Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ A Detour On A Smoking Off-Ramp

The Food and Drug Administration declared Wednesday that vaping among teenagers has reached “an epidemic proportion.” The agency told five major e-cigarette manufacturers that they had 60 days to find ways to keep their products away from minors.

“I use the word epidemic with great care,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a Wednesday news release. “E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous — and dangerous — trend among teens.” Yet, as the panel discusses, health advocates warned that the actions may not be strong enough.

This week’s panelists are Sarah Jane Tribble of Kaiser Health News, Stephanie Armour of The Wall Street Journal, Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner and Rebecca Adams of CQ Roll Call.

They also look at Arkansas’ announcement that more than 4,000 Medicaid enrollees will be suspended for not meeting new work requirements, the Census Bureau’s announcement that the nation’s uninsured rate was unchanged last year, legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill that will affect the Affordable Care Act and efforts to stem the opioid epidemic.

Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:

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

Sarah Jane Tribble: Bloomberg News’ “The Secret Drug Pricing System Middlemen Use to Rake in Millions,” by Robert Langreth, David Ingold and Jackie Gu

Kimberly Leonard: Harper’s Magazine’s “Can Hospitals Learn to Better Treat Deaf Patients?” by Katie Booth

Rebecca Adams: The New York Times and ProPublica’s “Top Cancer Researcher Fails to Disclose Corporate Financial Ties in Major Research Journals,” by Charles Ornstein and Katie Thomas

Stephanie Armour: The Financial Times’ “Opioid Billionaire Granted Patent for Addiction Treatment,” by David Crow

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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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