[ad_1]
Can’t see the audio participant? Click on right here to hear on Acast. You can too hear on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you hearken to podcasts.
Click on right here for a transcript of the episode.
President Joe Biden’s declaration in a nationwide interview that the covid-19 pandemic is “over” has difficult his personal administration’s efforts to get Congress to offer extra funding for remedies and vaccines, and to get the general public to go get yet one more booster.
In the meantime, issues a couple of return of medical inflation for the primary time in a decade helps increase insurance coverage premiums, and personal firms are scrambling to say their piece of the well being care spending pie.
This week’s panelists are Julie Rovner of KHN, Anna Edney of Bloomberg Information, Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being and Politico, and Lauren Weber of KHN.
Among the many takeaways from this week’s episode:
- Biden’s remark to “60 Minutes” that the pandemic was over — although covid remains to be a difficulty — highlights the issue in speaking to the general public how you can transition from a public well being disaster to a public well being drawback.
- A lot of the nation might agree with the president, as evidenced by fewer individuals utilizing face masks frequently and a decreased variety of industrial restrictions associated to covid. However a number of hundred persons are nonetheless dying every day, a excessive toll usually neglected.
- Insurance coverage premiums look like on the upswing this fall, although medical prices haven’t been rising as shortly as different components of the financial system in current months. The rise might replicate insurers’ issues that, popping out of the covid disaster, shoppers might be in search of extra medical companies.
- One side of well being enterprise that’s driving up prices is the elevated funding by non-public fairness firms, that are increasing their attain past emergency room docs and some different specialties to a wider vary of medical companies, together with gastroenterology and ophthalmology.
- One other concern for the way forward for well being prices is the transfer towards consolidation in well being care. Amongst current developments on that entrance have been Amazon’s announcement it’s transferring into major care with the acquisition of One Medical and CVS’ resolution to purchase house well being care firm Signify Well being.
- Abortion insurance policies proceed to make information in numerous states. West Virginia handed a regulation that restricts almost all abortions; a number of Utah Republican legislators despatched cease-and-desist letters to abortion suppliers of their state; and Puerto Rico has a brand new political occasion campaigning on the difficulty of making an attempt to curb the commonwealth’s liberal abortion regulation.
- Whereas Democrats hope the difficulty of abortion will swing extra voters their method within the midterm elections, it’s not clear whether or not total assist for abortion might be a deciding difficulty for voters in additional conservative states and produce any adjustments.
Plus, for additional credit score, the panelists suggest their favourite well being coverage tales of the week they suppose you must learn, too:
Julie Rovner: The Anchorage Every day Information’ “Many Alaska Pharmacies Are Understaffed, Resulting in Sporadic Hours and Sufferers Turned Away,” by Annie Berman
Joanne Kenen: Capital B’s “Clinicians Dismiss Black Girls’s Ache. The Penalties Are Dire,” by Margo Snipe
Anna Edney: The Guardian’s “Fury Over ‘Perpetually Chemical substances’ as US States Unfold Poisonous Sewage Sludge,” by Tom Perkins
Lauren Weber: KHN’s “Docs Rush to Use Supreme Courtroom Ruling to Escape Opioid Costs,” by Brett Kelman
Additionally talked about on this week’s episode:
- KHN’s “Non-public Fairness Sees the Billions in Eye Care as Corporations Goal Excessive-Revenue Procedures,” by Lauren Weber
- The New York Occasions’ “’Catastrophe Mode’: Emergency Rooms Throughout Canada Shut Amid Disaster,” by Vjosa Isai
- JAMA Community Open’s “Prevalence and Danger Components for Medical Debt and Subsequent Adjustments in Social Determinants of Well being within the US,” by Drs. David U. Himmelstein, Samuel L. Dickman, Danny McCormick, et al.
- The New England Journal of Medication’s “Uncovered Medical Payments After Sexual Assault,” correspondence from Dr. Samuel L. Dickman, Dr. Gracie Himmelstein, Dr. David U. Himmelstein, Katherine Strandberg, Alecia McGregor, Dr. Danny McCormick, and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler
- The Salt Lake Tribune’s “Utah GOP Reps. Birkeland, Lisonbee Say Their Menace to Abortions Suppliers Was Solely Their ‘Opinion,’ Not a Authorized Doc,” by Emily Anderson Stern
- The New York Occasions’ “Abortion Helps Realign Puerto Rico’s Politics, Giving Conservatives an Opening,” by Patricia Mazzei
To listen to all our podcasts, click on right here.
And subscribe to KHN’s What the Well being? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, or wherever you hearken to podcasts.
KHN (Kaiser Well being Information) is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points. Along with Coverage Evaluation and Polling, KHN is among the three main working applications at KFF (Kaiser Household Basis). KFF is an endowed nonprofit group offering info on well being points to the nation.
USE OUR CONTENT
This story may be republished totally free (particulars).
We encourage organizations to republish our content material, freed from cost. Right here’s what we ask:
You have to credit score us as the unique writer, with a hyperlink to our khn.org website. If attainable, please embody the unique writer(s) and “Kaiser Well being Information” within the byline. Please protect the hyperlinks within the story.
It’s essential to notice, not every little thing on khn.org is obtainable for republishing. If a narrative is labeled “All Rights Reserved,” we can not grant permission to republish that merchandise.
Have questions? Tell us at KHNHelp@kff.org
[ad_2]