Shows / What the Health? From KFF Health News
What the Health? From KFF Health News
Join Julie Rovner, chief Washington correspondent for KFF 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, D.C.
Episodes
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsSCOTUS Ruling Strips Power From Federal Health Agencies
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…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsLive From Aspen: Health and the 2024 Elections
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…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsSCOTUS Rejects Abortion Pill Challenge — For Now
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…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsNursing Home Staffing Rules Prompt Pushback
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…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsWaiting for SCOTUS
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…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAnti-Abortion Hard-Liners Speak Up
While Republican candidates in many states downplay their opposition to abortion, the most vehement wing of the movement, which helped overturn Roe v. Wade —…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsBird Flu Lands as the Next Public Health Challenge
Public health authorities are closely watching an unusual strain of bird flu that has infected dairy cows in nine states and at least one dairy worker…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsNewly Minted Doctors Are Avoiding Abortion Ban States
For the second year in a row, medical school graduates across specialties are shying away from applying for residency training in states with abortion bans or…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAbortion Access Changing Again in Florida and Arizona
A six-week abortion ban took effect in Florida this week, dramatically restricting access to the procedure not just in the nation’s third-most-populous state…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAbortion — Again — At the Supreme Court
For the second time in as many months, the Supreme Court heard arguments in an abortion case. This time, the justices are being asked to decide whether a…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsToo Big To Fail? Now, It’s Too Big To Hack
Congress this week had the chance to formally air grievances over the cascading consequences of the Change Healthcare cyberattack, and lawmakers from both…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsArizona Turns Back the Clock on Abortion Access
A week after the Florida Supreme Court said the state could enforce an abortion ban passed in 2023, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that state could enforce a…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsFlorida Limits Abortion — For Now
The Florida Supreme Court handed down dual abortion rulings this week. One said voters will be allowed to decide in November whether to create a state right to…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Supreme Court and the Abortion Pill
The Supreme Court this week heard its first abortion case since overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, about an appeals court ruling that would dramatically restrict…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe ACA Turns 14
Saturday marks the 14th anniversary of the still somewhat embattled Affordable Care Act. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra joins host Julie…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsMaybe It’s a Health Care Election After All
Health care wasn’t expected to be a major theme for this year’s elections. But as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump secured their…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe State of the Union Is ... Busy
At last, Congress is getting half of its annual spending bills across the finish line, albeit five months after the start of the fiscal year. Meanwhile…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAlabama’s IVF Ruling Still Making Waves
Lawmakers in Congress and state legislatures are scrambling to react to the ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos created for in vitro…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAlabama Court Rules Embryos Are Children. What Now?
In a first-of-its-kind ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court has determined that embryos created for in vitro fertilization procedures are legally people. The…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsBiden Wins Early Court Test for Medicare Drug Negotiations
A federal district court judge dismissed a lawsuit attempting to invalidate the Biden administration’s Medicare prescription-drug price negotiation program…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsTo End School Shootings, Activists Consider a New Culprit: Parents
For the first time, a jury has convicted a parent of a school shooter of charges related to the child’s crime, finding a mother in Michigan guilty of…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Struggle Over Who Gets the Last Word
As science skepticism pervades politics, the Supreme Court will soon consider two cases that seek to define the power of “experts.” Meanwhile, abortion…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsHealth Enters the Presidential Race
New Hampshire voters have spoken, and it seems increasingly clear that this November’s election will pit President Joe Biden against former President Donald…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Supreme Court vs. the Bureaucracy
The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in a case that could radically alter the way federal agencies — including the Department of Health and Human…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAll About the (Government) Funding
With days to go until a large chunk of the federal government runs out of money needed to keep it operating, Congress is still struggling to find a compromise…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsNew Year, Same Abortion Debate
Some Supreme Court justices were wrong if they assumed overturning Roe v. Wade would settle the abortion issue before the high court. At least two cases are…
What the Health? From KFF Health News2023 Is a Wrap
2023 was another busy year in health care. As the covid-19 pandemic waned, policymakers looked anew at long-standing obstacles to obtaining and paying for care…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAbortion and SCOTUS, Together Again
The Supreme Court agreed this week to hear its first major case on abortion since overturning Roe v. Wade — one that could restrict the availability of the…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsDemocrats See Opportunity in GOP Threats to Repeal Health Law
Sensing that Republicans are walking into a political minefield by threatening once again to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Biden administration is…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsTrump Puts Obamacare Repeal Back on Agenda
Although Republicans have never united behind a replacement for the Affordable Care Act, 2024 GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump said this week he…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsCongress Kicks the (Budget) Can Down the Road. Again.
