Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Health Law Fix Misses The Spending Bill Train

Congress passed a bill to fund much of the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year just hours before its March 23 deadline. But not included in that legislation is a bipartisan bill aimed at stabilizing premiums for individuals who buy their own health insurance. That proposal collapsed in partisan rancor after lawmakers were unable to resolve a fight over abortion and other issues.

Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration is moving forward with potentially landmark rules that could dramatically change the tobacco industry. And the spending bill loosens two decades of restrictions on the public health impact of guns.

This week’s panelists for KHN’s “What the Health?” are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Joanne Kenen of Politico and Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times.

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.

Julie Rovner: Kaiser Health News’ “The Dream Among ‘Dreamers’ To Become A Doctor Now ‘At The Mercy’ Of Courts,” by Ana B. Ibarra.

Also: CNN’s “Juul e-cigarettes and teens: ‘Health problem of the decade’?” by Ana B. Ibarra.

Joanne Kenen: Slate’s “The New Spending Bill Could Finally Pave the Way for Federal Research on Gun Violence,” by Alex Barasch.

Margo Sanger-Katz: Vox.com’s The Weeds podcast, “The opioid debate: Could reversing overdoses worsen the epidemic?” by Ezra Klein and Sarah Kliff.

Anna Edney: Stat’s “That’s $425,000 right there’ — The anxious launch of a gene therapy with a record sticker price,” by Eric Boodman.

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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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