Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Booster Time


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Click here for a transcript of the episode.


As covid-19 cases in the U.S. continue to rise, the Biden administration is countering with new strategies. The latest efforts include preparing for vaccine boosters starting this fall, requiring that nursing home workers be vaccinated and pushing back against state bans on mask mandates in schools.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House is returning early from its summer break to begin work on a planned $3.5 trillion budget bill that will address a long list of health issues, including changes to Medicare and Medicaid, extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies and lowering prescription drug prices.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Kimberly Leonard of Business Insider.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too:

Julie Rovner: KHN’s “Federal Vaccine Program Hasn’t Helped Those Whose Lives Were Altered by Covid Shot,” by Arthur Allen.

Margot Sanger-Katz: The Atlantic’s “How the Pandemic Now Ends,” by Ed Yong, and New York magazine’s “Don’t Panic, but Breakthrough Cases May Be a Bigger Problem Than You’ve Been Told,” by David Wallace-Wells.

Alice Ollstein: The New Republic’s “Here’s a Terrible New Idea: Making the Unvaccinated Pay Higher Insurance Premiums,” by Natalie Shure.

Kimberly Leonard: Business Insider’s “Amazon, Investment Banks, and Even Big Tobacco Are Spending Millions of Dollars to Try to Get Favorable Marijuana Laws,” by Kimberly Leonard and Jeremy Berke.


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This story was produced by KHN (Kaiser Health News), a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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