KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Elections Matter


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Big Democratic wins in the 2019 off-year elections could spell big changes for Medicaid and other health policies in Virginia and Kentucky.

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s new “Medicare For All” plan is getting hammered from all parts of the political spectrum, including most of her opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination.

And in Georgia, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp wants permission from the federal government to make major changes to both his state’s Medicaid program and the way people purchase individual insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Joanne Kenen of Politico, Caitlin Owens of Axios and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner.

Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:

Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Laura Ungar, who wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” installment about a women who bought a health insurance policy that didn’t cover some services — and then ended up needing those services. If you have an outrageous medical bill you would 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:

Julie Rovner: Politico’s “Why North Carolina might be the most innovative health care state in America,” by Joanne Kenen

Caitlin Owens: ProPublica’s “How One Employer Stuck a New Mom With a $898,984 Bill for Her Premature Baby,” by Marshall Allen

Joanne Kenen: Politico’s “How the FDA and EPA’s failure to communicate could put patients in danger,” by Sarah Karlin-Smith, Annie Snider and Sarah Owermohle

Kimberly Leonard: Bloomberg Businessweek’s “America’s Largest Health Insurer Is Giving Apartments to Homeless People,” by John Tozzi


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This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

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