Congress narrowly avoided a federal government shutdown for the second time in six weeks, as Democrats came to the rescue of divided House Republicans over…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsA Very Good Night for Abortion Rights Backers
Abortion rights backers won major victories in at least five states in the 2023 off-year elections Nov. 7, proving the staying power of abortion as a political…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsFor ACA Plans, It’s Time to Shop Around
It’s Obamacare open enrollment season, which means that, for people who rely on these plans for coverage, it’s time to shop around. With enhanced premium…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe New Speaker’s (Limited) Record on Health
The House finally has a new speaker: Mike Johnson (R-La). He’s a relative newcomer who’s been a lower-level member of the House GOP leadership. And while he’s…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Open Enrollment Mixing Bowl
Open enrollment for Medicare beneficiaries with private health plans began Oct. 15, to be followed Nov. 1 by open enrollment for Affordable Care Act plans. The…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsHealth Funding in Question in a Speaker-Less Congress
A bitterly divided Congress managed to keep the federal government running for several more weeks, while House Republicans struggle — again — to choose a…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAn Encore: 3 HHS Secretaries Reveal What the Job Is Really Like
In this special encore episode, KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” asks three people who have served as the nation’s top health official: What does a day in…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsMore Medicaid Messiness
At least 30 states are reinstating coverage for children wrongly removed from the rolls under Medicaid redetermination, the federal government reported. It’s…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsCountdown to Shutdown
Congress appears to be careening toward a government shutdown, as a small band of House conservatives vow to block any funding for the fiscal year that begins…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsUnderinsured Is the New Uninsured
The percentage of working-age adults with health insurance went up and the uninsured rate dropped last year, the U.S. Census Bureau reported this week. There…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsWelcome Back, Congress. Now Get to Work.
Congress returns from its summer recess with a long list of tasks and only a few work days to get them done. On top of the annual spending bills needed to keep…
What the Health? From KFF Health News3 Health Policy Experts You Should Know
In this special episode, host Julie Rovner, KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, interviews three noted health policy experts. Amy Finkelstein is a…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsA Not-So-Health-y GOP Debate
The first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 cycle took place without front-runner Donald Trump — and with hardly a mention of health issues save for…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAbortion Pill’s Legal Limbo Continues
A federal appeals court issued a split decision on whether the abortion pill mifepristone should remain on the market — rejecting a lower court’s decision to…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsOn Abortion Rights, Ohio Is the New Kansas
Nearly a year to the day after Kansas voters surprised the nation by defeating an anti-abortion ballot question, Ohio voters defeated a similar, if cagier…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsCongress Is Out. The Presidential Campaign Is In.
Congress is in recess until after Labor Day, and lawmakers won’t have much time when they return to get the government funded before the next fiscal year…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsAnother Try for Mental Health ‘Parity’
President Joe Biden is kicking off his reelection campaign in part by trying to finish a decades-long effort to establish parity in insurance benefits…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsLet’s Talk About the Weather
It’s been the summer of broken weather records around the world — for heat, rain, and wildfire smoke — advertising the risks of climate change in a big way…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Long Road to Reining in Short-Term Plans
President Joe Biden made good on a campaign promise this week with a proposal to limit short-term health plans that boast low premiums but few benefits…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsA Year Without Roe
It’s been a year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and, with it, the nationwide right to abortion. The decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsLive from Aspen: Three HHS Secretaries on What the Job Is Really Like
What does a day in the life of the nation’s top health official really look like? And how much of their agenda is set by the White House? In this special…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsSlow Your Disenroll
More than a million Americans have lost Medicaid coverage since pandemic protections ended. The Biden administration is asking states to slow disenrollment…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsDebt Deal Leaves Health Programs (Mostly) Intact
The bipartisan deal to extend the U.S. government’s borrowing authority includes future cuts to federal health agencies, but they are smaller than many…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsOur 300th Episode!
When KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” podcast launched in 2017, Republicans in Washington were engaged in an (ultimately unsuccessful) campaign to “repeal…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsWhen an Anti-Vaccine Activist Runs for President
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s official entry into the presidential race poses a thorny challenge for journalists: how to cover a candidate who’s opposed to vaccines…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Abortion Pill Goes Back to Court
A three-judge appeals court panel heard testimony this week about revoking the FDA’s 22-year-old approval of a key pill used in medication abortion and…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsThe Crisis Is Ending, but Covid Confusion Lives On
The public health emergency declaration for covid-19 ends May 11, ushering in major changes in how Americans can access and pay for the vaccines, treatments…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsHealth Programs at Risk as Debt Ceiling Cave-In Looms
A warning from the Treasury Department that the U.S. could default on its debt as soon as June 1 has galvanized lawmakers to intervene. But there is still no…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsDancing Under the Debt Ceiling
House Republicans passed their plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, along with major cuts to health (and other domestic) programs. Unlikely to become law…
What the Health? From KFF Health NewsWill They or Won’t They (Block the Abortion Pill)?
The Supreme Court is considering the future of the abortion pill mifepristone, after GenBioPro sued the FDA over limitations that effectively block generic…