nan narcotics whitethorn beryllium contaminating nan h2o supply. Yet advocates could person an ulterior motive: processing nan expertise to trace usage of nan pill to further ace down connected abortions.
• And President Donald Trump unveiled a woody pinch a 2nd drugmaker, AstraZeneca, that allows nan institution to debar tariffs successful speech for building a caller U.S. facility. But arsenic pinch nan first deal, it's unclear really overmuch money nan statement will prevention patients.

Also this week, Rovner interviews wellness security expert Louise Norris of Medicareresources.org astir nan Medicare unfastened enrollment period, which began Oct. 15.

Plus, for "extra credit" nan panelists propose wellness argumentation stories they publication this week that they deliberation you should read, too: 

Julie Rovner: Politico's "RFK Jr.'s Got Advice for Pregnant Women. There's Limited Data To Support It," by Alice Miranda Ollstein.

Anna Edney: The New York Times' "The Drug That Took Away More Than Her Appetite," by Maia Szalavitz.

Joanne Kenen: Mother Jones' "From Medicine to Mysticism: The Radicalization of Florida's Top Doc," by Kiera Butler and Julianne McShane.

Lauren Weber: KFF Health News' "Senators Press Deloitte, Other Contractors connected Errors successful Medicaid Eligibility Systems," by Rachana Pradhan and Samantha Liss.

Also mentioned successful this week's podcast:

• The Washington Post's "She Left nan Medical Mainstream and Rose To Be RFK Jr.'s Surgeon General Pick," by Lauren Weber and Rachel Roubein.
• The Bulwark's "There's Something Weirdly Familiar About This New GOP Argument," by Jonathan Cohn.
• Politico's "4 GOP Ideas for an Obamacare Subsidies Compromise," by Benjamin Guggenheim.
• The New York Times' "The E.P.A. Followed Up connected an Unusual Request About Abortion Pills," by Caroline Kitchener and Coral Davenport.
• Bloomberg News' "WHO Warns Against Three India-Made Cough Syrups After Child Deaths," by Satviki Sanjay.

Credits

• Francis Ying Audio producer
• Emmarie Huetteman Editor