Latest California Healthline Stories
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': An Encore: 3 HHS Secretaries Reveal What the Job Is Really Like
In this special encore episode, KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” asks three people who have served as the nation’s top health official: What does a day in the life of the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services look like? And how much of their agenda is set by the White House? Taped in June before a live audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, in Aspen, Colorado, host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner leads a rare conversation with the current and two former HHS secretaries. Secretary Xavier Becerra and former secretaries Kathleen Sebelius and Alex Azar talk candidly about what it takes to run a department with more than 80,000 employees and a budget larger than those of many countries.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Countdown to Shutdown
Congress appears to be careening toward a government shutdown, as a small band of House conservatives vow to block any funding for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 unless they win deeper cuts to health and other domestic programs. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump continues to roil the GOP presidential primary field, this time with comments about abortion. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Tami Luhby of CNN join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Injects Presidential Politics Into the Covid Vaccine Debate
Losing ground in the Republican primary, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and his top medical advisers dismissed the recent federal recommendation that almost everyone get an updated covid shot.
Untangling Ron DeSantis’ Debate Anecdote About an Improbable Abortion Survival Story
One woman’s narrative has been used to support state legislation that aims to protect infants that survive an abortion. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis made reference to it during the first Republican primary presidential debate, held this week in Milwaukee.
Republican Debate Highlights Candidates’ Views on Abortion
Though health policies in general got little airtime, the discussion of whether candidates support a federal abortion ban underscored how Republicans, in a post-Roe environment, face political challenges on the issue.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': A Not-So-Health-y GOP Debate
The first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 cycle took place without front-runner Donald Trump — and with hardly a mention of health issues save for abortion. Meanwhile, in Florida, patients dropped from the Medicaid program are suing the state for not giving them enough notice or a way to contest their being dropped from the program. Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico, and Victoria Knight of Axios join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Plus, for “extra credit,” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week they think you should read, too.
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Congress Is Out. The Presidential Campaign Is In.
Congress is in recess until after Labor Day, and lawmakers won’t have much time when they return to get the government funded before the next fiscal year. Meanwhile, the Republican campaign for president has begun in earnest, and while repealing the Affordable Care Act is no longer the top promise, some candidates have lively ideas about what to do with federal health programs. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join KFF Health News’ chief Washington correspondent, Julie Rovner, to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News’ Phil Galewitz, who reported the latest KFF Health News-NPR “Bill of the Month,” about how a bill that should never have been sent created headaches for one patient.
In this special episode of KFF Health News’ “What the Health?” host and chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner leads a rare conversation with the current and two former secretaries of Health and Human Services. Taped before a live audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, part of the Aspen Ideas Festival, in Aspen, Colorado, Secretary Xavier Becerra […]
KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': When an Anti-Vaccine Activist Runs for President
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s official entry into the presidential race poses a thorny challenge for journalists: how to cover a candidate who’s opposed to vaccines without amplifying misinformation. And South Carolina becomes the latest state in the South to ban abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy. Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico, Rachel Cohrs of Stat, and Sarah Karlin-Smith of the Pink Sheet join KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani about her project to track the billions of dollars coming from opioid makers to settle lawsuits.
Why Do Politicians Weaponize Medicare? Because It Works
Politicians are again pointing fingers over who wants to cut Medicare. As past Washington brawls show, the party accused of threatening popular entitlements tends to lose elections — although it’s the beneficiaries relying on lawmakers to fund it who stand to lose the most.