Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Much Ado About (Vaccine) Mandates


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Even with the new omicron variant of the covid virus spreading in the U.S., Republicans on Capitol Hill are pushing to stop President Joe Biden from requiring workers to either be tested regularly or vaccinated. The effort is likely to end in failure — even if it reaches Biden’s desk, he has vowed to veto it. But apparently Republicans think the effort will boost their popularity with their base.

Meanwhile, Congress is also moving to block scheduled Medicare cuts, and the Supreme Court heard two health cases that are not about abortion.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet and Rachel Cohrs of Stat News.

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: NPR’s “Inside the Growing Alliance Between Anti-Vaccine Activists and Pro-Trump Republicans,” by Geoff Brumfiel

Joanne Kenen: Slate’s “We’re Not Going Back to ‘Before Roe,’” by Dahlia Lithwick.

Sarah Karlin-Smith: Axios’ “Documents Reveal the Secrecy of America’s Drug Pricing Matrix,” by Bob Herman.

Rachel Cohrs: Stat News’ “Biogen’s Reckoning: How the Aduhelm Debacle Pushed a Troubled Company and Its Fractured Leadership to the Brink,” by Adam Feuerstein and Damian Garde.


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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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