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��ýҕ�l Health News' 'What the Health?'

Countdown to Government Shutdown

Episode 413

Sept. 11, 2025

With less than three weeks before the deadline to pass legislation to keep the federal government running, lawmakers are still far apart on a strategy. Democrats hope Republicans will agree to extend expanded tax credits for the Affordable Care Act as part of a compromise, but so far Republicans are not negotiating. Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released his long-awaited “Make America Healthy Again” report, with few specific action items. Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Lauren Weber of The Washington Post join ��ýҕ�l Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more.
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Climate Activists Cite Health Hazards in Bid To Stop Trump From ‘Unleashing’ Fossil Fuels

Buoyed by a Montana court ruling upholding state residents’ right to a “clean and healthful environment,” nearly two dozen people ages 7 to 24 hope to block the Trump administration’s executive orders on energy.

By Jim Robbins

Sept. 11, 2025
Affirmative Action Critics Refuse To Back Down in Fight Over Medical Bias Training

A nonprofit fighting affirmative action in medicine and a Los Angeles ophthalmologist have launched a long-shot legal appeal aimed at ending California’s requirement that every continuing medical education class include training to recognize and address unconscious bias.

By Ronnie Cohen

Sept. 11, 2025
Watch: Patient Numbers at NIH Hospital Tumble After Trump Cuts

Fewer people are seeking care at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, a renowned research hospital, under the second Trump administration.

By Rachana Pradhan

Sept. 11, 2025
Trump’s Medicaid Cuts Were Aimed at ‘Able-Bodied Adults.’ Hospitals Say Kids Will Be Hurt.

The GOP said its overhaul of Medicaid was aimed at reducing fraud and getting more adult beneficiaries to work. Among the likely side effects: fewer services and doctors for treating sick children.

By Phil Galewitz

Sept. 10, 2025
Lice Pose No Health Threat, Yet Some Parents Push Back on Rules To Allow Affected Kids in Class

Public health officials see lice as a nuisance, not a health threat, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended for years that students with live lice be allowed to remain in class. But as “no-nit” policies have been dropped in favor of “nonexclusion” rules, some school districts have seen parents and teachers push back.

By Blake Farmer, Nashville Public Radio

Sept. 10, 2025
RFK Jr. Said ‘Everybody Can Get’ a Covid Vaccine. Is That True?

Although the FDA has approved the vaccines for anyone 65 or older and anyone at least 6 months old who is at risk of a severe covid infection, barriers to coverage and access persist.

By Grace Abels, PolitiFact and Maria Ramirez Uribe, PolitiFact

Sept. 10, 2025
Instead of Selling, Some Rural Hospitals Band Together To Survive

Independent and rural hospitals are collaborating with their neighbors to shore up their finances instead of joining larger health systems to stay afloat.

By Arielle Zionts

Sept. 9, 2025
In the Fallout From Trump’s Health Funding Cuts, States Face Tough Budget Decisions

The Trump administration has pushed a significant amount of health costs to states, whose budgets may already be strained by declining state tax revenues, a slowdown in pandemic spending, and economic uncertainty. State and local governments now face difficult decisions.

By Stephanie Armour, Christine Mai-Duc, Sam Whitehead, and Arielle Zionts

Sept. 9, 2025
Researchers Shift Tactics To Tackle Extremism as Public Health Threat

As extremism and radicalization worsen in the United States, a group of researchers is trying out a new approach that addresses the issue as a public health problem.

By Taylor Sisk

Sept. 8, 2025
The New Old Age

When I Go, I’m Going Green

In a survey by the National Funeral Directors Association, more than 60% of respondents said they would be interested in exploring green and natural burial alternatives.

By Paula Span

Sept. 8, 2025
��ýҕ�l Health News On Air

Journalists Discuss Fallout of CDC Turmoil and Recap Bitter RFK Senate Hearing

��ýҕ�l Health News journalists made the rounds on national and local media recently to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances.

