Health Spending Is Moving in Congress

The Host

Julie Rovner
KFF Well being Information

@jrovner

@julierovner.bsky.social

Learn Julie’s tales.

Julie Rovner is chief Washington correspondent and host of KFF Well being Information’ weekly well being coverage information podcast, “What the Well being?” A famous skilled on well being coverage points, Julie is the writer of the critically praised reference e book “Well being Care Politics and Coverage A to Z,” now in its third version.

Congress seems able to approve a spending invoice for the Division of Well being and Human Companies for the primary time in years — minus the dramatic cuts proposed by the Trump administration. Lawmakers are additionally nearing passage of a well being measure, together with new guidelines for prescription drug middlemen referred to as pharmacy profit managers, that has been delayed for greater than a yr after complaints from Elon Musk, who on the time was making ready to hitch the incoming Trump administration.

Nonetheless, Congress appears much less enthusiastic concerning the well being coverage define launched by President Donald Trump final week, which features a handful of proposals that lawmakers have rejected previously.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Name, Sheryl Homosexual Stolberg of The New York Instances, and Paige Winfield Cunningham of The Washington Submit.

Panelists

Sandhya Raman
CQ Roll Name

@SandhyaWrites

@sandhyawrites.bsky.social

Learn Sandhya’s tales.

Sheryl Homosexual Stolberg
The New York Instances

@SherylNYT

Learn Sheryl’s tales.

Paige Winfield Cunningham
The Washington Submit

@pw_cunningham

Learn Paige’s tales.

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• Congress is on monitor to go a brand new appropriations invoice for HHS, with the present, short-term funding set to run out subsequent week. The invoice features a slight bump for some companies and, notably, doesn’t embody deep cuts requested by Trump. However with the administration’s demonstrated willingness to disregard congressionally mandated spending, the query stands: Will Trump observe Congress’ directions about how you can spend the cash?
• A well being bundle with bipartisan assist is about to hitch a journey with the spending invoice, after throwing in the towel in late 2024 beneath stress from then-Trump adviser Musk. Nonetheless, the president’s newly launched listing of well being priorities largely isn’t mirrored within the bundle. The GOP faces headwinds within the midterms after permitting expanded Inexpensive Care Act premium tax credit to run out, a change that’s anticipated to price many Individuals their medical insurance.
• One yr into the second Trump administration, its insurance policies are significantly evident within the political takeover of the nation’s public well being infrastructure, the rising variety of uninsured Individuals, and creeping mind drain in U.S.-based scientific analysis.
• And Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired members of a panel overseeing the federal authorities’s vaccine harm compensation program. Kennedy is anticipated to remake the panel in an effort to increase the listing of accidents for which the federal government will compensate Individuals. The present listing doesn’t embody autism.

Additionally this week, Rovner interviews oncologist and bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel to debate his new e book, Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Easy Guidelines for a Lengthy and Wholesome Life.

And KFF Well being Information’ annual Well being Coverage Valentines contest is now open. You possibly can enter the competition right here.

Plus, for “additional credit score” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn this week that they suppose you must learn, too: 

Julie Rovner: CIDRAP’s “Minnesota Residents Delay Medical Look after Worry of Encountering ICE,” by Liz Szabo.

Sheryl Homosexual Stolberg: Rolling Stone’s “HHS Gave a $1.6 Million Grant to a Controversial Vaccine Examine. These Emails Present How That Occurred,” by Katherine Eban.

Paige Winfield Cunningham: Politico’s “RFK Jr. Is Bringing the GOP and the Trial Bar Collectively,” by Amanda Chu.

Sandhya Raman: Standard Data’s “ICE Has Stopped Paying for Detainee Medical Remedy,” by Judd Legum.

Credit

Francis Ying
Audio producer

Emmarie Huetteman
Editor

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