Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ A ‘Healthy’ State Of The Union

Health policy played a surprisingly robust role in President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address. The president laid out an ambitious set of health goals in his speech Tuesday to Congress and the nation, including reining in drug prices, ending the transmission of HIV in the U.S. during the next decade and dedicating more resources to fighting childhood cancer. Meanwhile, in Utah and Idaho, two of the states where voters last fall approved expansion of the Medicaid health program, Republican legislatures are trying to scale back those plans. This week’s panelists for KHN’s “What the Health?” are Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times and Alice Ollstein of Politico. Among the takeaways from this week’s podcast:
  • The Trump administration is proposing to change the drug rebates in Medicare so that consumers purchasing the medicines get more of the savings and the middlemen negotiating the deals get less. But that effort could lead to increased insurance premiums — a consequence that could have significant political repercussions.
  • Trump’s pledge to end HIV transmissions in 10 years was a bit of a surprise since the disease had not been much of a priority in earlier moves by the administration.
  • The efforts to restrict Medicaid expansion approved by voters in Utah and Idaho show the limitations of referendums and could impact a move to get a Medicaid expansion question on the Florida ballot.
  • An intriguing study this week showed that medications to treat cardiac problems saved Medicare money. The results were surprising because generally public health officials suggest that prevention is important to improve health but doesn’t necessarily save money.
Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN senior correspondent Phil Galewitz, who investigated and wrote the latest “Bill of the Month” feature for Kaiser Health News and NPR. It’s about a man with a minor problem — fainting after a flu shot — and a major bill. You can read the story here. If you have a medical bill you would like NPR and KHN to investigate, you can submit it here. Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read too: Julie Rovner: NPR’s “Texans Can Appeal Surprise Medical Bills, But the Process Can Be Draining,” by Ashley Lopez Margot Sanger-Katz: The Los Angeles Times’ “In Rush to Revamp Medicaid, Trump Officials Bend Rules That Protect Patients,” by Noam N. Levey Anna Edney: Bloomberg News’ “Ketamine Could Be the Key to Reversing America’s Rising Suicide Rate,” by Cynthia Koons and Robert Langreth Alice Ollstein: The Washington Post’s “’It Will Take Off Like a Wildfire’: The Unique Dangers of the Washington State Measles Outbreak,” by Lena H. Sun and Maureen O’Hagan To hear all our podcasts, click here. And subscribe to What the Health? on iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play.

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