Sept. 6, 2025
The Week in Brief

Public Health Experts See More Trouble at CDC as Kennedy Looks To Exert Control

Get our weekly newsletter, The Week in Brief, featuring a roundup of our original coverage, Fridays at 2 p.m. ET.

By Stephanie Armour

Sept. 5, 2025
��ýҕ�l Health News' 'What the Health?'

On Capitol Hill, RFK Defends Firings at CDC

Episode 412

Sept. 5, 2025

A combative Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, appeared before a Senate committee Thursday, defending his firing of the newly confirmed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other changes that could limit the availability of vaccines. Meanwhile, Congress has only a few weeks to complete work on annual spending bills to avoid a possible government shutdown and to ward off potentially large increases in premiums for Affordable Care Act health plans. Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call, Sarah Karlin-Smith of Pink Sheet, and Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico join ��ýҕ�l Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews ��ýҕ�l Health News’ Tony Leys, who discusses his “Bill of the Month” report about a woman’s unfortunate interaction with a bat — and her even more unfortunate interaction with the bill for her rabies prevention treatment.
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He Built Michigan’s Medicaid Work Requirement System. Now He’s Warning Other States.

Michigan’s former top health official spent a year and $30 million building a system to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients. The difficulties he encountered have him worried about 40 states and Washington, D.C., having to launch such systems by 2027.

By Kate Wells, Michigan Public

Sept. 5, 2025
Trump Administration Investigates Medicaid Spending on Immigrants in Blue States

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is hunting for Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse in at least six Democratic-led states that expanded coverage to low-income and disabled immigrants without legal status, according to records obtained by ��ýҕ�l Health News and The Associated Press.

By Angela Hart and Devi Shastri, The Associated Press

Sept. 5, 2025
RFK Jr. Faces Senate Finance Committee: A Live Discussion

��ýҕ�l Health News’ Stephanie Armour, Julie Rovner, and Arthur Allen and KFF’s Josh Michaud discuss the biggest takeaways from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s hearing before the Senate Finance Committee.

Sept. 4, 2025
Deadly Denials

Fighting a Health Insurance Denial? Here Are 7 Tips To Help

Many people don’t know they can fight a health insurance denial, let alone how to do it. Here are practical tips for consumers who want to appeal a prior authorization decision.

By Lauren Sausser

Sept. 4, 2025
As Insurers Struggle With GLP-1 Drug Costs, Some Seek To Wean Patients Off

Conventional wisdom says GLP-1 drugs must be taken indefinitely to maintain weight loss. But a growing number of researchers, payers, and providers are challenging that consensus and exploring whether — and how — to taper patients off expensive GLP-1 drugs.

By Jamie Ducharme

Sept. 4, 2025
Listen: Limiting Benefits and Adding Restrictions, ‘MAHA’ Reshapes Food Aid

The White House and congressional Republicans have made historic changes to the federal anti-hunger program SNAP. They say the changes will boost healthy eating for low-income Americans. Some nutrition experts aren’t so sure.

By Renuka Rayasam

Sept. 4, 2025

Morning Briefing

Wednesday, May 6, 2026 • 9:05 a.m. ET

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Noticias en español

Sobrevivió a dos tiroteos. Un estudio explica por qué su dolor persiste años después

By Alma Beauvais, The Trace

May 5, 2026
Carrera contra el tiempo: estados intentan resolver cómo implementar requisitos laborales de Medicaid

By Rachel Spears

May 4, 2026
El gobernador de California modera su postura en salud ante presiones fiscales

By Angela Hart

May 4, 2026
Retrasos en programa de visas impiden que médicos comiencen a atender a poblaciones vulnerables

By Arielle Zionts

May 3, 2026
Florida retrasa la ampliación de seguro médico infantil mientras aumenta el número de niños sin cobertura

By Daniel Chang

April 28, 2026