Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Lands in Senate. Our 400th Episode!

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 knowledgeable 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.

After narrowly passing within the Home in Could, President Donald Trump’s “One Huge Stunning Invoice” has now arrived within the Senate, the place Republicans are struggling to determine whether or not to go it, change it, or — as Elon Musk, who lately stepped again from advising Trump, is demanding — kill it. 

Including gas to the hearth, the Congressional Funds Workplace estimates the invoice as written would improve the variety of People with out medical insurance by practically 11 million over the subsequent decade. That quantity would develop to roughly 16 million ought to Republicans additionally not prolong further subsidies for the Reasonably priced Care Act, which expire at yr’s finish. 

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KFF Well being Information, Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Name, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Submit.

Panelists

Jessie Hellmann
CQ Roll Name

@jessiehellmann

@jessiehellmann.bsky.social

Learn Jessie’s tales.

Alice Miranda Ollstein
Politico

@AliceOllstein

@alicemiranda.bsky.social

Learn Alice’s tales.

Lauren Weber
The Washington Submit

@LaurenWeberHP

Learn Lauren’s tales.

Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:

• Even earlier than the CBO launched estimates of what number of People stand to lose well being protection beneath the Home-passed funds reconciliation invoice, Republicans in Washington had been casting doubt on the nonpartisan workplace’s findings — as they did throughout their 2017 Reasonably priced Care Act repeal effort.
• Responding to issues about proposed Medicaid cuts, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican, this week stood behind her controversial rejoinder at a city corridor that “we’re all going to die.” The comment and its public response illuminated the problematic politics Republicans face in decreasing advantages on which their constituents rely — and will foreshadow marketing campaign fights to come back.
• Journalists revealed that Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s report on youngsters’s well being might have been generated at the very least partially by synthetic intelligence. The telltale indicators within the report of what are known as “AI hallucinations” included citations to scientific research that don’t exist and a garbled interpretation of the findings of different analysis, elevating additional questions concerning the validity of the report’s suggestions.
• And the Trump administration this week revoked Biden-era steering on the Emergency Medical Remedy and Energetic Labor Act. Regardless, the underlying legislation instructing hospitals to look after these experiencing being pregnant emergencies nonetheless applies.

Additionally this week, Rovner interviews KFF Well being Information’ Arielle Zionts, who reported and wrote the most recent “Invoice of the Month” function, a few Medicaid affected person who had an emergency in one other state and the large invoice he acquired for his troubles. When you have an infuriating, outrageous, or baffling medical invoice you’d wish to share with us, you are able to do that right here.

Plus, for “further credit score,” the panelists counsel well being coverage tales they learn (or wrote) this week that they assume it is best to learn, too:

Julie Rovner: KFF Well being Information’ “Native People Harm by Federal Well being Cuts, Regardless of RFK Jr.’s Guarantees of Safety,” by Katheryn Houghton, Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez, and Arielle Zionts.

Alice Miranda Ollstein: Politico’s “‘They’re the Spine’: Trump’s Concentrating on of Authorized Immigrants Threatens Well being Sector,” by Alice Miranda Ollstein.

Lauren Weber: The New York Instances’ “Take the Quiz: May You Handle as a Poor American?” by Emily Badger and Margot Sanger-Katz.

Jessie Hellmann: The New York Instances’ “A DNA Approach Is Discovering Girls Who Left Their Infants for Useless,” by Isabelle Taft.

Additionally talked about on this week’s podcast:

Credit

Francis Ying
Audio producer

Emmarie Huetteman
Editor

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