Podcast

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Funding for the Next Pandemic


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President Joe Biden released his budget proposal for 2023 this week, and it calls for a nearly 27% increase in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services. That includes $28 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement a preparedness program for future pandemics and $40 billion for HHS to invest in making vaccines and other medicines.

Also, the FDA and the CDC authorized a second booster shot for most people 50 and older. But federal officials offered little advice to consumers about who might need that shot and when.

This week’s panelists are Mary Agnes Carey of KHN, Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times, and Rachana Pradhan of KHN.

Among the takeaways from this week’s episode:

Also this week, Julie Rovner interviews KHN’s Julie Appleby, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment about a very expensive air ambulance ride. If you have an outrageous medical bill you’d like to share with us, you can do that here.

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

Mary Agnes Carey: The New Yorker’s “A Freelancer’s Forty-Three Years in the American Health-Care System,” by David Owen

Amy Goldstein: Stat’s “NIH’s Identity Crisis: The Pandemic and The Search for a New Leader Leave the Agency at a Crossroads,” by Lev Facher

Jennifer Haberkorn: The New York Times’ “F.D.A. Rushed a Drug for Preterm Births. Did It Put Speed Over Science?” by Christina Jewett

Rachana Pradhan: The Washington Post’s “‘Is This What a Good Mother Looks Like?’” by William Wan

Also discussed on this week’s podcast:

The Wall Street Journal’s “You Likely Don’t Need a Fourth Covid Shot,” by Philip Krause and Luciana Borio


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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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