KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Election Preview: What’s Next for Health?


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Voters say health issues — from the Affordable Care Act to COVID-19 to prescription drug prices — are important considerations in the November general election. But which issues are truly moving voters to participate in a year as politically polarized as 2020?

Former Vice President Joe Biden says he wants to expand the Affordable Care Act if he’s elected and Democrats win the Senate. President Donald Trump says he will find a way to protect people with preexisting conditions if his Supreme Court nominee helps strike down the ACA. And both candidates insist they will successfully control the coronavirus pandemic.

This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call.

Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:

This week, Rovner also interviews KHN’s Laura Ungar, who wrote the latest installment of KHN-NPR’s “Bill of the Month.” This month’s patient, Matthew Fentress, had insurance but still received a giant bill because he is among those Americans whose insurance is not considered adequate. If you have an enormous 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: The Washington Post’s “7 former FDA commissioners: The Trump Administration Is Undermining the Credibility of the FDA,” by Robert Califf, Scott Gottlieb, Margaret Hamburg, Jane Henney, David Kessler, Mark McClellan and Andy von Eschenbach

Joanne Kenen: The New York Times’ “How Trump Voters View His Position on Pre-existing Conditions,” by Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-Katz

Margot Sanger-Katz: The New York Times’ “Immigrants Say They Were Pressured Into Unneeded Surgeries,” by Caitlin Dickerson, Seth Freed Wessler and Miriam Jordan

Rebecca Adams: ProPublica’s “Investors Extracted $400 Million From a Hospital Chain That Sometimes Couldn’t Pay for Medical Supplies or Gas for Ambulances,” by Peter Elkind with Doris Burke


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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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